Book Description

Preface I have a strong belief that everyone is capable of facilitating the learning in any group. Even for those who have a natural knack for the skill, it can still be a challenging skill to master. Likewise, for those who feel like it is something that can never be taught, I would graciously and adamantly disagree. Facilitation is a challenging subject to teach. Most facilitators learn how to facilitate in one of four ways, presented here in most-to-least formal: (1) in a retreat or mini-retreat setting where the material to be facilitated is covered, and a few general pointers about facilitation are presented (e.g., “Ask open-ended questions…. Avoid values statements....”); (2) shadowing or co-facilitating with an experienced facilitator; (3) being a participant in someone else’s facilitation and thinking “I could totally do that;” or (4) being given a packet with some instructions, put in front of a room full of people, after someone saying “you can totally do this.” If you’ve participated in any of the above forms of facilitator training, you may have noticed something we noticed: it’s less training on how to facilitate, and more training on what you’ll be facilitating. My goals are different since I plan to focus on how to facilitate nearly any training, meeting, or workshop. I believe the challenge in teaching facilitation is that it requires skills that are put into action and can only be learned through practice. I can give you hints, recommendations and even a template to follow. But in order to master the techniques, you need to put your skills to the test with an audience or participants. WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? This book is for people who, in their professional or personal lives, find themselves responsible for engaging a group of people in a learning process. My goal is to present a series of steps that any facilitator can put into practice, whether as a first-time facilitator or as a seasoned professional looking to gain some new techniques. The SAGA model is flexible to fit many different casual and formal environments, large and small audiences, and participants young and old. Mostly, this book is for the new facilitator. One who has perhaps used a scripted facilitation guide and was able to manage the group discussion. Or was picked by a supervisor to lead a group and feel comfortable in front of a group. I have trained countless facilitators and know that not everyone has the ability to lead a discussion or feels comfortable without a script to guide the learning. Hopefully the skills I map out with the SAGA model will help new facilitators gain the skills to start learning their own facilitation style that is guided by a model. WHAT THIS BOOK ISN’T The book and the model described cannot substitute experience and putting in the time, effort, and energy to learn the skills in front of people – whether in person or virtually. It’s a complement to the act of facilitation, and all of the other things required of great facilitation; a catalyst that will augment your learning from those things; and a source of support and mentorship. While this book won’t make you a master facilitator, it will equip you with the language and skills to begin practicing facilitation with others and learning how to develop a style that is all your own.