Facilitation Foundations

Description

Because there is never enough time to do professional development with your staff, our “Facilitation Foundations” Spark Deck provides 52 ideas for improving everyone’s facilitation skills on-the-job, whether it is a program staff member leading a youth activity, or a manager leading a staff meeting.

Designed to be used in educational settings, the suggestions on the cards are aimed at creating a safe learning and meeting environment that enables everyone to be actively engaged and empowered to learn and grow.

Some examples from this deck:

• Operate on the assumption that the knowledge is already in the room, because it usually is. When a question is raised by participants, invite the group to offer ideas instead of responding yourself.
• Create clear goals and objectives for your agenda. Be specific about what you want participants to walk away with. Set no more than 3-5 objectives; trying to cover too much can overwhelm participants.
• Provide time for reflection after each activity. This can be done silently in writing, as a “turn and talk,” or as a group discussion. For example, “What did you learn from the activity?” “How does this relate to your personal experience?” or “How will you use this information?”

At the end of program time, meeting, or professional development, check-in with your staff to see if they were able to try out one of the suggestions.  If they tried it, how did it go?  What did they learn?  What did their group learn?  If it didn’t work today, try it again tomorrow.  What could they change to make it work better?