Monday, May 18, 2009

The Importance of Environment for a Successful Facilitation

contributed by Sharon Carruthers

The facilitator is not only responsible to ensure that the group achieves the agreed tangible outcomes. Of equal importance, the facilitator ensures that participants feel involved and engaged throughout the process, buy in to the results and are committed to implementing agreed actions – i.e. their experience during the process and how they feel at the end of the process.

Facilitators utilize many facilitation skills and techniques to encourage all group members to participate fully, remain fully engaged, collaborate, effectively deal with conflict and make meaningful decisions in an efficient and effective manner, and gain the desired results. Effective facilitators know that the environment in which the group works is very important to ensuring these results. When group members are relaxed, comfortable, energized, enjoying what they are doing, and feel safe, this stimulates creativity and teamwork, helps generate ideas and keeps participants engaged for as long as is necessary to achieve desired results.

This is why at GF we spend so much time, effort and money on creating and maintaining the right environment. It begins with the selection of the venue. We always recommend that groups come out of their normal office environment and go somewhere scenic and away from distractions. It continues with the layout of the rooms – round tables for collaboration versus classroom style, to the use of ice breakers and energizers, bright colours – (markers, coloured paper), music, table toys, prizes, fun activities and games.

In any GF workshop you will observe laughter, active engagement of all in games and other fun activities, and colours galore. In this newsletter you will see some photos of us at work in creating environments where participants are having fun while working hard.

So as you select a facilitator or seek to enhance your own facilitation skills, consider the importance of creating and maintaining the right environment to the success of the event. A successful workshop is much more than the facilitator just showing up with flipchart and markers!

1 comment:

ESTEBAN AGOSTO REID said...

Ditto ! Ditto ! Environment is definitely essential!!