When, Why, and How To Use A Facilitator?

Many times in the course of your work as a manager or leader, you will face the question of whether or not to bring in a facilitator to help with a meeting or intervention. It may be you need to design and conduct a strategy session, hold a technical development meeting, or help a team work together better.

Whatever the event, there are times when a facilitator can make all the difference. Here are just a few examples of when using a facilitator may be the smartest way to go:

1. When a team is in conflict with itself, with its leaders, or with the organization around it, and the level of conflict is affecting overall performance;

2. When a group is engaging in long term strategic planning and needs everyone's participation, including the leader and other members who might normally be able to facilitate;

3. When a team or work group is engaged in complex technical problem solving or product development and an objective methodology is needed to keep the group on task and focused;

4. When any major problem faces the group or team and unique solutions and out of the box thinking are required to address it.

5. When executives are in need of leader who has no agenda except to help them deal with their immediate issues or challenges.

Facilitators are brought into organizations when scenarios like the ones above are unfolding because facilitators are professionally trained agents of change. To move you off the dime and into new territory of possibility, the facilitator is trained to:

1. Create learning and listening environments where all parties in the process get air time and respect for their ideas, opinions and feelings;

2. Use methodologies that foster creativity and innovation in the ordinary process of meeting together; that is, facilitators know how to get the best out of people right in the work environment and everyday meeting space, as well as they do in exotic off-site locations;

3. Recognize and optimize the conflict that exists between members of teams and work groups. So, instead of shying away from those conflicts, facilitators use the conflicts as staging points for break through ideas and agreements;

4. Keep teams and work groups on track in terms of goals and outputs by managing time and work during the meeting effectively;

5. Control the group dynamics so that no dominating force can hijack the meeting and so that no one agenda can overpower the agenda of the whole team;

6. Generate creative consensus. This is more than managing participants into compromises – it implies helping teams work as hard as it takes to discover solutions and approaches to challenges and problems that are truly collaborative;

7. Use knowledge of how people learn and communicate to be sure individuals get a chance to experience some measure of personal growth during facilitated sessions.

Even if a facilitator is brought into the organization to help in the ways we have listed above, he or she will not be successful unless certain criteria for managing the facilitator are properly addressed and dealt with. Some of these are:

1. The facilitator has to be properly introduced to the group This is primarily to defuse anxiety and help him establish relationships with each of the members;

2. Facilitators need support – such as good work space, adequate presentation technologies and environments, and an awareness about how things work around the place. For off-site meetings, it's best if facilitators are included in choosing the place and the overall agenda. They can help you make a good choice based on what she will know about the human dynamics within the team. In addition, they can be expected to assist in the design of the session itself, so they too can have ownership in the results.

3. The facilitator needs information. One of the biggest challenges facilitators face when coming into companies and organizations is finding out what's really going on. The more he knows, the better he can help the group deal with it. Remember, facilitators are highly professional people, not only do they sign confidentiality agreements, their whole careers are based on their being able to comply with them.

4. The facilitator needs to be totally aware of what the group wants to achieve in the session or sessions. For longer term projects, the facilitator may actually help in establishing the outcomes of a process and the performance strategies to support them. Even in short term interventions, facilitators can help you get where you're going when they are clear about your requirements for success.

5. The facilitator needs feedback. Most good facilitators are that way in no small measure because they are open to learning themselves. If something is going well, tell them what and why it seems right, and if there is a problem, relate that as well. Facilitators tend to be flexible and are actually proud of their ability to be agile. When necessary, they can add and change as they go along. With honest and timely feedback delivered as professionally as the facilitator would deliver it, mid-course corrections and ongoing adjustments are what they are known for.

6. Don't make the facilitator the fall “guy.” Sometimes the facilitator is cast as the messenger of bad tidings, the revealer of horrible truths. That's a set-up. Take accountability for the issues and insights the facilitator may help you unearth and recognize. After all, that may be a big part of the reason you hired him – namely to help you grasp and deal with the truth, whatever it might be.

7. Give the facilitator license to try new things. You brought her in for the sake of a new perspective and an objective eye on the situation. Now let her work her particular form of magic by being open to the new and various group techniques and interaction strategies that she will use to get you where you want to go. Remember – you want her to break new ground, get you out of ruts, and help you recognize and embark on new ways of working and thinking.

These are a few of the guidelines that can help you be sure the facilitator you use will assure that your program or intervention is successful. At McVinney & Company we work with our customers to be sure that they are supported superbly in reaching their work and relational goals by superior facilitation. But, we know that to be truly successful as a facilitating agent, you need a customer who understands the role and potential of the facilitator they have. We will enjoy working with you to assure that the outcomes you seek in your meetings or interventions are achieved. Furthermore, we will help you by establishing a facilitation process that fits your culture while stretching you in new and exciting ways. We congratulate you for the wisdom to see that help is essential in creating a future you can call your own.