<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> This page is part of The Toolbox by Danny Smith.
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Facilitation is a useful skill for almost everyone to develop, but it’s particularly important if you’re involved in running Workshops & Brainstorming Sessions or any other sort of workshop (see Fundamental Workshopping Tools).
To understand facilitation, it's useful to compare it with some other related roles...
<aside> ➡️ Exercise: Look at the diagram above. Which (if any) of the roles feels most comfortable for you? Which feels least comfortable (or perhaps unknown) for you? Reflect briefly on the lines between training, facilitating and coaching. Do they blur at all? Any interesting thoughts?
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The word facilitator comes from the Latin facilitas, which roughly means easiness, readiness or affability.
A facilitator is someone who works to make group interactions easier – a catalyst. The role isn’t about providing knowledge or ideas but helping participants make better use of the knowledge and ideas they collectively possess.
We do this by guiding the conversation and intervening appropriately. A good facilitator will melt into the background when things are moving in a useful direction, and course-correct quickly when they are not. They will also work hard to create the right environment (see How Learning Works ).
<aside> 💡 At work, you'll often have to facilitate group workshops. But you'll also need to approach other environments with the mindset of a facilitator – Slack conversations, group discussions, decision meetings etc.
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It takes a lot of practice and reflection to become a great facilitator. But no matter how much experience you have, it's impossible to facilitate well without some core skills...