Sharpening your facilitation skills

Sharpening your facilitation skills


Sharpening you Facilitation Skills

Facilitation is the process of guiding a group through a discussion or activity to achieve a specific objective. It involves creating an inclusive and collaborative environment where all participants feel comfortable expressing their ideas. Effective facilitation is crucial for engaging participants and fostering meaningful and purpose-oriented conversations.

Facilitation is an art that involves creating an environment where every participant feels valued and contributes actively. By mastering facilitation techniques, one can enhance group dynamics and achieve more meaningful outcomes.

Key elements of effective facilitation

Active
listening

Listen to participants with the intent of understanding their perspectives.

Use verbal and non-verbal cues to show attentiveness, such as nodding, summarising, and asking clarifying questions.

Neutral
positioning

Remain neutral and unbiased, allowing diverse viewpoints to be explored.

Avoid expressing personal opinions or favouring one perspective over another.

Clarity of
purpose

Clearly communicate the objectives and goals of the discussion or activity.

Help participants understand the purpose and expected outcomes.

Creating a
safe space

Establish a safe and non-judgmental environment where participants feel comfortable sharing their thoughts.

Encourage openness and respect for diverse opinions.

Effective Communication

Use clear and concise language. 

Encourage participants to express themselves openly and respectfully.

Techniques for Facilitating Participation

Brainstorming

Generate ideas by encouraging participants to freely share their thoughts without judgement. Use sticky notes to make it easy to cluster similar ideas together.

Open ended questions

Encourage discussion by asking questions that require more than a simple yes or no answer. Example: "What are your thoughts on...?"

Visual aids

Use visuals like charts, graphs, or slides to enhance understanding and engagement. Visual aids can help convey complex information more effectively.

Small Group Discussions

Break larger groups into smaller ones to facilitate more intimate and focused conversations, and to make it easier for shy individuals to participate. Rotate facilitators to give more people ownership of the outcome of the session

Role plays

Encourage participants to act out scenarios related to the topic. This can deepen understanding and provide different perspectives.

Other facilitation tips

Manage participation in the group

Gently call out the silent ones “we have not heard from you yet. Would you like to share a perspective on this topic?   

Respectfully ‘pull the microphone’ away from the ones monopolising the conversation: “I know you have a really important point to make on this, I just want to make sure we also hear from some of the others. Will come back to you in a minute.”

Sharpen your skills

The best way to learn how to facilitate is to “JUST DO IT”. You do not need to be a subject matter expert on the focus area. The knowledge and expertise on the topic are drawn from Team members.

Practice self-awareness – ask for feedback from the participants after the workshop.  Watch and learn from others, read books and articles or watch videos. Jump onto google and sharpen your facilitator “pencil”. 

Manage participation in the group

Make maximum use of flip charts in meetings and workshops, or their equivalents in virtual workshops (e.g. Mural). Writing down team members’ thoughts helps them build on each other’s ideas.  It also helps each team member to be visually reminded about their contributions to the team’s work. Here are some tips on using flipcharts.

Thought starter reflection questions

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
  • How would you characterise the level of trust among participants in the meeting? To what extent did this shift as the meeting progressed? To what do you attribute this shift, if indeed it happened?

Thought starter...

Reflection Questions 

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:

  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
These are 100-Day Challenge Mentors. 

They did some work before you received the Challenge Note. This included:

  • Writing the Challenge Note, and making sure that the leaders of all the organisations represented on the team are comfortable with it – and committed to supporting the work of the team
  • Helping the leaders of these organisation recruit you and your colleagues to the team
  • Gathering some baseline data and other information that will help you and your teammates set your 100-Day goal and develop your plan.
  • Making sure all the preparations are made for a successful Lift-Off workshop, when you and your teammates will meet and get your 100-Day Challenge started. This includes venue, facilitation support, food, swags, comms, travel arrangements and whatever else is needed.

 

Mentors will participate in all or part of the Lift-Off Workshop, mostly at the start to provide context and answer questions, and at the end to give you and your teammates feedback about the goal and plan you develop.

During the 100 days following the Lift-Off Workshop, here’s what the Mentors will do:  

  • They will check in every two weeks with the team leaders to see how the team is doing and what support they and the team need.
  • They will keep other organisational leaders informed and engaged during the 100 days, and pull them in to help as needed.
  • They will participate in the last part of the Refuelling Workshop, halfway through the 100 days, to see what additional support the team needs, and to begin to plan with the team for sustainability and scale-up.
  • They will work with the team at the Sustainability Workshop to finalise recommendations on sustaining the results and building on the work of the team.