A facilitator is a person who enables an interaction between groups of people and allows them to share their ideas between one another. This is different from a trainer who speaks from a higher platform and guides the audience. Facilitation is thus a different process from training, which if borne in mind, will enables the facilitator to freely mix or mingle with the audience. Thus, facilitation is only about facilitators; not trainers and not people who ‘conduct’ programs.
The following tips have been put-together based on field experience to enable a theme to be better conveyed, better received and better assimilated and therefore put into action by the participants:
1. Prepare a broad agenda before the program.
2. Bring a fresh perspective in each session/ program.
3. Preview the theme before the session.
4. Demonstrate values in action - reaching the venue well in advance may be a great idea/ apologies for reaching late, may go a long way in establishing a firm bond with the participants.
5. Welcome (personally) as many people as possible before the program.
6. Use the mike system (if provision for the same is available) to make the voice more audible.
7. Make the session as informal as possible.
8. Deal with the program in a non-academic fashion to make it more effective as the theme is a subject matter of the heart.
9. Start the program by saying that this is not a ‘Training Program’ but a gathering of persons to exchange ideas or thoughts on a theme.
10. Avoid expressions which sound like sermons or dictums - words like, ‘you should’, ‘you must’ etc. or even ‘we must’ or ‘we should’ could be avoided.
11. Convey the entire content through third person references or similes or in passive voice so that nobody gets offended or misinterprets the purpose of the program.
12. Communicate the theme through personal life experiences than what is read or heard for greater impact.
13. Refer to instances where the facilitator has been instrumental in transforming the life of another, in third person to avoid sounding boastful.
14. Honour each person in the audience with undivided attention and interest from beginning to the end of the program.
15. Talk with people, not to them – listen intently and with alertness when they speak.
16. Allow time for answers to questions posed – response comes with patience, hold own answers as a back-up.
17. Ensure that the person speaking is not interrupted, by having those others who wish to speak to raise their hands – or adopt some innovative method to avoid interruptions.
18. Allow for moments of silence.
19. Remain open and flexible - the discussion may have an exciting turn that was not considered.
20. Make a mental note of important points - look for opportunities to relate back to those points as the discussion progresses with others and credit the person for his insight.
21. Learn with the participants - come with a "beginner's mind", open to new possibilities.
22. Facilitate the program to enable participants to discover for themselves what messages are important and how they can be applied to their lives and their work.
23. Give importance to what the participants think - it is as much as the central theme that is presented; trust them, they will identify all the important messages from the central theme themselves.
24. Continue the particular discussion/ session for some extra time as long as the participants enjoy it; interest of the participants is the key in facilitation. Go deeper with their comments where significant and appropriate.
25. Save personal insights, related stories and own commentaries for back-up and for emphasizing, validating, clarifying, and summarizing - in fact, they may not be needed.
26. Minimise side discussions – short ones stimulate thinking; long ones destroy a group discussion; it may be better therefore to bridge side discussions and revert to the central theme.
27. Avoid heated debates - the central theme may offer opportunities for many topics that could lead to interesting debates on historical, economic, social and political topics; although such debates may seem interesting to few people involved, unless everyone can participate, they seldom have a wide spectrum of appeal in a large audience.
28. Keep the discussion focused on the objective - to have every viewer leave with some insight they deem valuable that they can apply to their lives and work, is the very purpose of a program.
29. Provide a counter question or throw in a fresh perspective in case the participants seem to be going off-track or into an unnecessary debate - this is one of ways to bring them back to the mainstream without being rude.
30. Flow with the sessions – they may never be exactly the way they were planned; keep the overall objective in mind and continue with the sessions.
31. Pay more attention and give equal importance towards quiet people – encourage them to participate so that they do feel left out of the discussions.
32. “Touch their hearts and rouse their passion” for the theme, rather than just making it an impressive program.
33. Love the participants.
34. Recognize that being with students, or for that matter anyone, is a real gift.
35. Prepare for the program but learn the trick of emptying the mind.
36. Do not be upset if things do not go to plan/ participants do not get what you think they should get – that is the way it is meant to be.
37. Do not teach – facilitation is about creating mental activity and providing emotional experiences to learn for all participants including the facilitator.
38. Do not try to overcome personal limitations while facilitating – it is important and best to be comfortable and open about it.
39. Make facilitation a way of life - learn, experience and love every day. This way it will be possible to use personal experiences as an impersonal learning for all.
40. Video clips on a specific theme help facilitator to drive home a point quickly.
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