Wouldn’t It Be Great If Working In Groups Was Easier?
You’ve just overheard snippets of a conversation in the corridor. Some people are discussing a meeting that’s just finished.
“Time flew”… “I didn’t expect we’d achieve so much”… “that was a fantastic debate”… “amazing that we all managed to agree”… “really energised”… “can’t wait to get on with it”…
You are intrigued. It’s a bit different from the ear bending you got from a friend at the coffee machine earlier: “another tedious meeting”… “usual argumentative, backbiting rubbish”… “hasn’t improved anything”… “I have to go along with it but I don’t like it”
A question for you: which of these meetings would you rather have been in? More to the point, which of them would you like to have facilitated?
What’s important about facilitation?
Facilitation is about making it easier for people to participate in groups, to get buy-in, to improve working relationships and achieve great results. A facilitator’s job is to create an environment that encourages conversations to move forward positively. Facilitation requires skilful interaction, objective interventions, intense respect, superb listening, flexibility and a handful of tools and techniques. It’s an art – and it can be learnt.
How to improve your career chances
Managers and team leaders can benefit tremendously from developing their skills in facilitating groups. Do you want to make meetings, creativity sessions, project teams, etc. more effective? Learning facilitation principles and techniques can help you to boost group performance, encourage commitment, improve the quality of decisions and implement actions more quickly. In short, it makes your job easier and gets better results. How would it help you if you could enable diverse groups to work cooperatively?
DIY or Professional?
At home, many people enjoy honing their skills and turning their hand to a manageable DIY project, with get great results. But when you have a bigger job – something that requires more expertise – you’ll probably consider getting a professional in. Facilitating is a bit like this.
Watch out for situations where a group or team is bogged down in issues and unable to move forward usefully. Conflicts, hidden agendas, strong personalities, people feeling ‘unheard’, boredom with going around in circles, even over-enthusiasm and too many opinions… these can require a fresh approach. If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know that it’s really hard to stay neutral when you feel strongly about something. Facilitating your own issues is very tricky. There is a skill involved in managing a process, and most people find it challenging to manage the process and be engaged in the content. The answer is straightforward: if you can’t do it objectively, get a facilitator in, either a neutral colleague or an independent professional. Give yourself the best chance of success.
Team development
If you want to foster greater responsibility in your team, consider booking a facilitator for your away day or team event. You’ll be able to participate as one of the team, to observe, gain some perspective and new ideas. You’ll find it a lot more relaxing and you’ll get more out of the event.
Of course you can also learn how to be a ‘facilitator’, once you’ve developed your skills, you can offer to facilitate others’ events – which makes you more marketable.
Who said anything about fish?
You know the old saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for life”. Sometimes you want to invest in the learning, other times you’re just hungry for the fish. We understand, and we’re here to help.
© Sue Lickorish 6 April 2010
» Contact us about our expert facilitators
» Become a more successful facilitator on our Facilitation Skills course (for organisations with groups or teams to train)
» Facilitate more effectively with RapidConsensus™
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Tags: facilitation skills, group working challenges, RapidConsensus™ (Training)
