A major theme for me this year is around
collaboration, and a number of really significant
opportunities have presented themselves in the last
few months. It’s led me to doing a lot of thinking about
co-facilitation. In my mind, co-facilitation enhances the
possibilities and outcomes of group programs,
ensuring that in my work and others that the "sum is
greater than it's parts".
For many years I was involved in co-facilitation when I
ran retreat programs for organizations. It was often
quite common to have 250 or more staff in the room,
and we needed 2 or 3 facilitators. After several years
of often running programs on my own, I'm back to the
world of co-facilitation and I am loving it. As a
relationship systems coach most of our large group
work is done through co-facilitation when working with
teams.
I often get asked " What are some tips for co-
facilitation?" I would love to have a magic bullet, but
unfortunately I don't. I have seen, and experienced
when co-facilitation has gone well, and also when
things have run amok, leaving a sour taste for
everyone involved.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when
designing your next co-facilitation:
1. What are your strengths? Your passions? Your
weaknesses? Creating the opportunity for each
person to leverage their strengths and passions
leads to more fun, creativity and presence. What are
you good at? What do you like to do?
2. How are you complimentary? Many successful
partnerships and the business world are based on
complimentary skills -- how do you each compliment
each other? I have seen excellent facilitators come
together to co-facilitate, and the program has fallen
flat, in part due to the similar nature of each one. If you
are working with someone who is very much like
yourself, what do you need to be aware of? How can
you bring in the complimentary skills you need?
3. Clearly define your roles. Masterful co-facilitation is
like a dance. Who is taking the lead? Things get
murky when roles are not clear. I spend a lot of time
up front with my co-facilitator, even before the start of a
program, designing what our roles are going to be.
Who will take a lead on this part of the program? Who
is going to be responsibile for that? Spending time to
build this foundation allows us to look at where do we
synergize, and who takes the lead at different stages.
4. What are your expectations for the program and
your partnership? Spend time before the program
discussing your expectations for the program and your
partnerhip. A disconnect between each parties
expectations can lead to conflict and that sour taste in
your mouth. Finally, what can you be counted on for?
What co-facilitation opportunities lay ahead for you?
What would you like to achieve from this partnership?
