Facilitation, Facilitation, Facilitation…!

"Facilitation Uncovered" - 20th March 2012

The word “facilitation” is coming up more and more at work these days. My senior manager first mentioned it to me in a one-to-one meeting at least a year ago, as it was something he could see me doing in the future, to help our research teams get more out of their project and brainstorming meetings. Now, as I get more involved in Knowledge Management at work, it is being mentioned again, as facilitated events such as Peer Assists and Peer Reviews are a key part of the “learning before, whilst and after” cycle.

So, when I saw an evening event called “Facilitation Uncovered” being advertised by SLA Europe, I jumped at it, and booked straight away. The session was run by Linda Cockburn, a freelance facilitator and trainer with more than 10 years’ experience, including several years at the BBC. There were eleven of us in the group, allowing for plenty of interaction and discussion.

Linda’s task was a tough one, given that she only had one hour to instil in us the essentials of facilitation! A quick round of introductions led to our first learning point – Linda had used the opportunity to create a rough map of the room with our names indicating our seating positions, and recommended that a facilitator repeats each name three times, to help it stick and enable them to use names throughout the session.

We were split into three small groups for an exercise in which we each had to think of two or three questions starting with, “As a facilitator, how do I….?” Each group used Post-its to add their questions to a flip-chart, and where possible similar questions were grouped together. I was quite surprised at the lack of overlap in our group; most of the questions were different, reflecting our different work circumstances, priorities, and concerns.

Each group summarised their questions, and Linda addressed the main ones, providing answers and solutions. This activity in itself provided another learning point – it’s really helpful to keep checking back with group members that you have correctly understood the point they are making.

We then heard Linda’s Essentials of Facilitation, covering:

Planning

• Be clear about the outcome – then you can design a session which works towards it.
• Draw up a timetable – in sections, including activities, outcomes, timings, resources
• Prepare yourself – eg. Arrive early to set up, wear a watch, make a confident start

Lead the Process

• Generate an atmosphere of trust and safety
• Be the host – welcome people, make introductions
• Set the scene (ABCD) – gain their Attention, put over the Benefits, set out your Credentials, give the session Direction
• Set out ground rules – if you feel these are necessary

Know your role

• Maintain the distinction between the role of facilitator, and the group. You cannot be both, it just won’t work.

Linda then suggested a good way of structuring a meeting, which involved splitting it into three timed sections:

• Divergent Thinking – where different opinions are welcomed and discussed
• Convergent Thinking – where consensus begins to emerge and “what is important” is defined
• End Point – conclusions, action points to be taken forward

I found this a particularly useful concept, and will be using this in my own situation.

One of the participants asked about a situation where two people, or two factions, were completely opposed, and how to deal with that. We had quite a discussion on the subject, and various suggestions emerged:

• Speak directly to those disagreeing – “is this going the way you want it to?” – get them to take some responsibility for the outcome
• Bring in other people – perhaps those who haven’t spoken for a while – and see if what they have to say helps the situation
• Agree a timeframe for dealing with the dispute, or take it outside the session
• If you can anticipate that there may be such problems in a meeting, try to plan for it

Overall I found the session really useful, and made some good contacts too. I have no doubt I will be returning to Linda's tips and pointers in the future.