FACILITATION METHODS
Group Agreement
Determine the rules for taking the
floor. Provide that the participants
express as a group what they need in
an environment where they can
express themselves comfortably with
confidentiality, sincerity, and no
judgement, put these in writing, and
make sure that you hear everyone’s
opinion. Make sure to confirm how to
satisfy these needs and that these are
suitable for everyone.
Determine the work hours, brakes -if
there are any-, and the rules of
participation for the meeting. Make
avoiding behaviors that can affect the
group dynamics into rules.
For example, not turning the phones on until there is a brake. Encourage the participants to act
democratically and to realize that they affect each other.
These are the articles of the group agreements and having them in writing and these being
verbally approved and abided by everyone by adding or taking out articles is the responsibility of
the facilitator. It is also extremely facilitating when managing the group dynamics in meetings.
The SPIN Model
Asking strong questions is one of the most
important tools of a facilitator. The SPIN Model is
an aiding tool in starting a topic in the facilitation
flow.
The ORID Model
It can be used as an aiding tool in
starting and managing the topic of
discussion as an alternative to the
SPIN model. If there is a need for a
tool in order to decide on the topic of
discussion, the ORID and if you need
to determine the needs then the SPIN
can be preferred.
Situation Assessment Work
You can create a Yesterday-Today-
Future time table and train the
participants.
For example, let us say that two
different departments are merging.
People from different teams and roles
who have worked in the organization
for different lengths of time will have
different opinions. This work can be
done to create a shared vision.
• First, make a group agreement with the participants. Then explain to them the topic of the
day: Creating a shared group vision. Explain the method you will use next and what you expect
from the participants.
• Start study. Divide the participants into mini groups.
• In front of each poster, ask the participants to answer the question “How was the institution in
the past?”.
• Have the group take notes by identifying one person within the group.
• Make sure notes are written concisely and accepted by the entire group.
• Have groups do the same work later on for 'today' and 'future'.
• Make sure all posters have been reviewed before completing the work and if there is anything
else they would like to add.
• Choose a representative from the mini-groups. Have different mini-groups explain the posters
they created to the others.
• During these presentations, create a single common poster by selecting key words.
• Then have a group talk on the final version of the poster.
In the next step, you can now use the SPIN or the ORID model to facilitate which agreements can
be made for future goals.
Brain Storming
Following the study of yesterday-today-tomorrow,
we use brainstorming to develop a vision for the
future. In this case, the facilitator must clearly
express the focal point.
For example, you can have the team's strengths
and opportunities for improvement study to
achieve the vision for the future.
Ask the participants you divide into subgroups to
fill in the poster with the post-its expressing the
strengths of the team they belong to and to stick
the titles they see as areas for development on the
other poster.
After the work is completed, you can continue with
the tasks, sub-steps, and timetable for
improvement points, with a corresponding final list
for the entire team, going over the posters
In Cases of Uncertainty
Let’s say a case of uncertainty emerge
during brain storming, developing a joint
resolution can be facilitated by means of
using an advantage and disadvantage table.
In order to distinguish the negative and
positive aspects in any topic, putting these
into a matrix and evaluating it together
makes the decision-making process clearer
and easier for everyone.
Doable, Needed Wanted Matrisi
Continuing with the example of the
vision of the future,
• Let's say the team identified the
development points along the way
to its vision, then made its
decisions at the points where it
was undecided, and listed the
things to do together, one by one.
• In this case, the facilitator can also
use this matrix to make a collective
team decision about the need for
the steps. Vote with x, ?, + for each
action, proposal or idea, whether it
is feasible, needed or not, with
their own demands.
Thus, the group creates an action plan with a joint decision.
At this point, the facilitator helps to look at the issue from different angles and can then turn the
delegation of tasks into a meeting note.
The Evaluation in 4 Dimensions
Another tool that can be used in creating a
vision and planning is the evaluation in 4
dimensions.
It not only clarifies the efficiency of the work,
but also creates motivation for the further
sessions.
This can also be done by separating posters,
posts and groups or as a single group.
In order for the groups to see the product of
their joint work at the point of their
differences and the active cooperation of the
groups, the facilitator can move to the conclusion of the vision work by strengthening the intra-
group relationships.
The Thinking with 6 Hats
The six hats model can be used as an
empathetic method that forces the members
of the group out of their familiar roles in order
to look at a topic from different point of view.
Blue hat: Facilitator wears. It is the hat that
demands from the group members and
reviews the process.
White hat: It is the hat of impartiality, it plays
the role of analytical, numerical and objective
approach to the subject.
Red hat: It is the hat of emotions, it brings emotional comments about intuition, feelings, good
and bad things.
Black hat: It is the hat of criticism, examines the subject, objects; sees and expresses mistakes.
Yellow hat: It is a positive hat, it looks at the good side of the subject.
Green hat: It is the hat of creativity, it tells the new ideas.
The facilitator may exchange hats among group members or ask everyone to wear the same hat.
He/she decides which member wears which hat and controls his/her evaluations on the topic.
Meanwhile, he/she writes the formed keywords on the poster and summarizes the session.