Re: facilitation
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net)
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 11:10:01 -0600 (MDT)
>Also, do most groups have a core group of facilitators or does anyone who
>wants to facilitate?
>
>Becky
>Tucson, AZ

Absolutely do not rotate facilitation among "everyone" or "just anybody". 
We used to do it and it was not successful. A would-be facilitator might 
learn something from using the group as a guinea pig, but the loss of 
efficiency is significant. 

(In 1986 I spent much of the year on the elected City Council of the 
500-person Great Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament, as we walked 4000 
miles cross country, with meetings of many hours, often daily. With the 
same group of Council members, we had various facilitators on different 
days, and it was dramatically apparent that it made a difference in what 
we accomplished and how we felt afterwards.)

Most groups have people who are naturally better at this, because of 
their previous experiences and training, or their natural skills. If so, 
let them do it, and recognize this as valuable work, equivalent to other 
tasks serving the community. Give them a budget for training, too, so 
they can go to useful workshops, buy appropriate books, and so forth. 
They then can administer organizing workshops for the group as a whole. 
They can also focalize the process of choosing a standard format for your 
agenda and decision-making. We have been using the process outlined in 
CTButler's "On Conflict and Consensus", modified slightly from group 
input to address concerns as they are listed instead of after generating 
a whole list, when it seems helpful. 

After switching to more qualified facilitators, we made another big 
improvement, on Rob Sandelin's advice, and made the facilitators a team, 
rather than a pool of individuals who took turns doing the job. So even 
when A is facilitating, B and C are in the room consciously supporting 
and observing. A can call a break to consult with B and C. The team meets 
between meetings to strategize and evaluate, looking at the specific 
issues, individuals, and potential problems. 

The facilitation team also periodically holds discussion circles about 
things like group process, meeting process and so forth. We had an 
interesting one recently to address tensions between the "expediency" 
oriented, and those who want more discussion, more thoroughness, and more 
process. We still have various tolerances and desires, but we now 
understand each other better. 

Overall, our process has improved steadily, and I think it is in large 
part due to the efforts and educational outreach of our facilitation 
team. (It has 4 members; our meetings usually have about 20 participants.)

Lynn Nadeau
RoseWind Cohousing , Port Townsend Wa
http://www.olypen.com/sstowell/rosewind
>
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