You want to be a better facilitator. What tools can help you achieve that?

To become a better facilitator, it's important to not only set clear goals but also to 'set the container' for your sessions. This means creating a defined space – both physically and psychologically – where participants feel safe, valued, and ready to contribute. Start with a clear, achievable goal to guide the session's purpose. This can be stated simply at the start of the session, “By the end of this meeting, you will walk away with X.” Then, craft an agenda that not only outlines topics and timelines but also establishes norms and expectations for interaction. This approach ensures a focused, inclusive, and productive environment, driving better engagement and outcomes.

Identify a champion for the session who can approve and socialize the agenda and attendees. As the facilitator, you need business support to drive proper engagement. When drafting the agenda for the day, plan for more breaks than you think you need. This allows for buffer time as people generally talk for longer than you plan. A good rule is no block longer than 2 hours without a break. 90 minutes is often better depending on the audience. Set clear expectations at the meeting kickoff for who is taking notes, the flow of activities for the day, note taking, and follow up plan.

Un élément également indispensable est le cadre dans lequel se déroule l’atelier ou la réunion. Il est primordial que celui-ci soit co-construit avec les participants et que chacun s’engage à le respecter.

To become a more effective facilitator, leverage tools such as Miro or MURAL for collaborative online whiteboarding, promoting engagement and visual thinking. Use Zoom or Microsoft Teams for seamless virtual meetings, ensuring clear communication. Mentimeter or Poll Everywhere can enhance audience interaction through real-time polling and feedback. Develop strong active listening skills, employing platforms like Krisp.ai for noise cancellation. Foster inclusivity with tools like Slido to collect and prioritize participant questions. Lastly, utilize platforms like Trello or Asana for efficient task management and follow-up. Continuously seek feedback and attend workshops to refine your facilitation techniques for ongoing improvement.

You should always set goals for a workshop - the charter. This is developed from interviewing your participants - that also helps understand the participants so that the agenda supports their needs. Any meeting without an agenda is not a meeting - leave it.

Les ice-breakers et energizers sont des outils simples à utiliser et efficaces. Non seulement ils participent à favoriser l’engagement des participant’es mais ils permettent également d’instaurer une ambiance de bonne humeur dans le groupe. Lors des sessions à distance, quand les personnes sont chez elles, j’aime bien leur demander, en ice-breaker, de se lever et d’aller chercher un objet, un animal ou une personne qui participe à leur bien-être. En présentiel j’utilise souvent des cartes ou des dés spécifiques.

Join the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) to share learn from other facilitators. You will also see different styles of facilitation. Take classes from different trainers to learn more methods.

Where possible, getting insights from participants in order to design a session tailored to their needs, will boost their engagement. Designing also some of the activities within the session for people to take a leading role also boosts participation and engagement

Les ice-breakers, le photo-langage, l’utilisation de l’environnement sont des outils précieux dans la mise en dynamique et la création du lien entre les participants.

As a facilitator It is good to ask questions that are both productive and constructive, as well as to provide feedback. Getting information, clarify understanding, challenge assumptions, develop insights, and inspire debate through the use of questions. Acknowledging contributions, providing direction, reinforcing learning, and improving performance are all important reasons why feedback is necessary. In most cases, I reserve very final minute for question and answer sessions after meeting. You need to be able to master the art of asking questions that are open-ended, inquisitive, and introspective in order to be a facilitator. Feedback should not only specific but also timely, positive, and actionable.

Often, the group is resistant to some facilitation practice because it does not understand the gains behind that dynamic or because the dynamic is not connected with the context of the meeting. One way to combat resistance is to be transparent with the group, explain your intentions behind the action and empower the group so that they can adapt what was planned. Remember to always read the environment. This is essential for you to be able to adapt your plan.

Les évaluations à chaud à la fin de la séance, les évaluations à froid quelques jours plus tard et les évaluations ??glacées?? quelques semaines/mois après la séance sont des outils indispensables pour : - mesurer les impacts de l’atelier - évaluer les apprentissages et prises de conscience - améliorer sa pratique de facilitateur - apporter un fil conducteur et un suivi à l’atelier

Is really important to get feedback in order to improve. When doing onboardings in for our community we always launch a 5 minutes survey at the end, making sure everybody answers before they leave. We have got really good insights to improve this space, and also we have created a workshop for the digital platform we use to communicate with them, based on the results of the survey. It definitely help us to deliver what people are looking for

Collecting feedback is essential for you, as a facilitator, to evolve. There are several ways to do this and they all have pros and cons. For example, survey forms are the most traditional way. The positive side is that you get more detailed information, but the response rate from people is generally low. One tip I can give about feedback is that, if you do it during the session, use quick, unbureaucratic dynamics because people will be mentally tired at that moment. Dynamics such as Fast Feedback, One Word, Feedback Door help in these moments. Another feedback format is to ask people right after the meeting.

The use of a survey is a great way to receive feedback. I find open-source questions to be too vague to receive answers. I also believe you should target things to improve and ask about that specifically in your feedback.

Personally, I love connecting with and learning from other facilitators. The International Association of Facilitators is a global network of facilitators, and they have tons of resources, online events, global chapters, and more. Find a special interest group that aligns with your learning goals. For example, I've joined the Social Inclusion group since most of my work is in nonprofit and social change spaces. Another thing that's helped me grow is attending events and observing what facilitation techniques make me feel safe, encourage me to contribute, put me at ease, or make me disengage, and then implementing those learnings into my own style.

To be a better facilitator, get effective training, one that covers both people and process skills. Also check out the IAF for endorsed training - they cover what you need to know.

In my experience, leveraging data will be your key resource. Whenever I've faced competing priorities, using data at system level, has helped me to advocate for what is better at high level, and not for just a group.

I find asking someone who has limited experience in the topic is best. This allows them to come with no bias and to evaluate your ability to explain a subject from start to finish.

The main purpose of a facilitator should be to help your participants to move from one level to another level or the next level. Sometimes as a facilitator you just need to as leading questions to allow the participants to think outside the box. In most of my trainings this has helped in getting answers and helped move the team to a different level. Group discussions are also another way that create an enabling environment, as a team, participants are more effective in collaborating ideas and putting them into practice I believe asking leading questions and group discussions are crucial as a facilitator, a facilitator need not be a SME but should have the ability to work with the participants.

Facilitation is a skill! You have to be able to build an agenda, listen to the group and move them along too. Understand why there is resistance and speak about that in the room. Why do elements feel uncomfortable. Think about how you can create the safe spaces to facilitate Be adaptable, don't be rigid in your facilitation.

If you're in Belgium, take a look at Impact Valley's 4-day training "Train the Facilitator". There are also online courses that can help you.

I believe the key is to find your voice and your own path with facilitation skills. This will make you more confident in your approaches. Furthermore, it is necessary to understand the essence of facilitation and use this understanding to help the group achieve an outcome that is generally accepted by all. As it is a difficult skill, it is important to always practice.