Author: Jenny Robinson at Hinton & Co. Ltd 

Here is a brief and very crude overview of facilitation.

Purpose: The purpose of facilitation is to ensure that individuals within a group get the chance to air their views.

This can mean:
- getting as many ideas as possible to emerge from the group; and/or
- ensuring that a conclusion is achieved.
But sometimes it is simply to allow people to work through their thoughts and feelings through the process of discussion.

Good facilitation:
- Is often about suppressing your own reaction to the discussion to help the group hear each other’s reactions;
- Requires excellent listening and questioning skills;
- Ensures ‘honest opponents’ are heard (they often have valuable, if uncomfortable, insights);
- Senses the qualities that are missing in the group so that the facilitator can display those qualities in abundance;
- Keeps ownership for the outcomes and the group processes with the group; and
- Is clear about the decision-making rules (if a decision is being made) e.g. consensus or majority.

What facilitation is not:
- The facilitator solving the problem;
- The facilitator pushing her/his own agenda (no matter how well-disguised); nor
- The leader’s point of view or the loudest person-in-the-room’s point of view prevailing.

Here are some of the tools of facilitation:

1. Keeping the group to the job in hand
Checking that everyone is clear about the objective(s)
Being explicit about the process
Helping the group to think about how much time they have
How/who will note this conversation? Any agreements we make/ conclusions we come to?
Knowing when the group is going off on a tangent and being strong enough to bring them back (especially when they’re really enjoying the tangential discussion).

2.  Asking people to contribute e.g. Anyone want to start off with their thoughts? Has someone got another perspective? What do you think (indicating someone who hasn’t spoken)? What have you observed? Ensuring an even spread of contributions from group members

3.  Getting clarification into the group e.g. Give me an example of what you mean.  How is that different? How is that the same? Which of these things do you think will have the biggest impact? Why?

4.  Summarising what you’ve heard or different points of view e.g. I’ve heard …. Check that I’ve understood what you say ….. So, to summarise….

5.  Keeping track of the unspokens in the room e.g. Noticing if people seem unhappy, angry or upset. Creating a supportive environment in which people can express emotions. Listening for what is not said as well as what is said. Bringing out any undiscussables into the open

6.  Sensing when the group is ready to move on; or, creating situations where the group is ready to move on
The time is…. We said we’d said….
I don’t hear new things arising from this discussion, does that mean we’re ready to move on
What else do we need to say before we address….
This discussion continues to have a lot of energy, yet we’re nearly out of time…. What would you like to do?

7.  Ensuring the difficult questions are asked
• Who might object to this?
• What obstacles can we foresee?
• What level of commitment do you have to this course of action?
• What is not being said about this?
• Just to play ‘devil’s advocate’ here, what happens if….

8.  Ensuring next steps are identified
• Who owns this bit?
• What are the milestones?
• How are you going to engage the other stakeholders?
• How are you going to communicate this?
• What is the timeline here? Is that realistic given everything else that is going on?

Provided by Jenny Robinson and Colin Henney at Hinton & Co. Ltd who provide a distinctive approach by fusing skills and knowledge in organisational psychology and practical employment law. They combine their individual experience of 20 years’ consulting and advising to bring about workable solutions.

Disclaimer:
This guide is provided for guidance only. The provided information, whether ‘How to guides’, policies, procedures, samples, examples, or guidelines, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. While we make every effort to provide and link to accurate, legal, and complete information, we cannot guarantee it is correct for a worldwide audience. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from your local or international governmental resources, to make certain that your legal interpretation and decisions are correct.