Facilitation is so much more than just running a meeting. Support from an unbiased facilitator, expert in using proven techniques ensures progress is made, objectives are achieved, and roadblocks are removed. An accomplished facilitator orchestrates the activities that are required to get the job done.

In the Skills cards you’ll find a toolbox of facilitation techniques that you can use to help a group of participants achieve the meeting’s objectives and deliver the required outcomes.

You’ll see that there are 9 techniques across 4 categories.

However, having a toolbox and being able to use the techniques is only part of the facilitator’s role.

Alongside the tools and techniques, facilitators promote specific goals and follow facilitation principles. They need to be competent and confident to facilitate diverse groups of meeting participants.

They unite the group and provide unbiased support so that the meeting’s objectives can be achieved.

So, what don’t they do?

They don’t take charge, or force their opinions on the group, and they don’t dictate the outcome.

Where do you start?

Active participation needs everyone to feel comfortable and confident to contribute.

Facilitators must democratize meetings to make them more inclusive, participatory, and collaborative for everyone, regardless of their rank, job role, or experience. It involves giving everyone a chance to share their ideas, points of view, and feedback. Power-driven meetings where the views of the most senior go unchallenged are outdated and should be eradicated.

Participatory decision-making ensures that agreement is reached in an inclusive and collaborative way.

The facilitator’s job is to support the group in its decision-making process so that everyone actively supports the decision that has been made, or they are, at least, prepared to live with it. The focus is on helping the group reach the most favourable decision based on collective input rather than top-down authority. Guiding the group to avoid the pitfalls of decision-making by committee, or resorting to compromise, requires the facilitator to orchestrate inclusion and collaboration across a diverse group of participants.

Research shows* that following an inclusive process leads to 2X faster decision making with half the number of meetings.

*Diversity + Inclusion = Better Decision Making at Work, Forbes Sept 2017

Accountable ownership identifies who is responsible for what, and by when, in a way that is fair and achievable.

Help the group to individually, and collectively, agree their role and responsibility assignments to increase communication, collaboration, and team work to deliver the required outcomes. The facilitator can support the group in the use of a Responsibility Assignment Matrix and a Goal Setting Framework. While the groups motivation may appear strong, motivation alone is a poor predictor of performance, and it may weaken over time. However, properly set goals can increase motivation, and subsequently the opportunity for success. Involving the group in role and responsibility assignment and goal setting to drive individual and collective ownership.