7. FACILITATION TECHNIQUES
Group facilitation is a crucial managerial ability that can actually aid a team in productively and efficiently achieving its objectives. The facilitator's job is to assist the group in moving forward and coming up with their own answer in the simplest and most efficient manner possible. Employers utilize facilitation to build teams and shape leaders in business. A facilitator's major duty is to provide value to a group planning session or meeting by keeping a group on topic and moving forward, saving the employer important time and money. They can also assist in the resolution of disputes and the management of employee problems. Facilitators in groups employ a range of techniques to ease transitions and keep meetings on track: Presenting content or reworking information to make it more understandable. Providing a right structure for a meeting, training, or team-building session in order to complete the fundamental mission. Eliciting questions and potential solutions from participants in order to develop a coherent mindset Promoting shared accountability for the meeting's outcome. Many teams lack a leader who can help them grow, manage challenging topics, and keep meetings focused and productive. Group or team facilitation keeps participants on track and working toward specific goals. These strategies can save the organization time and resources if they are conducted in well-moderated systematic sessions. Facilitation techniques for the facilitator include : Having a plan Make a list with all tasks Clear date path of when a task should be complete Who has to do what Have a progress template ready to be completed The facilitator should not nominate anyone to do the task that they explained on the spot, but wait at the end and ask their group to self-nominate. Be sure that everyone understood all tasks, deadlines, what is their responsibility and how they will report on their progress. Freestyle thinking Let their team to brainstorm their ideas in order for them to feel that they are valued and they are being heard. Record all ideas Do not criticize ideas Come back with a review of the ideas and what you can work on Public vote This technique has mainly to do with a manager being transparent with their team, showing them the problems that the team is facing, internally and externally and in the meantime giving them the opportunity to be a part of the solution. Wake up calls As a facilitator and a supervisor, you should always be ready to use some energiser actions to revital your team’s energy tank. You can also use energizers randomly throughout a working day to make everyone relax and raise their moral. Energisers examples: Sync Claps: This circle exercise is simple, but challenging and very effective for generating focus and alignment in a group. (https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/sync-claps) Dealing with conflict It's important to note that one of the main jobs of a facilitator is to make a team bond and help them overcome internal conflicts. So, a facilitator must be very skilful in conflict resolution, in order to help colleagues, deal with any conflict between them. It’s equally important for a facilitator to not seek an absolute resolution of the problem between the subjects but just act as a referee and help them talk together in a certain conversation “frame” that doesn’t let them escalate the conflict with the use of toxic language. Conflict in the workplace can be based on different facts, misunderstandings, values, and outside issues, but these conflicts are very normal to exist, but it’s not expected for staff to start conversations and try to solve the problems between them by themselves. The conversation starter and identifier of the problem must always be a facilitator with the right knowledge to solve the problem. But as is written above if the facilitator identifies that the problem cannot be fully resolved they should then try to present in a way the problem in order for both parties reach a certain understanding. Creation of a safe space