Facilitator Skills
Facilitator Skills Overview
A good facilitator could mean the difference between a successful group session and a failed one. For this reason, it is vital for any person who holds the responsibility of facilitating a group of people to learn and acquire facilitator skills. There are several characteristics that make up facilitator skills, and these include: communication, self-confidence, questioning techniques, conflict management, rapport building, active listening, and data management. But aside from these, there are other things that a person must know about in order to become an effective facilitator.
This section discusses in detail all the essential information you need to know in order to develop facilitator skills. It discusses the skills that constitute facilitator skills, and in addition, it also talks about other important aspects needed for a successful facilitation such as intervention techniques, how to set rules and agenda for the group, how to create synergy among the group, icebreakers to use, and even how to plan and prepare for an event that requires the need to facilitate the people in attendance.
Training Objectives
By the end of this self-paced training, you will be able to:
Learn and understand the concept of facilitation
Know the roles and responsibilities of a facilitator
Understand and develop the core facilitator skills, which are: building rapport, active listening,
effective questioning techniques, and data gathering
Find out how to set rules and guidelines, which is important to ensure a smooth flow of activities.
Determine the techniques used to help you facilitate a group of people successfully.
Learn about the important methods used in order to maximize the objectives of any group session or gathering
Target Audience
This training program is helpful for job responsibilities that include facilitating meetings, workshops, conferences, business get-together’s, trainings, and brainstorming sessions. Such situations require effective facilitation skills in order to carry out your objectives successfully.
Facilitation is a task that requires leading a group session in a smooth and organized way. Often, in a seminar or convention, the person who leads the event is called a facilitator. But this role is also carried out in other aspects. One example would be a member who is in-charge of presiding the meeting is doing the task of a facilitator. In a court setting, the judge acts as the facilitator of the session. Members of human resource department also take the role of facilitators in certain company activities. In the field of education, there are training and classroom facilitators….
The role of a facilitator is not that easy if you think about guiding the group throughout the whole process to achieve a smooth and productive result of a discussion, training session, or team activity. The facilitator guides the participants to a “learning journey” in discovering their own experiences and exploring those of others, identifying their strengths and weak points, and sharing what they already know to the rest. In some cases, the facilitator also shares his knowledge apart from just guiding them in the process. Since the task is challenging, the facilitator must be effective in many aspects to…
In order to effectively reach out and work with the team members, a facilitator has to learn the fundamental skill of building rapport. That is, the need to create and maintain empathy or a sense of connection with the members. Building rapport is not done the easy way; people have different ways of establishing it with other people. There are those who have the natural ability to easily create a good relationship with others. Their is a need to understand the essence of the skill and learn it to come up with their own techniques. Have you ever encountered a…
In any aspect of communication, listening is an integral part of the whole process. Basically, we listen to understand and comprehend the message that the speaker is saying. But this becomes a challenge to many of us since we tend not to make use of good and effective listening. According to statistics, we listen to only about 25-50% of what we hear in a particular conversation. And at the end of the day, we forget about 46% of everything we have heard. If you are a facilitator of a team event or activity, you need to acquire the fundamental skill…
In any situation, questions are asked for varied purposes and one of which is to check for comprehension. Some people ask questions for clarification. Some ask to obtain answers or information. Asking questions is a skill that every facilitator should develop and master. The questions that facilitators ask to the participants may bring a dramatic change in their lives. In every discussion, asking the right, proper questions motivates the members to come up with their own choices and solutions so these questions have to be thought out with preparation and correctly executed. For facilitators, effective questioning technique helps assess the…
One of the essential skills and core responsibility of a facilitator is to record the data and output gathered in the course of the discussion, and making sure that they are being acted upon. For recording and note-taking to be successfully done, the facilitator has to know and be clear about what needs to be recorded, how to record it, and who will perform the task. In most cases, the facilitator himself is the sole note-taker in a session. But depending on the kind of session that is facilitated, a note-taker can also be assigned for a better delegation of…
Teamwork is a fundamental value that every facilitator must promote to all participants in every facilitated session, program, or workshop. In order to achieve the objectives of the group, they have to share common interests and perceptions. Depending on the kind of facilitator that manages and directs the group, the participants can easily attain their shared goals with cooperation. A skilled and seasoned facilitator knows very well how to bring each member together, making them work as a group rather than on an individual approach. Understanding the Concept of Group Synergy As the saying goes, “Two heads are better than…
Many facilitated sessions start with an ice breaker. This technique can be an opener for a workshop or seminar and effective way to start a team building program. Participants engage in interactive and fun activities before getting to the main course of the discussion. Ice breakers also allow people to get to know each other and help them work together as a team. The use of ice breakers in a session is not just to start the program but it also break natural barriers among the group members, increasing the level of comfort of the participants, so that the atmosphere…
Facilitating an event or a workshop is a huge task and an important role to take. If chosen as a facilitator for a particular group activity or organizational event, realize that you have the potential to carry out the function because the management sees your abilities and skills in facilitation. So, given the facilitation skills you have and your knowledge in facilitating an activity, your main responsibility starts from planning and preparation of the workshop or any kind of group session assigned for you to facilitate on. It is during the planning and preparation stage that your organizational skills and…
In a facilitated discussion, the group seeks to arrive at an agreed decision after all viewpoints have been entertained. The facilitator does not make the decision because this is not his responsibility. The role of a facilitator when it comes to decision-making is more of assisting and leading the group to achieve a common understanding of the issues discussed. When the participants share common interests and opinions, a conclusion is easier to achieve. On the other hand, when the members have conflicting ideas, this is where the facilitator is challenged to get the group on a harmonious ground. Basically, this…
In a group discussion, the primary role of the facilitator is to manage the traffic or flow of conversation, keeping the interaction smooth by guiding and controlling who speaks when. At the start of the session, the facilitator should establish the ground rule for the discussion part and review the guidelines before the discussion starts. In order to properly guide and control the group, the facilitator has to engage and be involved during the interaction. Apart from showing interest, it also makes it easy for the facilitator to intervene in a facilitative way, making it a point not to appear…
A very crucial part in the preparation for your facilitation role is setting the guidelines or “ground rules.” Since the primary function of the facilitator is to ensure smoothness and to make the entire process easy, establishing the ground rules will help in governing the group and the interaction of each participant throughout the course of the activity until the desired objectives are met. In some organizations, they call these rules as “agreements”, “operating principles”, or “practices.” In a classroom setting or in a training session, it is referred to as the “code of conduct.” As to how these rules…
Many facilitators get to use at least one type of visual aid to help them in their facilitation task. Visual aids enhance the learning process of the participants and increase retention of the grasped knowledge during the discussion. When planning to use any visual aid, the material should be prepared ahead of time. During the preparation stage of your facilitation task, you should have the tools ready instead of having to prepare them at the time of the event. Early preparation reflects the professionalism of the facilitator and earns respect from the participants. There are various types of visual materials…
Perhaps one of the most challenging functions of the facilitator is to keep the entire process on track from the onset until it culminates to the closing part of the event successfully. Probably, time is a major factor in staying on track. But the flow of the discussion is another factor to consider as well as the type of participants present during the session. Staying on track means keeping focused on the topic in a facilitated discussion. It also means being able to follow the flow of the program or event based on the outline and the agenda within the…
Every participant who joins a workshop or program expects a facilitator to be professional at all times. This person should be an expert in the given role. This is what every facilitator needs to uphold and demonstrate. Keeping a professional demeanor is not just about faking it for as long as you can, but making it a true and natural reflection of your personality regardless of the position, career, or aspect in your life. Along the way, experienced facilitators gradually learn to incorporate these professional attributes and share them with every organization or group they come across in doing their…
