Facilitation skills help organize collaborative work processes among team members, contributing to improving the quality of meeting outcomes and discussions. Part I of this article discussed the definition of facilitation skills, their benefits, and techniques and offered practical examples of their applications. Part II explores the challenges of applying these skills and how to overcome them.
Overcoming Facilitation Challenges
Here are five challenges that a facilitator may encounter when working within a team framework:
1. Bias and Discrimination
Biases and prejudgments are formed based on an individual's life experiences. They become ingrained in the subconscious and influence decisions and behaviors, including facilitation processes. These biases affect the quality of group discussions and the resulting outcomes.
For example, if the facilitator is responsible for organizing a meeting among team members to solve a specific issue, their personal bias towards a particular solution may unintentionally steer the conversation in that direction, leaving out many ideas and viewpoints. These personal biases can reduce the number of proposed ideas, affecting the quality of the decision-making process.
This issue can be mitigated by recognizing personal biases, acting impartially and objectively during discussions, and encouraging participants to share their viewpoints while ensuring that all suggestions are valued and considered.
2. Change Resistance
Team members may fear change, so they resist updating work methodologies and struggle to adapt to new facilitation techniques.
This transition can be facilitated by gradually adopting new facilitation techniques over time within team meetings and having the facilitator model these techniques as a role model for team members. This approach encourages team members to employ facilitation techniques while gradually highlighting their advantages.
3. Participant Engagement Variation
How participants interact and communicate impacts how well discussions accomplish their desired goals. Some individuals make strong statements and control the conversation, while others may hesitate and find it difficult to speak up or share their viewpoints. Facilitation skills ensure that all team members are engaged in the discussion and that all presented viewpoints are considered.
This issue can be overcome by applying techniques that provide participants equal opportunities to share their ideas and perspectives, clarifying the speaking time allocated for each person. The facilitator should ensure that all team members participate in the discussion by directing questions specifically to reserved and quiet members and asking for their opinions.
However, the facilitator can implement organized activities or divide participants into smaller groups so that they can participate in decision-making processes and problem-solving within a limited environment.
4. Building Trust and Managing Emotions
Trust is essential for teamwork and facilitation processes to succeed in reaching objectives, especially when emotions run high during sensitive topic discussions.
For example, team members may discuss sensitive topics about past tragedies and personal experiences. These discussions evoke frustration, anger, sadness, and vulnerability. In such delicate situations, the facilitator's role requires showing empathy for participants and ensuring that the discussion proceeds constructively, respecting each team member's emotions.
Building trust among team members requires demonstrating empathy and respect and fostering open and transparent communication. Privacy policies should be clarified to protect sensitive and private information and to stop it from being shared or distributed without the owner's consent.
5. Time Constraints
Time constraints and the rapid pace of business operations pose an additional challenge for the facilitator responsible for organizing meetings. Companies require facilitators to maximize their time while maintaining the quality of the discussions. Overcoming this challenge necessitates preparing a detailed agenda for the meeting and ensuring that team members adhere to the included key topics.
Session objectives should be defined, prioritizing key topics based on the allocated meeting time. This organization ensures that main topics are addressed in the allotted time without extending the meeting duration or deferring decision-making to a later session. Visual facilitation techniques can save time as they help consolidate information into easily digestible formats. Additionally, it is essential to distribute time evenly across session topics and not allow any topic to exceed its allocated time, which requires steering the conversation back to the main topic when it strays.
Facilitation Tools and Resources
Here are some tools and resources available for applying facilitation procedures within a team framework:
1. Facilitation Guides
Many companies and professional associations provide guides and useful resources to help implement facilitation procedures. These guides usually include practical tips, techniques, and approaches to facilitating team discussions, decision-making processes, and problem-solving.
2. Visual Facilitation Tools
Visual facilitation tools such as whiteboards, diagrams, and sticky notes enhance the quality of discussions and improve visual thinking capabilities. Digital tools that organize collaborative work and online visual facilitation, such as virtual whiteboards and document-sharing platforms, are also available.
3. Collaboration Software
Many collaboration software programs, such as project management platforms, video conferencing tools, and libraries for storing shared documents, help organize online collaborative work processes among team members. These tools are beneficial for organizing workflows, effective communication, and collaboration among individuals in different geographical areas.
4. Training and Workshops
Participating in workshops and training programs can improve facilitation skills and the ability to lead group discussions. Various platforms provide interactive exercises and assessments as part of training programs that are customized to each user's needs and preferred learning style. You can also register for online training sessions and study materials at your convenience.
Additionally, it is recommended to collaborate with a coach or mentor specialized in facilitation to receive support, feedback, and guidance customized to your specific needs.
In Conclusion
Facilitation skills are crucial in professional relationships, enabling individuals to navigate complex discussions, understand differing perspectives, and produce positive results. Listening, effective communication, and conflict resolution skills strengthen relationships, build trust, and achieve collective goals. Based on the above, you should develop your facilitation skills to improve your interpersonal relationships and succeed in your life.
