Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal
Issue 9, 2008
Full Version
The Theories and Practices of Facilitator Educators:
Conclusions from a Naturalistic Inquiry
Glyn Thomas
ABSTRACT
The study described in this paper explored the theories and practices facilitator educators use to help novice facilitators to develop their skills, knowledge, and experience. Data were collected in 2005 and 2006 through semi-structured interviews with facilitator educators, participant observation of facilitation training courses, and qualitative surveys of facilitator training course graduates. The conclusions for the six primary research questions used in the study are presented and the dimensions of facilitator education model was shown to be effective in describing the important elements of a facilitation training program. Two signposts that will demonstrate a growing maturity of the facilitation field in the future will be a reduced presence of stand-alone technical facilitator education and more careful consideration of values within the facilitator education process.
KEYWORDS
Facilitator education, facilitation training, and facilitation.
From 'A Meeting' To 'A Learning Community'
Community of Practice theory-informed facilitation of an inter-organizational community
of practice: the case of the e-collaboration learning community
Sibrenne Wagenaar and Joitske Hulsebosch
ABSTRACT
In the fall of 2005, an event was organized for individuals from development organisations in the Netherlands to learn about new tools for collaboration at a distance, which grew into an inter-organizational, hybrid learning community about
e-collaboration. The two authors used a community of practice-theory informed way of facilitating this community as facilitator-practitioners. The community grew from 20 to over 100 members. Its public community space expanded from an online discussion forum to include face-to-face meetings, research activities and a weblog. The private spaces were an equally important part of the collaborative learning landscape and consisted of joint projects, members of the community participating in the same trainings, as well as have informal meetings both on- and offline. The authors point out some principles for facilitators of learning communities who want to work from CoP-theory and provide ideas for stage-specific interventions. They conclude with a discussion and ideas for further research.
KEYWORDS
Community of Practice, Facilitation, Inter-organizational Communities of Practice, Group facilitation, online and face to face learning,
Facilitator Interventions.
Evaluating Group Interventions:
A Framework for Diagnosing, Implementing, and
Evaluating Group Interventions
Jacob de Lichtenberg and Manuel London
ABSTRACT
This article presents a framework for group facilitators to assess needs for interventions, select and/or design the interventions, and evaluate the effects of the interventions over time. The purpose is to help facilitators use existing intervention theory and research to guide their practice. Examples of interventions and related research are presented for the facilitation of group relationship development, idea generation, capacity building, performance reflection, and opportunities for change. A guideline is offered for using this knowledge to diagnose, implement, and evaluate group interventions.
KEYWORDS
Group facilitation, group interventions, needs assessment, outcomes evaluation.
A Proposed Model for Effective Facilitation
Dorothy Wardale
ABSTRACT
This article outlines a model of Effective Facilitation resulting from the author’s recent study of Managers’ and Facilitators’ Perceptions of Effective Facilitation (2006). The results of in-depth interviews of 20 managers and 20 facilitators in Australia indicated that effective facilitation focuses, not surprisingly, on sound planning, the facilitated event(s) and achieving satisfactory outcomes. However, the study also revealed that facilitating an implementation phase and considering the context within which the facilitation takes place are factors that improve the effectiveness of facilitation. This article will be of interest to all facilitators and in particular to facilitators working within an organization. Internal facilitators may have greater opportunities to be involved in an implementation phase and may have a greater appreciation of the context within which the facilitation takes place.
KEY WORDS
facilitation, effectiveness model, external facilitator, internal facilitator, managers, planning, intervention, outcomes, implementation,
transference, context.
Achieving Change in People:
Some Applications of Group Dynamics Theory1
Dorwin Cartwright
EDITOR’S NOTE
Published in 1951 in Human Relations, this article by Dorwin Cartwright draws on early work at The Research Centre for Group Dynamics established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Kurt Lewin in 1945. The group at the research centre was interested in the scientific study of the processes that influence individuals in group situations, and the center initially focused on group productivity; communication; social perception; intergroup relations; group membership; leadership and improving the functioning of groups. Today the article continues to raise some interesting thoughts about the role that group facilitators and group process play in the change process within our wider society.
— Stephen Thorpe, Editor
Book Reviews
Facilitating Multicultural Groups:
A Practical Guide
By Christine Hogan
Kogan Page, London, 2007, 342 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0-7494-4492-1
Reviewed by Sasha Rixon
Community: The Structure of Belonging
By Peter Block
Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-5-57675-487-0
Reviewed by Carol Sherriff
