What a good facilitator does:
- Maintains neutrality
- Does not inject his or her personal beliefs or values
- Helps the group establish and follow guidelines for a respectful collaborative process
- Elicits specific goals for the conversation
- Listens more than speaks and encourages everyone to do the same
- Begins with a focus on communicating interests rather than staking positions
- Helps the group identify shared values and common goals
- Ensures that everyone is acknowledged and responded to
- Discourages blaming and finger-pointing
- Encourages balanced participation
- Asks each participant how they can uniquely contribute to the outcome
- Keeps the discussion on-topic and moving forward
- Helps participants clarify and focus their input
- Allows time for quiet reflection
- Asks participants to re-state each other’s input
- Encourages everyone to brainstorm creative solutions without judgment
- Identifies potential areas of agreement to explore
- Lets the participants craft their own solutions
- Documents decisions, agreements and next steps
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