Why do group facilitation?
- People who don’t “own” a decision by having participated in making it won’t implement the decision with enthusiasm.
- Organizations succeed not just through their products, but by harnessing the goodwill and good ideas of their internal and external stakeholders.
What does a facilitator do, and why?1
Ultimately, the facilitator helps groups create sustainable action plans. The facilitator promises that if the group puts in the hard work at the front end, the reward will be a sustainable plan–one that everyone agrees is reasonable, realistic, and feasible, and which everyone is committed to implementing. The facilitator does this by:
- Encouraging full participation, because the norm at most meetings is that only the quick thinkers and eloquent speakers get to participate. Those who come to the meeting without fully formed ideas censor themselves, rightly fearing they’ll be criticized by those who have already reached their own conclusions. The facilitator draws out even the most reluctant people.
- Promoting mutual understanding, because people’s usual reaction to hearing a new perspective is to plan a way to rebut it. While one person is trying to explain why she or he believes X, others typically aren’t fully listening. Instead, they are taking in just enough about X to support their own argument for Y. The facilitator constantly reinforces the need to understand why each person believes what she or he does.
- Fostering inclusive solutions, because the facilitator may be the only one in the group who knows inclusive solutions are possible. The facilitator demonstrates that groups working together can find solutions where everyone gets what they need (thought not necessarily what they want).
- Cultivating shared responsibility, because “People support what they help to create.”2 Members of groups may try to retreat to the safe positions of yielding to a group’s leaders and experts. The facilitator coaches, teaches, and motivates people to share the responsibility for creating and implementing the action plan.
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- Adapted from S. Kaner, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007). ↑
- M. Weisbord, Productive Workplaces, Revisited (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfiefer, 2004). ↑
