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GROUP FACILITATION & LEADERSHIP SKILLS: (FACILITATOR: A person who…
GROUP FACILITATION & LEADERSHIP SKILLS:
LEADER:
A person who can influence others to be more effective in working to achieve their mutual goals and maintain effective working relationships among members.
Styles of Leadership:
Authoritarian
Democratic
Laissez-faire
Fears about leading a group (power and control):
Fear of decision-making
Fear of having responsibility over others
Fear of being in a position of power and expectations tied to that
Fear that you won't harness appropriate control on behalf of the group and they don't see it or get some value out of it.
Fear of being too controlling as a result of my perception of seeing others being a weak link in the group dynamic.
The onus of a group work leader is to transfer leadership and facilitation skills to the group through appropriate use of our power and authority.
FACILITATOR:
A person who assists the group to enable group process to take place.
Facilitation is a group work skill that strengthens the engagement of group participants and group process.
Facilitation skills are utilised by leaders interested in maintaining group process.
Most groups require in the very least skills in facilitating a discussion.
Skills that assist groups in task performance:
Initiating
Seeking information
Giving information
Clarifying and elaborating
Summarising
Building
Consensus testing
Skills that assist groups in maintaining cohesiveness:
Harmonising
Balancing / participation / gate keeping
Sensing
Expressing and reflecting feelings
Encouraging
Compromising
Standard setting and testing
If a group is too task focussed, this can lead to low group morale, competition and burn out.
If there is too much emphasis on the group process, this can lead to low productivity and frustration.
GROUP FACILITATION SKILLS:
Observation
Communication
Linking participants' experience
Engaging participants with each other
Encouraging and supporting
Processing feedback (check in, check out)
Task performance
Maintaining cohesiveness
Informing
Directing
1. Observation:
The skill of seeing what is happening in the group
Things to observe include: content, the 'what', task skills, process, the 'how' and maintenance skills
GROUP WORK STRUCTURE:
Maypole (one person in the middle of the circle)
Links/connections (everyone linked in a circle)
SELF-DIRECTED GROUPS:
People are experts in their own lives and we use this as a starting point
We aren't leaders but facilitators
Sharing of power
Non-elitist ways of working
BASIC SKILLS NEEDED:
Voice
Tone
Gesturing
Eye contact (scanning)
POWER AND AUTHORITY:
A central aim in group work practice is to actively promote leadership as a role
to be shared by the group
.
MANAGING POWER AND AUTHORITY:
Transparency in style and approach
Curiosity rather than knowledge
Value diversity
Reflective practice
Sensitivity to power and 'rank'
PERSONAL POWER VS STRUCTURAL POWER
SHARING POWER IN GROUPS:
Member to member communication
Model and teach members leadership skills
Ask for member's input
Encourage attempts of mutual sharing
Contract
CO-FACILITATION RATIONALE:
Monitor large groups
Skill transfer
Mutual support
CO-FACILITATION PITFALLS TO THINK ABOUT AND REFLECT ON:
Gender imbalance
Leadership styles
Conflict avoidance
Power investment
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Expectations
Style
Personalities
Roles
Seating
Structural analysis
Debriefing
FEEDBACK:
Giving feedback:
Accurate, clear, specific
Descriptive rather than judgemental
Provide evidence from observations
Make it immediate
Supportive not dogmatic
Be positive as well as negative
Focus on what can be changed
Deliver what can be understood at the time
Provide evidence from observations
Receiving feedback:
Attend to speaker
Listen to the message
Convey you've heard the message
Explain your perspective calmly
Avoid flippancy
Don't become defensive or counterattack
Accept praise graciously