The Magic of Facilitation
By Steve Hanamura
"Why do people do what they do?" and "Do people
find meaning in what they do?" are questions which have been
on my mind for quite sometime. This is especially true when I
am asked by managers and teachers for assistance on how to motivate
people into action. I tell them that people will do what is most
important to them at the time. For those who are lost and have
no direction for their life, they too will operate from a position
of taking care of their most immediate needs.
As a child no more than six years old, I knew that I wanted to
be a leader. In my young mind I perceived that to be a leader
meant you were a person of power and authority. People would obey
you and do what you told them to do. I liked the idea of having
that kind of power. I wanted to boss people around.
Later in life I was to learn the complexity of leadership. Beyond
power and authority, a leader is also someone who has influence
and can even serve others. A leader can impact both individuals
and groups.
Privilege, Mission, Responsibility
My first professional job was as a counselor and teacher at Lane
Community College in Eugene, Oregon. The initials L.C.C. were
significant because many thought of our schools as "Last
Chance College. Yet those of us on campus knew that for many it
would be their "first chance." The students who came
to campus varied in age, interest, skills and abilities. It was
our job to help these students find purpose and direction for
their life.
One of my early mentors was a man named Bill Wright. He was a
seasoned counselor, teacher and group facilitator. I remember
wanting to grow and become just like him. His ability to lead
groups was unbelievable; he was a master at this craft. Bill told
me very early in my career that it would not be possible to become
like him. He said, "You need to become yourself and then
you will become a good facilitator." I didn't quite know
what he meant but I trusted what he said. He went on to say that
our work was about three things: privilege, mission and responsibility.
It is a privilege because our students are allowing us into parts
of their life that are uncomfortable. They trust us to guide them
through difficulties during their college journey. It is a mission
because we must help them find and define their purpose in life.
This will influence the goals they make, choices about who they
will spend time with and most importantly help them to get in
touch with the roots or core values that will drive what they
do and how they live. Finally it is a responsibility to help them
develop themselves to their fullest potential. In order to do
that we as professionals must be responsible to always be at our
best. This means we must take care of ourselves, continue to develop
our own skills and make sure that you know about yourself so you
can be totally present with them.
Bill helped me learn about some key distinctions which would
ultimately influence how I was to function later in life. "Steve,"
he said, "some people who lead groups are merely technicians;
they need to also strive to become artists.
Others will merely do skills development, but they also need
to work on developing character. Still others will focus so much
on helping people figure out what to do, that they forget to help
develop who they are. Get to the core of who they are," he
said, "and that is where true magic can happen in their lives
individually and collectively.
These early teachings from Bill Wright have influenced my thinking
on what it means to be a leader, trainer, teacher and facilitator.
It is truly an art form if done properly. I have been privileged
to do training, teach classes and facilitate groups and before
we go any further in this paper it may be helpful to make some
distinction between these terms.
Trainer, Teacher, Facilitator
The words trainer, teacher and facilitator are used interchangeably
in many settings, but in fact are not the same. Robert Hayles
says it is important to know how you think about these distinctions
and it is equally important to know how your audience may think
about them, too.
He says that some people, when they hear the word trainer automatically
think of training animals; others will think of military training.
Therefore, it becomes imperative at the outset to make your working
definition clear to your audience.
Professionally those who go into training are thought to be people
who have bubbly personalities, carry a bag of tricks (i.e. ice
breakers, games, etc) and a tool kit (flip charts, markers, and
an awesome PowerPoint presentation). Trainers teach skills and
have defined outcomes for their audiences. They may also teach
or train knowledge. One of the pitfalls of training is that sometimes
organizations will send individuals for training so "institutional
problems" can be fixed. Training individuals in skill development
does not address organizational problems or those things where
the infrastructure needs to be redone or modified.
Hayles says that teachers teach knowledge and are more interested
in the process of discovery. They are interested in the "whole
person" and their classes are often content driven. Teaching
is a blend of giving students the content, stimulating discussions
about the content and then helping them arrive at their own conclusions.
Teaching, like training, is often driven by standards or competencies
of acceptance. Historically teachers were revered and viewed as
people of high prestige and this is still true in many international
cultures. However, today in our American culture, according to
Hayles, "we beat them up and even shoot them." Teachers
are often thought of as "less than" or not taken seriously
for their worth and contribution.
A facilitator is someone who may or may not have any knowledge
about the content of the group she/he is working with. They are
"process driven" and their goal is to help two or more
parties engage with each other in conversation. They help people
talk and listen to each other so they can mutually arrive at a
shared outcome or destination. An effective facilitator must:
- Remain neutral so they can help both parties talk with each
other and arrive at commonly agreed upon outcomes
- Possess the ability to be "process oriented" or
be able to focus on the process (the "how")
- Be knowledgeable about their own beliefs systems and not
allow those systems to interfere with the process if the group
is going somewhere that would conflict with the individual facilitator's
beliefs
- Be aware of their own hot buttons which would make it hard
to remain objective
- Possess the ability to help participants overcome their resistance
to change
- Have a basic knowledge of differences in culture and also
know what cultures are represented in the room (this is also
helpful for trainers and teachers though not as necessary as
it is for facilitators)
- Be able to refer participants to resources that go beyond
the scope of the particular class or group session
- Know when to remove yourself as a facilitator if your personal
beliefs or values would conflict with the direction and purpose
for the group
Inclusion, Control, Openness
The late Will Schutz, perhaps one of the best facilitators in
the world, says that all groups go through three phases - inclusion,
control and openness. During the inclusion phase individuals are
trying to determine the level of significance or insignificance
they feel in the group. The degree to which they experience being
treated as people of significance (value) may have some impact
on how productive they become. Those who feel isolated or insignificant
will withhold information, withdraw from conversation or may choose
to leave the organization entirely.
Control has to do with issues of competence and incompetence.
When groups of people meet and are asked to change a task or process
often times resistance will occur because you are asking individuals
to do something they are not comfortable doing. That discomfort,
in part, may be due to a lack of knowledge and/or skills. Very
few organizations allow time for failure; they spend little time
in re-equipping people with new skills to do what it is they are
now asking them to do. By nature, some of us are more controlling
than others. Those in control are more sensitive to structure,
while others are more "laid back."
Openness relates to issues concerning our personal environment.
Is it safe to be who we really are, to be authentic? Openness
is often confused with terms like
"Let's be honest," "Come straight to me if you
have a problem," or "Our problem is that we can't communicate
with each other." Communication and the lack of honesty is
rarely the problem. Instead it has to do with how open and free
the environment is for people to bring their full contribution
to the forefront. Openness is tied up with concerns of like and
dislike and is impacted by different cultural views. Some individuals
may come from a culture where personal connections and building
relationships must be established prior to conducting business.
Other cultures reflect a "let's just cut to the chase, don't
take things personally" attitude. The role of the facilitator
may be to help an organization understand these differences and
to have a conversation about how they can work together to reach
mutual objectives.
Honest communication must be preceded by creating ground rules
for conversation. Boundaries on what and how people talk with
each other should be established and then agreed upon by all members
of the work group.
The statement, "It's a free country and I can say what I
want" does not mean what we think it means. Truthful conversations
done in a constructive manner requires forethought and respect
so all people will feel treated fairly and justly. Dialog can
best occur when individuals are encouraged to share who they are
and what they think in a way that allows for an atmosphere of
openness. This requires a lot of hard work.
Additional Skills
In addition to the attributes already listed for a facilitator
they must also possess the following skills:
- Listening - not only to what is being said, but for what is
not said then build bridges where they see gaps in the communications
process
- A basic knowledge of how groups function - do homework on
group norms not only globally but also norms that are specific
to the culture of the group you are working with.
- Knowledgeable about different cultures within the organization
or educational institution (e.g. engineers, marketing people,
Latinos, Asians, international individuals/groups, etc.)
- Possess the ability to give constructive feedback and coaching
to individuals
- Ability to describe the dynamics you see going on in the room.
This may include pointing out discrepancies between what you
see and what is being said.
- Know how to describe your own discomfort in the room and be
able to describe specific behaviors that you notice - there
may be many.
- Have faith in the process. This is when the magic of facilitation
comes alive.
- Ability to endure a certain amount of discomfort. There will
come a time in the facilitation process where the group will
appear to be floundering. The facilitator must learn when to
allow for silence, and when to intervene. You will need to really
be in touch with your own level of discomfort and tolerance
for such ambiguity.
Floundering is an interesting phenomenon where the group begins
to move from a comfortable level of conversing with one another
to a new level where the real issues need to surface. The participants
want to push forward but are fearful about what will happen or
how they will be received. Inevitably someone in the group will
eventually push everyone to the next level. It may come in the
form of a personal disclosure which helps bring people closer
together, or it may be an individual who has never spoken up in
group meetings providing some new insights. Now the group will
be ready to actually work on any business operational needs and
your job is to merely let them do it. They begin to manage and
facilitate themselves at that point.
The magic comes because you as a facilitator never know who it
will be or where it will come from, but you learn to "trust
the process". The mystery of facilitation is that you can
see people change. With all of the studying we do on group development
and group dynamics, there is a piece of the work that is unknown,
it just happens. Personal and business results begin to evolve
and that is the most gratifying part of the whole work.
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