Facilitation

Facilitation is used in a variety of fields including training, experiential learning, dispute resolution and negotiation. It can be said that the process of helping groups or individuals to learn, find solutions, or reach results with the agreement of the parties.

Facilitating individuals or groups as a team or business partners provides the opportunity to learn for themselves or find answers to problems without control or manipulation. Facilitators need good communication skills such as listening, asking questions and giving good feedback.

The goal of this process is for the team or co-founders or managers to build trust, open communication, clarify key roles and responsibilities, and create goals. An effective personal development plan and a mentoring agreement should be established between the facilitator and the people within the team.

Facilitation is as much an art as it is a scientific skill. It is a skill that is acquired through interaction with teams. Understanding human behavior in the workplace is one of the keys to success. A healthy team is a system, just as a company is a system.

In a vacuum, the emergence of a good team rarely happens. Senior managers and facilitators need to be in direct contact with the team to support progress toward their goal. Newly formed teams or newcomers need more careful monitoring. The facilitator and team leader must respect the ability of the team members so that they can take responsibility for their own success.

What is facilitation and how can we acquire this skill and add this role to our team?

When to use a facilitator?

Facilitation is effective when co-founders or team members see obstacles to achieving the goals of the team or company or startup that they themselves are unable to overcome. Sometimes differences between members are an obstacle, and sometimes there is a lack of mutual understanding, and sometimes there is a lack of transparency, and of course there are other reasons for creating these obstacles.

Senior managers and their team leaders need to be a facilitator, and facilitation is one of their skills, but sometimes obstacles stand in the way of senior managers or managers need help from an outside facilitator.

What is the goal ?

Facilitation may be done to root out and resolve disputes between co-founders, or it may be to build trust, open communication, clarify roles, key responsibilities, and review and create goals in the team.

How to receive facilitation services?

The facilitation process begins with the creation of rules, expectations, time frames, goals and criteria for success, and requires the active participation of all. The facilitator, of course, uses different techniques to engage and advance the meetings.

Facilitation is mainly done during face-to-face meetings with the presence of facilitation applicants, but during the process there may also be a need for mentoring, team building or coaching sessions, which after discussion with senior executives and assessing their need over the phone. And can be done online and in person.

Do certain rules have to be followed by individuals to facilitate?

Yes, it certainly is. I recommend that you read the article whose link is placed in the text at the top of this page. This article discusses some of these rules.