What are the characteristics of a (good) facilitator?

This blog is one of a series of Facilitation Thoughts which look at various aspects of facilitation.

What makes a good facilitator? Different people have different styles and some qualities are needed more in certain settings.

A good facilitator has to communicate well. It sounds cliche, but the ability to speak clearly AND to listen well are important. Speaking clearly which means using words which the participants would understand and listening which reflects what is being said. In Guyana, creolese should be freely used and accepted in most parts of the coast.  Juliet Solomon worked as a community facilitator in Guyana's hinterland and noted that 'creole' is not often spoken there.

Some of the other characteristics are described here.

Empathy
Empathy is demonstrated in understanding that people have different experiences and ideas. Some sessions are organised, eg domestic violence, child abuse prevention, to change behaviours and ideas, and empathy helps in understanding how people form the ideas which they want to change.
Empathy is also demonstrated in employing participatory methods so that all persons in the group could contribute to the discussions and benefit from them.  A sense of humour is important. Empathy helps to understand when to change the tempo of a session so that people remain interested and engaged.

Organisation
A good facilitator must be organised. The facilitator is responsible for ensuring the materials - handouts, posters, etc and any equipment are ready.  The facilitator should keep the agenda organised so that activities and discussions are guided to the results , and to meet the expectations of the people in the session.

Diane Cummins added " the ability to think on your feet because things might not always go as planned, technology might fail etc  "

Creativity
Some sessions would require a facilitator to write or present information visually. Some facilitators have boxes of crayons and markers. Creativity is required to design the activities so that the group of people could work through the session. Creativity is also required when adjustments have to be made to the logistics of a room, or to any changes in the setting for the group or session. For example, if there is a late start to the session, then the facilitator would have to propose ways of adjusting the agenda.



Openness
Openness allows a facilitator to get feedback and to make adjustments so that the participants could benefit from the session. Openness requires confidence and humility at the same time. A willingness to learn and to do research are also important if a facilitator is to develop and to work with different groups in different settings. A good facilitator should do self-reflection and understand their strengths and weaknesses. I tend to ask to be choosen as a last resort for sessions with adolescents since I have to draw on more skills to ensure that I am not 'capricious/boring/talks too much/need more games' .

 Juliet Solomon explained this further "Openness becomes key when facilitating to gain ideas and opinions. The facilitator should have a clean and open slate and questions should be worded accordingly. This honesty bit helps as people then "trust" the process and contribute their ideas freely. They feel more valued. This can be so much fun"

Facilitation in a virtual environment

The virtual environment means that facilitators have to adapt and be creative. Working virtually means thinking of how to achieve the facilitation objectives in a very different space. 

 

It does not mean transferring the face to face, to the computer/tablet/smart phone. For example, presenters have to check the legibility of text on their presentations. In face to face , the presentations are magnified through projectors on to a wall - in this virtual environment, the viewers might be viewing on smart phones and smaller screens. So presentations have to be designed differently.

Take some time to learn the platform which you are going to use. Check on the increasing number of tools and learn how to use them. Be open to suggestions and ideas as to how to improve the interaction in the online session. 

 

Be mindful that participants might be coming in with different devices and there could be bandwidth problems.

You can download a simple checklist here. The checklist is not exhaustive. What are some of the characteristics , what are some of the other characteristics which you think are important?

Have a look at the other Facilitation blogs  .