|
The facilitator lends his
or her process expertise to assist with all aspects of conducting
the meeting. Some of these tasks include:
- Defining the group's purpose and plan
the meeting agenda.
- Determine what information the participants
need and how to provide that information.
- Help the group to set and enforce ground
rules and time frames.
- Encourage full group participation through
adopting a participatory attitude and by using appropriate group
processes.
- Encourage the group to develop inclusive
and mutually acceptable solutions.
- Ask key questions to focus the group's
attention on the topic.
- Give the group tasks in a logical sequence.
- Identify when the group is stuck and select
a strategy for getting them back on task.
- Manage the flow of communication so everyone
can participate.
- Assist the group to identify and action
plan for implementing decisions and carry out plans.
- Develop a climate in
which participants can learn.
- Share ideas while drawing
on the knowledge and experience of participants. Keep the one-third
rule in mind. One-third of what your participants learn comes
from you, one-third from each other, and one-third from the experiences
they brought into the session with them. You need not be an expert
in all areas. Participants will benefit from networking and sharing
with others.
- Coach and enable others.
Providing support and assistance to the group is vital. Plan
opportunities during and after the sessions so that participants
can work with you and with each other for continued progress.
- Serve as a model. How
you present yourself, deliver material, design sessions and respond
to the audience are all consciously and subconsciously recorded
by your audience and retained for their future use.
- Raise questions. Ask
open-ended questions to guide the discussion and allow for participant
input. Have questions ready in your session designs, but try
to expand on the dialogue in the room by forming questions that
relate to the discussion.
- Restate ideas in different
words or mention them later in the topic to reinforce important
concepts. This will help those group members who are experiencing
difficulty learning to catch up with the rest of the participants.
- Value structure and
creativity. Facilitators should enter their sessions with the
best possible design. Structuring in terms of time, format, methods
and content management is crucial. However, be flexible with
these issues to help maintain everyone's interest and ensure that
a diverse audience is kept engaged spruce up old designs and try
new methods to make each course and interesting journey for you
as the facilitator.
Other important characteristics
of a facilitator:
- Self knowledge (strengths
and weaknesses)
- Knowledge of audience
(what they expect)
- Concern for quality
(and being able to describe it)
- Ability to inspire (create
a learning environment) flexibility, versatility, (ability to
switch gears at the last moment)
|
