Leadership Skills Training: Facilitation

Facilitation Basics Reminders

Facilitation is a goal-orientated dynamic process in which participants work together in an atmosphere of genuine mutual respect in order to learn through critical reflection.

Facilitation involves:

  • Assisting with goal identification and achievement.
  • Encouraging investigation.
  • Giving meaning to activities.
  • Indicating appropriate resources.
  • Encouraging participants to process their learning.

Ground rules help focus discussions and ensure that everyone is treated fairly and is allowed to participate.

Example ground rules include:

  • Make decisions by consensus.
  • Make sure that everyone participates.
  • Disagree respectfully.
  • Keep discussions focused.
  • Explain all reasons for statements, questions and actions.

Listening Skills Reminders

Communication is fostered when the listener:

  • Demonstrates a relaxed alertness.
  • Faces the other squarely.
  • Maintains an open body position.
  • Situates himself at an appropriate distance from the speaker.

Attending skills include:

  • A posture of involvement.
  • Appropriate body motion.
  • Eye contact.
  • A nondistracting environment.

Following skills include:

  • Door openers.
  • Minimal encourages.
  • Infrequent questions.
  • Attentive silence.

Door openers have 4 elements:

1.A description of the speaker’s nonverbal communication.

2.An invitation to talk.

3.Silence.

4.Attending.

Reflecting skills include:

  • Paraphrasing.
  • Reflecting feelings.
  • Reflecting meanings.
  • Summative reflections.

Reflect meanings using:

“You feel [insert the feeling word] because [insert the event or other content that is associated with the feeling.]”

Communication Skills Reminders

The three communication roadblock clusters are:

  • Judging
  • Sending solutions
  • Avoiding others’ concerns

Judging includes:

  • Criticizing
  • Name-calling
  • Diagnosing
  • Hasty praise

Sending solutions includes:

  • Ordering
  • Threatening
  • Moralizing
  • Excessive and Inappropriate questioning
  • Advising

Do not avoid others’ concerns by:

  • Diverting
  • Arguing logically
  • Reassuring

Handling Challenge Reminders

To avoid negative conflict:

1. Use fewer roadblocks and more reflective listening.

2. Use assertion skills.

3. Identify and clear up any errors and lack of information.

4. Keep clearly stated ground rules.

5. Do not throw your tension onto others.

6. Have a low level of defensiveness and be supportive.

7. Cooperate to achieve goals.

To manage conflict:

  • Request that all arguments, personal attacks, sarcasm or bickering end.
  • Encourage individuals to be passionate and compassionate.
  • Remind the group about the ground rules.
  • Focus on the merits of an argument, not on personal characteristics.
  • Be positive and encourage the group members to be positive.
  • Ask individuals on opposing sides to ‘switch sides.’
  • Do not allow the group to evaluate ideas too soon.
  • Remind the group about the purpose and objectives of the meeting.
  • Use probing questions to help group members uncover underlying issues.
  • Reframe key points for the meeting participants.

Formula for a productive assertion message:

“When you [state the behavior nonjudgmentally], I feel [state your feelings] because [clarify the effect on you]”

Consensus Decisions Reminders

The decision-making method your group will use to make the final decision should be specified before the problem-solving process begins.

These methods include:

  • Win/Win methods (Collaboration)
  • Win/Lose methods (Accommodation, Competition)
  • Lose/Lose methods (Avoidance)

Problem solving steps include:

  • Identify the problem
  • Identify who is affected
  • Identify who is responsible
  • Analyze the problem
  • Generate solution criteria
  • Generate solutions
  • Evaluate solutions based on criteria

Effective Facilitation Reminders

The three stages to facilitate learning experiences are:

1.Debriefing

2.Processing

3.Transfer

To stimulate active discussion:

  • Use active listening techniques.
  • Monitor your own participation.
  • Encourage shy or quiet people to contribute.
  • Use encouraging verbal and body language when others contribute.
  • Protect against criticism and domination by group members.
  • Highlight consensus in the group.
  • Make sure that everyone who wants to contribute can do so.

If discussion stops:

  • Let the group be silent for a few minutes.
  • Be comfortable with the silence, and do not jump in too quickly.
  • Ask individuals about what they are thinking.
  • Ask the group if anyone needs clarification on any topic.
  • Ask the group if they are confused.
  • Reflect on your behavior to make sure that you have not caused the silence.
  • Remind the group about their place on the agenda.
  • Recount the last few points of conversation made by the group.
  • Break into smaller discussion groups.

If the discussion gets off topic or starts becoming repetitive:

  • Write discussion points on a flip chart or other device.
  • Point out the repeated point on the flip chart and ask if there is something new to add to that point.
  • Recount the last few points of conversation made by the group.

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