How do you select the best co-facilitators for your team?

2 Seek diversity and complementarity

When choosing co-facilitators, you want to avoid having too many people who are similar to you or each other. Instead, you want to seek diversity and complementarity in terms of backgrounds, perspectives, styles, and roles. Diversity can help you reach out to different segments of your large group, foster creativity and innovation, and challenge assumptions and biases. Complementarity can help you balance each other's strengths and weaknesses, cover different aspects of the facilitation process, and support each other in challenging situations. For example, if you are a more analytical and structured facilitator, you might benefit from working with a more creative and flexible co-facilitator who can bring more energy and spontaneity to the group.

3 Check availability and commitment

Another factor to consider when selecting co-facilitators is their availability and commitment. You want to make sure that your co-facilitators have enough time and resources to prepare, deliver, and follow up on the facilitation. You also want to make sure that they are committed to the facilitation goals, objectives, and methods, and that they share your vision and values. You can check their availability and commitment by asking them about their current workload, priorities, and expectations, as well as by discussing the scope, timeline, and budget of the facilitation. You can also ask them to sign a co-facilitation agreement that outlines their roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?