Facilitation 101

This page was created to provide tips and suggestions for activists related to facilitating meetings and events. This guide reflects several questions the HUB community has raised on facilitation. 

The information included comes from existing organizer databases and resources and advice from movement thinkers. A special thanks to HUB advisor Amara Possain, who thoughtfully shared their expertise with the HUB team. Their knowledge is shared throughout. We encourage readers to share further ideas on how this page can be expanded upon and improved.

This guide includes... definers of good vs bad facilitation, tools for good facilitation, suggestions for increasing participant engagement and suggestions for managing group dynamics.

What do we mean by facilitation?

The role of a facilitator is to drive meeting or event participants towards clarity. Facilitation move things forward and build momentum. Facilitators also bring participants back to the purpose of the event/meeting. Remembering your purpose is key, so that when someone is taking up too much space, the facilitator can remind that you'd like to bring us back to the purpose and our goals. -Amara Possain, HUB advisor

In other words, the role of a facilitator and the purpose of facilitation is to: Source: adapted from Meeting Facilitation: The No-Magic Method (Berit Lakey) and Seeds for Change.

Take responsibility for helping the group stay on track and move through the agenda within the available time.

Suggest how to move the group forward, rather than making decisions or plans for the group.

Regulate the flow of discussion.

Track decisions and milestones, providing clarity on the group's journey, clarifying and summarizing points.

Prioritize the collective needs and goals of the group over individual within the group.

Note: A person who has strong opinions or significant investment in the decisions being made may find it challenging to facilitate effectively. In some situations, it can be helpful to have an external facilitator.  

What makes for poor facilitation?

The following reflections were raised by CAN-RAC and HUB team members in a joint workshop developed and delivered by Amara Possain:

• No agenda, no steering, lack of organization
• Repetition 
• Lack of momentum 
• Not stepping in to help pull out the positives (groups tend to focus on negatives)
• Not stepping in when some people are taking up too much space
• Not knowing the audience and how to tailor facilitation 
• Not stepping in to get people back on track, when people hijack space
• Low engagement and energy, lack of initiative
• Not being able to move past certain items
• People weaponizing meeting rules and knowledge of process
• Passive aggressiveness
• Unclear roles in non-hierarchical structure
• Interrupting each other
• “Outfacilitating" the facilitator - often around an unbalanced power dynamic 
• Miscommunications / inability to diagnose where we departed in understanding

Key facilitation skills

• Active listening enables us to hear what others are saying;
• Questioning helps clarify what people are saying, or supports people to explore their needs and come up with new possibilities;
• Summarising helps remind us of the key points in the discussion and check we have the same understanding;
• Synthesising is the skill that allows us to draw together different views and ideas to form one proposal that works for everyone.

Good facilitation should result in good meetings with  :

• Clearly defined and mutually understood goals.
• A well-defined process for effectively achieving those goals.
• Recognition that participants bring their personal preoccupations and emotions alongside their interest in the subject matter.
• Fostering a sense of involvement and empowerment, allowing participants to feel ownership over the decisions and able to take necessary actions.

Tools for good facilitation

The following tools were suggestions from HUB advisor Amara Possain.

Stop and POP

Source: adapted from The P-O-P Model (Social Transformation Project, Leslie Sholl Jaffe & Randy Alford)

Purpose	Why? Why are we having this meeting? What is the purpose?
Outcomes	What do we want to accomplish as a result of this meeting?
Process	What steps will we take to achieve these outcomes and fulfill the purpose?

Structuring your agenda

1) Opening	Something to help gather people, focus on the meeting, to make them feel connected to each other.
2) Agenda review	Make the agenda visible for participants with time markings. Review, make any changes, then agree to move ahead with meeting. Ideally include approx. time parkings Note: Consider the dance of time; give a range of time to help people get a sense for how long you'll spend on things, but also balance when more or less time needs to go to certain things
3) Main items	Start with something easy to build momentum, then move on to harder items. Finish with something short and easy to provide hope for next time.
4) Evaluation and closing	A quick opportunity for people to express their feelings, provide a sense of closure, and help improve the next meeting.

Setting the tone	Start with confidence and energy  Establish consent to hold people to group agreements (seethis examplefrom Adrienne Marie Brown'sEmergent strategy) Push for specificity and test for alignment. Be suspicious of agreements reached too easily – test to make sure that people really do agree on essential points. Try something like 'there's a lot of great knowledge in the room. Is there anything we're missing, anything we haven't considered?" Assign observer roles (vibes, process). Helpful on zoom and/or when the #'s are large. See [How can we incorporate space watchers and holders into our groups without veering into policing?] for more on space watchers. A process observer looks for things such as...  What was the general atmosphere in which the group worked? relaxed? tense? How were the decisions made? If there was any conflict, how was it handled? Did everybody participate? Were there procedures that encouraged participation? How well did the group members listen to each other? Were there recognized leaders within the group? How did the group interact with this facilitator? "When you as process observer (whether appointed or not) are paying specific attention to patterns of participation, an easy device would be to keep score on papers. In a small group a mark can be made next to a person’s name every time they speak. If you are looking for differences in participation patterns between categories of people, such as around gender, race and ethnicity, new members-old member, etc, keeping track of number of contributions in each category is enough." -Berit Lakey, Training for Change
Specific practices	Journalling before coming into discussion is helpful. Or pairing in small groups for reflection. Look for minor points of agreement and state them. This helps build the group's morale.
Handling specific situations	<span

Suggestions for increasing participant engagement

The following is a compilation of suggestions from Seeds for Change' ', Amara Possain (HUB advisor and Daniel Hunter (350.org training director) . Suggestions are relevant to virtual, in-person and hybrid meetings and events.

Opening the meeting/event	Use the opening to build trust and ground attendees. For in-person meetings, assign a welcomer or ‘doorkeeper’ for newcomers who can point people towards refreshments, explain where the toilets and fire exits are, and bring late arrivals up to speed with the meeting/event progress. Make sure people know how the meeting works. Explain the time frame, subjects, goals of the meeting/event and the process for making decisions. Agree with the group what behaviour is acceptable/not acceptable (e.g. avoiding jargon, asking questions if you don’t understand, trying to understand someone’s views even when you disagree with them.)
Beginning the meeting/event	Engage people early and often - set the tone in the first few minutes. For example, start with names, pronouns and a check-in question. This is a great chance to hear everyone’s voice on something that’s not a work topic. Examples include: what’s a song that represents you? What’s an object around you that says something about you? What’s one thing you’re proud of from last week? What’s something people might not know about you? What do you appreciate about another team member? You might also try using the circle up tool (see image on the right). It helps people now who is in the room. It can be used for things like introductions. Engage people throughout the meeting with prompts for discussion or raising new ideas. Explain the proposed agenda, then ask for comments and make necessary changes. Be conscious of how long this process is taking– it’s better to be firm and go ahead with a plan rather than spending half the time talking about what to talk about!	Circle up tool
During the meeting/event	Alternate structures / modes so there are many ways to participate.  Break things up and take breaks, especially in longer meetings/events with many big and/or difficult items. Break up who is speaking - arrange for others to present whenever possible. Probe and test for agreement when decisions need to be made - be suspicious when agreements are reached too easily. Notice and celebrate when we do get agreement — even small ones! Use the spectrum tool. It helps gauge where people are at. If you're virtual, you can also do this anonymously with figures instead of names. Use stickies (virtual on slides or in-person) to allow participants to share ideas. Online tips: Turn on captions, stay off mute in smaller groups, have people call on the next person in a go-around.	Spectrum tool
Ending the meeting/event	Make sure you finish on time, or get everyone’s agreement to continue. Ensure someone will be circulating the minutes, notes or slides in the next few days. Make sure there’s a time and place set for the next meeting, or share upcoming events! Offer a way to evaluate and provide feedback the meeting/event. It can be nice to follow the meeting with an informal social activity!

The following are some 'energizer' activities that can help increase engagement from the beginning to end of a meeting/event:  

Sam Went to Venus	Have the group stand in a large circle. Explain the first person will say: “Did you hear?” The second person (the person to their right) says: “What?” First person: “Sam went to Venus.” Second: “Really how?” First person: “She went to Venus like this!” – and the first person proceeds to make some repetitive motion. Everyone in the circle repeats the motion (and continues repeating the motion). Then, the person to the left of the first person repeats that same series: “Did you hear?/What?/Sam went to Venus./Really, how?/She went to Venus like this” and makes his/her own motion (which the whole groups repeats). The process continues around the entire circle until ending when everyone has done it. (In large groups, this can be done in several separate groups simultaneously.)
Something True About Yourself (from Gerald Gomani, Zimbabwe)	Have each participant write down something true about themselves (anything), without their names, on a piece of paper. Then, have them wad it up. Then, throw snowballs at each other! After a few minutes of play, have the group read the snowballs.
Strategy Stretch (from Erika Thorne, USA)	A simple stretching activity, but laced with activist principles. Start by having people get some space from each other. Each stage involves a new direction to physically have people stretch their bodies. “Stretch upwards towards your vision / [while bending halfway at the waist] stretch your arms out towards your allies and colleagues / [while bending down at the waist] stretch down towards the grassroots, the source of your nourishment / [bending backwards] and bend backwards towards your ancestors, those people who support you from behind.”
Why… Because… (from Gerald Gomani, Zimbabwe)	Have people on one half of the group write down a Why question (“Why is the grass green? Why is there suffering?” etc.). Have the other half write down a Because answer (“Because I said so. Because it can float.” etc.). Give no indication for the purpose or what types of why questions or because answers people should write. Then – and this can be a hilarious exercise – go around the room and have the Why’s ask a question and get their answer from the Because’s.

Suggestions for managing group dynamics

From Amara Possain, HUB advisor and Meeting Facilitation: The No-Magic Method (Berit Lakey)

Setting the tone	Start with confidence and energy  Establish consent to hold people to group agreements (seethis examplefrom Adrienne Marie Brown'sEmergent strategy) Push for specificity and test for alignment. Be suspicious of agreements reached too easily – test to make sure that people really do agree on essential points. Try something like 'there's a lot of great knowledge in the room. Is there anything we're missing, anything we haven't considered?" Assign observer roles (vibes, process). Helpful on zoom and/or when the #'s are large. See [How can we incorporate space watchers and holders into our groups without veering into policing?] for more on space watchers. A process observer looks for things such as...  What was the general atmosphere in which the group worked? relaxed? tense? How were the decisions made? If there was any conflict, how was it handled? Did everybody participate? Were there procedures that encouraged participation? How well did the group members listen to each other? Were there recognized leaders within the group? How did the group interact with this facilitator? "When you as process observer (whether appointed or not) are paying specific attention to patterns of participation, an easy device would be to keep score on papers. In a small group a mark can be made next to a person’s name every time they speak. If you are looking for differences in participation patterns between categories of people, such as around gender, race and ethnicity, new members-old member, etc, keeping track of number of contributions in each category is enough." -Berit Lakey, Training for Change
Specific practices	Journalling before coming into discussion is helpful. Or pairing in small groups for reflection. Look for minor points of agreement and state them. This helps build the group's morale.
Handling specific situations	All depends on the facilitator’s ability to interpret the situation and ability to intervene accordingly, the participant, and the group - but it’s helpful to keep tools in your back pocket and to practice.  You have to assess what's going on. Are they a jerk? Are they feeling unheard?  Shift the format/structure first. Break things up in pairs or try something else. Help get a sense for what's going on. Sometimes need to intervene directly with the person, sometimes need to include the whole group. Jokes and affirmation can help depending on the situation.  Ask for others input if a conversation is being carried out by 2 people only. Some approaches: shift format/structure, energizer, break, 1:1, remove them, make the group a part of it, humour, affirmation, the list goes on.

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

Back to Homepage