Where 2 or more people are involved co-operatively either in a group or team, it is highly likely that they will achieve a better outcome with a facilitator.
All groups form preferences and consolidate patterns of interaction and behaviour that may not be desirable either for group participation or for the group to achieve it’s purpose. This is especially noticeable for cross functional or multidisciplinary groups.
An experienced high performance facilitator continually monitors any group’s strategy and progress towards it’s goals and contrasts this with the processes and interactions it has developed towards getting there.
Many variables are involved that the facilitator must continually adjust. Rather like the sound mixing system in a recording studio, the settings are not fixed,but adjusted for style, outcome, preference and environment. All balanced to create a high performance team.
Facilitation
Key elements that a facilitator will work with include amongst others;
The “8 tensions”, where the following are balanced along their continuum. This balancing not only takes place with different groups but throughout the facilitators’ interaction with the group or team.
For example; to get started a team may need a more rigid structure to follow then once things are flowing well the facilitator may develop a more flexible approach to accommodate creativity.
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