University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents
The facilitator tool kit is a comprehensive, easy-to-use guide to tools, methods and techniques for assisting groups with planning and improvement projects and interactive meetings. Its clear, simple
explanations and directions lead the reader through the selection and application of practical tools that have been tested with university groups.
Facilitate means “to make easy.” As a facilitator, your job is to make the meeting easier for the participants. Your main task is to help the team or group increase its effectiveness by improving its processes. A facilitator manages the method of the meeting, rather than the content. Facilitators are concerned with how decisions are made instead of what decisions are reached.
Facilitator Responsibilities
- Intervene if the discussion starts to fragment
- Identify and intervene in dysfunctional behavior
- Prevent dominance and include everyone
- Summarize discussions and conversations
- Bring closure to the meeting with an end result or action
Facilitation Challenges
- Continually focusing on and attending to the group
- Being comfortable with ambiguity and information overload
- Processing misperceptions and emotional reactions
- Focusing exclusively on process rather than content
- Helping the group develop so they can ultimately work without facilitation
A facilitator is similar to the conductor of a symphony.
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