Definition: facilitate v.t. to make easy

The aim of facilitation is to provide enough information and the appropriate environment to allow people to apply the subject for themselves
Oxford English Dictionary

Facilitation means drawing out the ideas, experience and beliefs of a group so that they arrive at conclusions and decisions that are really theirs and for which they are willing and able to take responsibility.

A facilitator is therefore the person responsible for focusing a group's efforts towards its objectives.

Because the facilitator is visibly positioned in the group, this person has the ability to create bias within the team either intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, the role of facilitator is to manage the meeting structure while remaining neutral regarding the meeting content.

The meeting content is the responsibility of the team. This position of neutrality must be understood and practised by the facilitator if the team's potential is to be fully reached. Any facilitator who becomes involved heavily in the team's content issues, runs the risk of reducing team involvement, trust and openness. Below are definitions of structure and content.

Structure

Fulfils the "how" questions

• How the meeting's issues and subjects are dealt with
• How the meeting proceeds in terms of agenda and team tools
• How discussions take place
• How decision tools are used
• How formats, flip charts, and involvement take place
• How the meeting's physical environment will be arranged

Content

Answers the "what" questions.

• What are the meeting's subject, issues, problems, analysis, recommendations and supporting data?
• What issues will be dealt with in what sequence?

As shown by the following illustration, a team's effectiveness is heightened when members understand both structure and content issues.



Comparison of Facilitator with Other Roles

Comparing facilitation with other roles in meetings, specifically those of Trainer, Leader and Project Manager, we see that effectively the facilitator has the following characteristics whilst in the meeting:

• Avoids contributing to the content of the discussion
• Focuses on the process of the interactions
• Remains neutral
• Ensures actions are agreed but neither allocates nor volunteers for any themselves
• Shows no involvement in the topic of the meeting

If the facilitator is an expert in some aspect of the content of the meeting and is asked to talk as an expert, then they need to step out of their facilitation role and into an expert role. In other words they have to state to the group that they are moving out of one role and into another one.

One of the skills of a facilitator is to plan the meeting in advance with the meeting owner and ensure that activities such as chairing or note taking are met by other participants. It is very difficult for a facilitator to take minutes and also to chair a meeting.

It is often tempting for a project leader or a manger to say they will undertake the role of facilitating the meeting. Whilst the techniques mentioned here can help in these roles, our experience shows that in really difficult meetings the prime role of manager or project leader tends to overshadow that of facilitator and this can result in an unproductive meeting.