2. (pg. 5)
“This book is about helping work groups improve their
effectiveness by using facilitative skills.”
Some basic
questions:
•What is a work group?
•What is a Group Facilitator?
What is the
point?
3. Group facilitation
includes:
I. A Work
Group
II. A
Facilitator
III. A
Process
IV. A Result
4. A Work Group is:
a collection of people
striving to achieve a
common goal.
5. (pg.
A Facilitator is: 5)
“a person whose selection is acceptable to all the
members of the
group,
-- who is substantively
neutral,
-- and who has no substantive decision-making
authority”
who:
“diagnoses and intervenes to help a group
improve how it identifies and solves
problems and makes decisions, to increase
the group’s effectiveness”
6. A Process is:
•How a group
works
together
The Result . . .
8. (pg. 7-8)
A word about the Facilitator: What is
the job?
•Substantively neutral
•Not a group member
•Works for the entire
group
-- Basic facilitation
-- CLARITY--
-- Developmental
facilitation
9. (pg. 8)
Useful in a Range of Roles
•Facilitative Consultant
•Facilitative Coach
•Facilitative Trainer
•Facilitative Leader
10. (pg. 6)
The Skilled Facilitator Approach
•Core Values
•Core Principles
•Techniques and
Methods
•A Systemic Approach
11. The Group Effectiveness Model (pg. 7)
•Identifies criteria for effective
groups
•Identifies elements that
contribute to effectiveness
•Describes what these
elements look like in practice
12. (pg. 9)
Explicit Core Values
•Valid
Information
•Free and Informed
Choice
•Internal
Commitment
•Compassion
13. (pg. 9-10)
Ground Rules:
“. . . make specific the abstract core values of
facilitation and group effectiveness.”
•Diagnostic tool – to identify dysfunctional group
behavior
•Teaching tool – for developing effective group
norms
•Guide -- for facilitator
behavior
14. (pg. 10)
Diagnosis-Intervention Cycle
A six step process
that is:
“. . . a structured and simple way
to think about what is happening
in the group and then intervene in
a way that is consistent with the
core values.”
15. (pg. 10-
Low-Level Inferences 11)
“By learning to think and intervene using low-level
inferences, we can increase the accuracy of our
diagnosis, improve our ability to share our thinking
with others, and reduce the chance of creating
defensive reactions when we do so.”
•Make the smallest inferential leaps
possible
•Don’t over react!
16. (pg. 11-12)
Exploring and Changing How We Think
“The Skilled Facilitator approach helps you understand the
conditions under which you act ineffectively, and understand how
your own thinking leads you to act ineffectively in ways that you
are normally unaware of.”
•You don’t know everything
•You aren’t always right
•Your motives aren’t always pure
The process is as much for the facilitator as it is for the
facilitatees.
17. (pg. 12)
A Process for Agreeing How to Work Together
--Must build a relationship with the
group
--A psychological contract
-- Informed and free choice
Group must define:
•Objectives of
facilitation
•Facilitator’s role
•Ground rules
Again, CLARITY
18. (pg. 13-
14)
A Systems Approach
•A group is a social
system
•Watch for unintended
consequences
•Treat the group as the
client
•Effective facilitator behavior and
effective group behavior are the same
thing
•Your system must be internally
consistent
Core values and principles!
19. (pg. 14-15)
The Experience of Facilitation
You are human, you have feelings, and they
affect your facilitation, negatively and
positively.
Group facilitation is a human
process, not a mathematical
formula
