Top 10 Facilitator Traps
By Duke Rohe
1. Answering everyone’s questions. Facilitator must keep an eye on the purpose of the meeting. Time, committed output, participation must not be sacrificed answering all questions. Balance the individual’s need for understanding with the team’s need to achieve its meeting’s goal given the time allotted.
2. Getting too vested in a solution or decision. Facilitation is most effective when it can be trusted and unbiased. Maintaining group process is the prime directive. As soon the facilitator begins influencing the team
decision, he/she loses a facilitator status and moves into a member role.
3. Allowing a team decision to be made by one member. Part of the team’s development is efficient effective decision making. When one
member proposes an action, force the other members to give input on the action. If there is a ground rule on deciding how to make decisions, enforce it.
4. Running out of team material to work on. Team time is a terrible thing to waste. Plan what will consume the team meeting yet be prepared with additional material (to be covered in the subsequent meeting) should the team decision progress move faster than anticipated. If the team is on a roll, take advantage of it.
5. Moving the team faster than their understanding. If the team members don’t feel they have sure footing around a decision, their forward progress and confidence will be at risk. Allow discussion to broaden their understanding, yet move them on if they are covering the same territory or their focus is on an area of little consequence. Give the team the timetable and material they have committed to cover and ask them if they want to delay to gain more fact-finding.
6. Assuming all the team members will come prepared to the meeting.
Assignments incomplete by one affect the progress of all. The facilitator (if not delegated to a team leader) must feel confident that each member understands their assignment, will complete their assignment or will call in time for help if they cannot complete it.
7. Letting members disregard ground rules or bringing up the need for a new ground rule to control group process. Some slippage around ground rules is okay as the team is developing, but chronic violations should be arrested. Enlist all members to aid in maintaining a respectful, effective atmosphere. If a behavior needs a ground rule, then inquire of the team if a
new one is in order.
8. Conducting too much of the meeting. A facilitator should describe the bounds (purpose goal, output) of the meeting and give sufficient instruction for exercises the team is not familiar with, but beyond that facilitation
should be limited to inquiring, clarifying and validating the team conversation as it moves forward toward its meeting’s goal.
9. Controlling silence. This works two ways: For those low-contributing members, emphasize the need for all’s input to make a team decision. Call on them until they offer more instinctively. For those no-contributing moments, allow awkward silences so introverts can polish what they think before speaking or for the members to take ownership of the conversation momentum.
10. Doing all the facilitation by your self. There are no heroes here. Induct all the members to watch the ground rules, jump in with
facilitation suggestions, and keep the group dynamic healthy. Acknowledge areas you feel you could have facilitated better then write yourself tips (all the above are mine) which will increase your value in future engagements.
NAWBO San Antonio Contact: Barbara Greene
210-366-8768
barbara.greene@greeneandassociates.com