Be An Effective Team Facilitator
1. Effective Facilitators are experienced in team participation and team facilitation.
2. Effective Facilitators believe that the team can and will generate a synergistic result.
3. Effective Facilitators lead teams with an optimistic expectancy and attitude that gives the team a
performance edge.
4. Effective Facilitators find the balance in the team dynamics.
As the facilitator, your role is to guide the team members in a team process. You need to create an environment that encourages open communication and participation by all. If you are facilitating a brand new team, you may need to run team-building exercises before you start the process to familiarize them with each other and the concepts of teamwork. If the team is cohesive and versed in process, your role will be more of process guide and coach.
There are two assumptions that are key to team success. They are a belief/faith in two intangible facts:
Insight/intuition: Everyone has knowledge, experience, expertise, insight, intuition and energy that are essential resources for team success. All members must make their unique contributions for the team to be successful.
Team synergy: Two or more people working together collaboratively and cooperatively can produce better results than the same people working independently.
These are fulfilled by a facilitator who believes that the team can and will generate a synergistic result. These beliefs lead to choices and actions that ultimately provide the atmosphere and environment where the synergistic dynamic can occur. Additionally, any preconceived attitudes or perceptions with which the facilitator approaches the team is a self-fulfilling prophecy that either propels or limits the team results.
The facilitator must lead the team with an optimistic expectancy and attitude in order to give the team a performance edge. Pressure and time constraints are nearly always the enemies and saboteurs of effective teamwork. Team process requires time. The actual amount of time is dependent upon the complexity of the problem and the size of the team. The facilitator must be able to find the balance in the team dynamics, encouraging the team members to take more time when needed and pulling them off tangents when time is being wasted.
The art and science of effective team facilitating and process are part of the Advanced Team System, Master Facilitator Guides. Use the tools listed on the left to develop your skills as a facilitator.