Facilitation 101
Part 1
Samantha Dawe, ACIPR, BA Hons
(London), began her career working in
the publishing industry, before moving
into PR consultancy. She then spent
over 20 years working in strategic and
marketing communications, advising
a diverse range of organizations across
different territories and sectors. She
has trained, coached, tutored, and
mentored others in communication
and interpersonal skills. She has been
involved with change management
and employee engagement programs
and currently works for global
manufacturing business.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94744-152-1 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
Samantha Dawe
Abstract: Good facilitation can make all the difference
in achieving action-focused outcomes from a meeting
that are agreed by all participants. Being able to facilitate
effectively is deemed an important skill for managers in
today’s workplace. The facilitator’s role in a meeting or
any group session is to ensure the whole experience is
positive, professional and inclusive and delivers tangible
results. This article introduces some of the basic con-
cepts behind good facilitation and offers some practical
guidance.
Keywords: action-focused, facilitation skills, interaction,
participation, productive meetings
Introduction
Facilitation is not necessary at every meeting you might
be asked to run or that you might be asked to attend.
Where it is used, facilitation has the power to turn a
“meeting” into a productive working session where
participants come away thinking that it was a positive
use of their time. It is a pity that the term “facilitation”
sounds so pedestrian. This skill is anything but boring—
it requires your full attention, the ability to “think on
your feet” and to draw the best out of people.
It can be vital for planning sessions, resolving differ-
ences within teams or sticking points in projects, and
encouraging communication and participation in any
group situation. It can be used when working with com-
munity or interest groups, particularly when different
parties need to agree on how to move forward or focus
on a key initiative together. It is also a skill that is used in
training sessions, often to help the trainer gauge under-
standing or learning that the whole group has developed.
The Cambridge Business English Dictionary defines
facilitation as: “the act of helping other people to deal
with a process or reach an agreement or solution with-
out getting directly involved in the process, discussion,
etc yourself.”
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 Facilitation 101
Even in an academic or professional work
environment it can be much more chal-
lenging than you expect, especially if you
have not prepared or do not have some guide-
lines, processes, and methods to draw on.
Yet a good facilitator is still authentic
and will have his or her own style. You will
find that as you start to facilitate more and
more, you will go on to develop your very
own “toolkit” to help you. You will observe
how others facilitate and pick up ideas and
tips. You will see that you become more
and more adaptable and able to cope with
different situations as you practice and
develop this skill.
If you are clear about some of the key
roles of a facilitator, it is a good starting
point from which to build out from. We
may summarize the three key components
of facilitation for any meeting or session as
follows:
1. The discussion is framed.
2. The main points are debated by everyone.
3. Key takeaways are summarized.
However, to be a good facilitator, you also
need to develop a skill set that will enable
you to deliver on these three components
in as efficient a way as possible.
As a facilitator, you are there to make an
action or process easy or easier, without
taking charge of the discussion. Effective
facilitation of a meeting allows the direc-
tion of a discussion, within the confines
of an outline agenda and/or determined
objectives, to be guided by the group. It can
be a big challenge for some executives who
are used to leading discussions, and taking
decisions. That is because it can challenge
our ability to remain objective.
Remaining Objective
Key Role #1
The first key role of a facilitator is to develop
an ability to remain objective. Sometimes,
it can help to imagine yourself physically
distanced from the discussion. What might
“remaining objective” mean in practice?
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■■ Giving equal value to all opinions—don’t
judge or be seen to judge
■■ Not imposing your opinion
■■ Not solely focusing on participants who
have the same opinion as you do
■■ Seeking actively to understand the per-
spectives of others, and indeed of all
­participants in the group
■■ Recognizing whether you are emotion-
ally invested in the subject and being
able to put that aside for the purpose of
the discussion.
Reflect on this question: Do you need to
be a subject matter expert in a particular
instance to be able to facilitate the discus-
sion? Most of the time, the answer will be
no. Sometimes being one step removed from
the subject can help you be more objective.
Facilitation Is Not Presenting
Great presenters talk to their audience.
Although increasingly becoming more
interactive, presenting is mainly about you
speaking to the audience, directly and with
authority. When facilitating for the first
time, many people make the mistake of
thinking that they need to present. You are
not trying to persuade people, and neither
are you the authority in this case.
Great facilitators, once they have framed
the discussion, check for understanding,
and then they need to listen. A lot of active
listening is done, which we will cover later.
Facilitators may also be noting responses . . .
and getting ready to ask questions or prompt
further reflection on a theme or topic.
People in the meeting should be encour-
aged to participate and interact with each
other, reflect on others’ views, and learn
from each other. Here the communication
process can be a five-way, 10-way, even a
25-way process, depending on the number
of people present in the session.
Remember: As a facilitator, always keep
in mind the outcome and how you are
helping the group to reach it. It is the group
that needs to reach conclusions or agree on
actions, together.
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 Facilitation 101
Facilitating and Chairing a Meeting
Working with groups on facilitation skills,
I have found participants describing their
experience and saying that they had chaired
meetings. By the end of the session, most
will have commented on how they now saw
the difference between chairing and facili-
tating a meeting or discussion. The best
meeting chairs see themselves as facilitators.
While they have to get through an agenda
and make sure that important issues are
discussed, decisions are made, and actions
taken, good chairs do not feel that they have
all of the answers or should talk all the time.
Preparation Is Everything, Even
at Short Notice
If you have been asked to facilitate for the
first time, or even if you are an experienced
facilitator, preparation is everything. This
does not mean that you have to spend weeks
getting ready. In fact you might come in one
morning and be asked by a colleague or exec-
utive to facilitate a session that afternoon.
Preparation here means making an effort
before the session to understand the out-
come that needs to be achieved. This may
be something you can prepare yourself if
you have called the meeting or, if you have
been asked to run the session by someone
else, gaining a full understanding of their
specific objective(s).
It is also important to know the number of
participants who will be attending or who can
be expected to attend; how familiar the par-
ticipants are with the subject you are focus-
ing on; and how well they know each other.
Answering these questions up front will
help you understand and be able to respond
to the dynamics of the group more easily.
Getting Organized
You need to know where you are facilitat-
ing and what facilities you will have in the
room/work space. Some basic consider-
ations are as follows:
■■ Is the room clearly marked/do people
know where they are meant to go?
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■■ Are there windows in the room—with
blinds if the sun comes in?
■■ Are there adjustable temperature controls
for room comfort?
■■ Is the lighting adequate?
■■ Will there be a flip chart or whiteboard or
presenting screen ready for you?
■■ Are there multicolored pens for writing
information up on boards, or do you need
to take some?
■■ Can you put sticky tape or stick tack on
the walls or partitions? If not, what alter-
native can you use if you want to post up
sheets/paper?
■■ Have you got enough sticky notes for
everyone, and options perhaps to use dif-
ferent colors?
■■ Do you need to prepare or take mood
boards or other visuals of any sort?
■■ Will you be asking people to write notes?
If so, take extra paper and pens in case
they do not bring any.
■■ Will there be Wi-Fi or an Internet connec-
tion? Do you need to access the Internet
in the facilitated session, and if so have
you tested the connection?
■■ If you need to show some video content,
is the AV kit installed ready?
■■ Is there a fire alarm drill/test scheduled
that day? If so, what time?
■■ Will there be refreshments in the room,
or a watercooler?
■■ Is there a need to go outside the room for
refreshments?
■■ Have you made enough allowance for
breaks and allowed enough time to get
people back in the room?
■■ Is there enough space for breakout groups
as well as for chairs and tables, etc?
■■ Do people need to have familiarized them-
selves with any sort of content before the
session? Do you have a copy of that con-
tent as a backup?
Don’t forget to make sure participants’
basic workday needs are met: Water, ­caffeine,
food, and a break every 1.5 to 2 hours. For
long sessions and ­workshops, it is best to have
someone outside the room in an administrative
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