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Facilitation Doesn't Change in a Pandemic

Okay, I know what you are thinking - the pandemic has literally changed everything about the way we work but as I was preparing for the upcoming class I had to really think through that question - what have been the fundamental changes to facilitation in a virtual environment? The truth is the basic goal of facilitation - to work with a group of people through a process, has in fact not changed. The basic tenants of facilitation are: 

  1. Identify the key question/problem

  2. Develop a plan to answer the question/problem

  3. Be flexible and adaptable on your plan given group dynamics

  4. Summarize themes and agreements

Facilitation is facilitation whether it is 100 people, 3 people, in person, or virtual. Your toolbox of tricks and modalities certainly changes but the focus and goal of facilitation remain constant online or around a table. 

Our Work

Our team has been using lots of tools and a few apps to make the virtual experience enriching. We have worked with partial virtual and partial in-person groups, staff teams of 30, 5 organizations simultaneously in Group Strategic Planning, 70 participants for the Thrive Accelerator - part of our Mission Forward Program, and we are planning an event for 250 people in October with a College in Virginia. The key to all of them - being really clear about the desired goal of the event and giving participants space for breaks from looking at each other, and some levity and fun!

What tricks have you been using?