A well-facilitated group can be beautiful and transformative. Poor group experience can leave lasting scars. To facilitate means to ‘ease’. Not to direct, decide, or be knowledgeable about a group task, as a traditional leader might.
The work of a group facilitator is to support a group’s process so that it can better achieve its purpose. To facilitate is not ‘to do’ the job, but to help the group/team achieve it more easily.
In this article, we explore some key aspects of group facilitation, including the facilitator's role, facilitation style, contracting, individual roles within groups, groups over time, types of interventions and glimpse into group dynamics.
We all have a lot of experience with groups because we grow up in them, e.g. family, school, etc. Right now, you’re probably part of various groups in different aspects of your life, e.g., at work, in friendships, sports, and hobbies. Many have natural facilitative abilities and hold groups of various types, such as work teams, social groups, support groups, or self-help groups.
Facilitation is not a regulated profession with set rules or concepts; however, for those holding groups/teams developing facilitation practice, acquiring skills, awareness, tools, etc., can make all the difference.
What is a facilitator?
Facilitators hold responsibility for the well-being of their groups and generally play a crucial role in establishing an environment in which group members feel safe and, therefore, able to collaborate and work effectively and efficiently.
Facilitators aim to, for example, recognise and manage different personalities, encourage open and authentic communication, enable difficult discussions and decision-making, and create a climate where everyone feels valued, heard, and able to actively participate and collaborate.
This may include motivating, summarising, fostering cooperation, maximising everyone's strengths and helping a group keep focus, navigate challenges and minimise conflict.
A facilitator’s greatest tool is their own self, their awareness, their ability to flex, to be responsive and a their commitment to continual development, deepening their understanding of how groups and their dynamics can work.
Styles of facilitating
A facilitator's style is ultimately about what makes them a person individually them: personality, values, norms, cultural context, skill and development and then some.
The critical and challenging thing is for the facilitator to know themselves, including their strengths and weaknesses enabling their ability to flex their innate style in relation to the varying needs of the group and its task in any given moment.
For example, a naturally quiet and relaxed facilitator may have a group requiring a firm challenge to focus and action. A lively, energised extravert facilitator may have a group needing a quiet, still pause. The challenge to both is to register the need and flex in response.
John Heron's Modes of Facilitation
A model to help develop this flex is John Heron’s Modes of Facilitation. It’s a scale from Hierarchical through Co-operative to Autonomous facilitation. The general principle, depending on the capability and maturity of the group, is for the facilitator to move from the hierarchical towards the autonomous mode as needed:
- Hierarchical: Here, at the far end of the scale, the facilitator directs the whole process and decides for and on behalf of the group. This mode is often needed as a group forms.
- Co-operative: Here you share power and manage with the group. Decisions are made by mutual consultation.
- Autonomous: Here, you respect the total autonomy of the group; you facilitate the group deciding for themselves. This does not mean abdication of responsibility.
Establishing a Group: Contracting
Establishing a shared understanding of what and how is to be done by all group members is one of the most important aspects of facilitating a group.
Sadly, it is often the aspect most rushed through or even dictated. It is a great tool to check out assumptions and establishing strong responsibility sharing.It’s there to go back to if/when conflict arises.
Facilitators are often brought in when a group is already established and got into trouble. Sure enough, there’s a weak, if any, contract.
The contract may be known as group rules, guidelines, agreement, principles, or other, but what matters is the shared understanding. What is the answer to ‘How are we going be together? What are the behaviours that will serve this group?’ The answer needs to be detailed and individual to each group. It’s so worth the investment of time and attention.
Worth considering when forming a group contract: respect, active listening, speaking from ‘I’ rather than generalising, personal responsibility taking, confidentiality, conflict resolution, time keeping, use of tech.
Individual roles in groups
In any group, members often assume informal roles emerging from aspects of their personalities, skills, and preferences.
Recognising these roles can help facilitators support group dynamics. It can often be helpful for a facilitator to explore these with their group openly. Popular models are Belbin’s Nine Team Roles, and Working Styles questionnaire, a relatively easy and quick model see below.
Roles can also be richly explored by using one of the many personality models, eg, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, The Enneagram, Insights. However, often the most essential element here is not so much the actual, but the fostering of an ‘appreciation for difference’. Modelled by the facilitator through an appreciation of each member and what they distinctly bring to the group.
The Working Styles Model
The Working Styles Model includes:
- Analytical: perfectionist, systematic, attention to detail, craves data. Strengths: builds highly effective processes with consistently outstanding results. Challenges: may become bureaucratic and miss deadlines.
- Driver: assertive, fast-paced, rational, independent, goal and action-orientated. Strengths: time management, achieving much. Challenges: others can feel bulldozed by their speed. Rapid decision-making may result in new problems.
- Amiable: team player, empathic, does not seek power. Strengths: tact, peace-making, comfort with routine. Challenges: Attention to people may sidetrack from the task.
- Expressives: high energy, emotionally expression, thrive in limelight, dreamers. Strengths: motivators, visionary, entertaining. Challenges may be experienced as overwhelming, starters more than finishers.
Group development over time
It can significantly aid a facilitator to understand a group over time. It could be over the whole life of a group, the life of a project, an individual session, etc., and to consider what might happen and be needed at different stages.
Bruce Tuckeman's Stages of Group Development
The most well-known model for this is Bruce Tuckman’s; it suggests groups typically go through distinct stages of development:
Forming
When the group comes together, members are often polite and cautious. There is a need for clear roles, boundaries and testing what is acceptable/unacceptable to the group. Group members like being told what to do. This is an important time for the facilitator to instil group norms, check expectations, enable safety and strong group contracting. It can be seen as the ‘Childhood’ stage of human development.Storming
Conflicts, disagreements, and competition may emerge. Individuals assert themselves, cliques develop, rebellion, and power struggles occur. Individuals may also absent themselves emotionally or be trapped in win-or-lose scenarios. The facilitator can be ignored. Themes of ‘Adolescence’, such as rubbishing authority and self-consciousness, may appear.
Norming
The group settles after a storm. It begins to establish norms and build cohesion, working more collaboratively. A vision of a future where needs are met comes into focus. The group feels cohesive enough for conflict to be containable. Individuals bond and commit to collective action. The facilitator supports renegotiation. Like ‘Early Adulthood’.Performing
The group is doing its job, it operates efficiently, focusing on achieving its goals. A stage of developmental maturity, when emotional and structural needs harmonise and energy flows more easily towards action. The facilitator can often step back and observe but is available if needed. Like ‘Adulthood’.Adjourning
The group ends having completed its task/time/life. It is often a time of evaluating and reflecting on achievements, challenges, and experiences. A time of loosening bonds, withdrawing, saying goodbyes. Often the time of most variation amongst the members. Feelings of achievement, relief, excitement, and grief, which may trigger memories of previous endings. Like ‘Old age/dying’.
It can significantly aid a facilitator to understand a group over time. It could be over the whole life of a group, the life of a project, an individual session, etc., and to consider what might happen and be needed at different stages. The most well-known model for this is Bruce Tuckman’s; it suggests groups typically go through distinct stages of development:
Forming
When the group comes together, members are often polite and cautious. There is a need for clear roles, boundaries and testing what is acceptable/unacceptable to the group. Group members like being told what to do. This is an important time for the facilitator to instil group norms, check expectations, enable safety and strong group contracting. It can be seen as the ‘Childhood’ stage of human development.
Storming
Conflicts, disagreements, and competition may emerge. Individuals assert themselves, cliques develop, rebellion, and power struggles occur. Individuals may also absent themselves emotionally or be trapped in win-or-lose scenarios. The facilitator can be ignored. Themes of ‘Adolescence’, such as rubbishing authority and self-consciousness, may appear.
Norming
The group settles after a storm. It begins to establish norms and build cohesion, working more collaboratively. A vision of a future where needs are met comes into focus. The group feels cohesive enough for conflict to be containable. Individuals bond and commit to collective action. The facilitator supports renegotiation. Like ‘Early Adulthood’.
Performing
The group is doing its job, it operates efficiently, focusing on achieving its goals. A stage of developmental maturity, when emotional and structural needs harmonise and energy flows more easily towards action. The facilitator can often step back and observe but is available if needed. Like ‘Adulthood’.
Adjourning
The group ends having completed its task/time/life. It is often a time of evaluating and reflecting on achievements, challenges, and experiences. A time of loosening bonds, withdrawing, saying goodbyes. Often the time of most variation amongst the members. Feelings of achievement, relief, excitement, and grief, which may trigger memories of previous endings. Like ‘Old age/dying’.
Types of interventions used with groups
What is an intervention?
An intervention is ‘anything’ the facilitator does or doesn’t do - anything that the group or a group member may interpret as meaningful.
It can be anything the from the most straightforward practical action: opening a window, setting up a room or each spoken word, facial expression, gesture, and especially silence and stillness.
It includes activities and exercises for, e.g., planning or bonding, and grand, long-term, detailed programmes.
The key here is for the facilitator to be clear in their ‘intention’ for each intervention. To ask themselves ‘What might best serve this group in this moment/session/programme?
John Heron’s Six Categories of Intervention
A great model for deeply practicing this is John Heron’s ‘Six Categories of Intervention’, which proposes that all healthy interventions fit into the following categories:
Supportive
Affirms the essential worth of the group and each member. It may focus on attributes, qualities, or actions, such as welcoming, sympathy, or encouragement. At the base level, all interventions need to be supportive.Informative
Imparts knowledge, information, meaning and allows the group to decide what to do with it, eg “We’ll take a break now”, “There are six categories of intervention”, giving handouts.Cathartic
Seeks to enable the group members to discharge emotion, e.g. cry, shake, laugh, which may involve acknowledging emotion or cracking a joke.Prescriptive
Directing the behaviour of a group telling them what to do, eg “Please have a seat”, “May I give you some advice...?”, modelling behaviourCatalytic
To stimulate self-learning, self-discovery, and problem-solving. This is the main category from which a facilitator would aim to work, e.g., with open questions such as “What is your view?” “What other options might there be?” " And what might be the effect of that?” “Who else might be involved?” echoing (repeat last few words), summarising, and using nonverbal cues like nodding, offering conceptual structures, metaphors, and problem-solving.Confronting
Only used when other categories have failed. It starts very gently and builds up as truly necessary. It seeks to raise awareness of limiting beliefs or limiting behaviours, e.g., “What is needed to get this done?” “What are you busy not dealing with/saying?” and silence.
Unspoken Stuff that may go on in groups
There is a world of seemingly mysterious things that happen in groups, which can tremendously impact a group. One way to start understanding some of these dynamics is to be aware of psychological defence mechanisms, such as projection, transference, and particularly counter-transference.
Projection
An unconscious means of dealing with unacceptable and uncomfortable feelings in us by cutting these feelings off and attributing them to others.
Transference
The re-enactment of patterns of behaviour and feelings that we initially experienced with significant figures in our childhood and that we have transferred to individuals in our current relationships.
Counter-transference
Occurs when the facilitator has transference, unconsciously reacting to the group or its members based on their own past experiences.
Much more can be explored about group experiences and how to facilitate them. Still, we hope this has provided helpful insight into the wonder and joy of supporting groups and served as a signpost to discover more. Happy facilitating.
