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.  

• Regulating 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.  

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.