How do you select the processes, tools, and techniques that you plan to use to facilitate a group? Do you take direction from the client? Do you ask the participants? Since you are the expert, do you design away based on what has worked in the past?

The first of the six Foundational Facilitator Competencies developed by the International Association of Facilitators is Create Collaborative Client Relationships which is focused on understanding the client’s needs so that the facilitator can design a session to achieve the desired outcomes.

As I reflect on the reasons I chose to become certified, I realize that my motivations changed over time. I sense that is a reflection of my personal growth.

Most staff developers see themselves as facilitators of the learning process – knowledge is distributed throughout the organisation and the learning process happens when people successfully collaborate with others. The role of the facilitator is to encourage this process by providing a clear framework for discussion, creating opportunities for dialogue to occur across different groups and communities of practice. Sounds great doesn’t it? If only it were that easy!

In reality, availability of the right people at the right time is often a major issue and what appears to be a successful outcome for the group who attended can subsequently be undermined by the absence of key individuals. This is where collaborative meeting software comes in, by offering a solution that enables people to be involved in a facilitated meeting, irrespective of their geographical location and existing diary commitments.

As the sub-title of the book infers, this guide is meant as a resource for a long list of practitioners in a wide variety of corporate, non-profit, educational, government and community organizations. Strachan and Pitters write in an approachable, organized way and I found myself reading the book from cover to cover before returning to the table of contents to drop back into particular chapters or worksheets. Many of the latter are available for download from a web site for easy access. The authors do not presume that the reader will have a lot of facilitation and project management experience and cover some fundamental aspects of defining and contracting for a facilitated process or consulting engagement. Their systematic and thorough approach also has value to experienced facilitators and consultants, however, and you certainly sense that their checklists and techniques are ones that they themselves use on every engagement.

How do you respond to this suggestion, in the middle of a session, as a facilitator? This is a dangerous trap, but I realized it only after I got into it.

“Sure what do you have in mind?”

The participant explained his view. Soon enough the situation became a free for all and finally my client, who was the senior most person in the group, intervened and suggested a process step, something he does all the time in regular meetings. By that time I had lost control and I acquiesced. As you can imagine, the session was a disaster. My client was unhappy and I was miserable.

This happened years ago. After nine years in the business I do not fall into this trap any more. I have realized that as a facilitator, I can be open minded and listen to various views but I must stick to my process. The bottom line is this. I must know why I chose a particular process step and why it will deliver the goods. Here’s what to do when your process is under fire.