In my last post on ‘The Art of Co-Facilitation’ I talked about Co-Facilitation, its types, advantages and potential disadvantages. A co-facilitation program is very different than conducting a solo program as a lot of planning and co-ordination needs to be done with the partner facilitator. Following are some quick tips for an awesome Co-Facilitation: Before the Program Plan and Document: This is the first step before every program. Write down the plan on a piece of paper or a word document. Make sure your plan includes the agenda, session plan, time allocation and key deliverables by each of the facilitators. With this the co-facilitators can further plan their individual sessions, who’ll take lead on which part of the program, and who will be responsible for logistics. Share Expectations: Before you go for the program you need to share your expectations with your co-facilitator as he may have a different understanding of the co-facilitation and any disconnect between co-facilitators lead to conflict and ruining the program. Leveraging Strengths: Co-facilitators may have different styles and capabilities. You must discuss your strengths and weaknesses and plan how you can leverage on each other’s strengths to run the program successfully. Practice: Practice gives real time feedback on the flow and various other aspects of running a co-facilitated program. It helps in testing assumptions and fixing the time for various interventions. Doing this actually helps you to intervene if your co-facilitator deviates from the plan. Inspect the venue: Have a look at the venue and check the sitting arrangement, various logistics, sitting arrangement for the co-facilitator. During the Program Support your co-facilitator: While your co-facilitator is conducting an activity you need to pay attention as he may need some props or your help to keep scores etc. or you may write on the white board while your partner is having some discussion with the participants or you may help your co-facilitator in distributing handouts/books etc. Neither interfere nor contradict: Very basic but very important. Neither interfere while your co-facilitator is conducting some activity nor contradict him (unless it’s critical for learning). I strongly recommend when one facilitator is conducting his part of the program the co-facilitator should be out of the sight of the participants as if both of the facilitators will be there the participants may find it difficult to focus on the one who’ll be running the program. The other co-facilitator should be on the stage only if there’s some activity or he’s assisting the lead facilitator of that part of the program. Stay on time: Remember you can finish the program in designated time only if both the facilitators stay on time. If one facilitator takes more time than what is allocated, it may impact the other facilitator activity and overall program. Team Work: Co-facilitation is all about team work and you can’t be successful if your co-facilitator fails. Support each other and help each other to play your roles well. The best learning and memory you can give is of a great team work. After the Program Share feedback: It’s very important to ask and share feedback. You may ask your co-facilitator what went well? What didn’t work as planned? What is the biggest learning? How differently would you run the program during next co-facilitation? Note down the responses and refer to these when you co-facilitate another training program. Take care of the logistics: Check out the status of the logistics. There may be times when you have a lot of unused training material and you may have to courier it back. Also the attendance and other training records needs to be e-mailed and there could be follow-ups with the clients. Co-facilitators can divide and finish the tasks. Hope these two posts will help you conduct an awesome co-facilitation program. Feel free to share your experience/feedback.
The Art of Co-Facilitation
I have been a trainer and facilitator for last 11+ years and have conducted a number of training programs successfully. Recently I got an opportunity to co-facilitate a Leadership training program with my colleague Mr. Kunal Chakrabarti wherein he was the lead trainer and I was second in command. This was my first ever co-facilitation program and I was little worried so I requested Mr. Chakrabarti to help and guide me as how can we make it a success. He helped me with various tips which actually helped me to run the program successfully. In this two series blog I’ll share my views on the art of Co-Facilitation, Advantages and Potential Disadvantages and how to master the art of Co-Facilitation. What is Co-Facilitation? Co-Facilitation is defined as, “Meeting or other group process by two or more persons in a cooperative, collegial manner to achieve a given outcome. Each facilitator is capable of assuming the lead role. Those not taking the lead role can support the lead facilitator in various ways.“ In their book, ‘Co-Facilitation’, Joana Knight and Warren Scott has write, “The distinguishing feature of co-facilitation is that it is intended to be a partnership, where two or more facilitators take joint responsibility for filling the facilitator role. The purpose of this partnership is either to enable and maximize group and individual learning, or to help the group to achieve other ends such a making a business decision.” Three models of Co-Facilitation Alternate Leading: In this model each facilitator leads the part of the session. The alternating roles are decided at the time of the planning process. Shared leading: In this model the facilitators are not responsible for a specific session but they can chip in and flow out as per the need of the session. There are times when one facilitator might be in lead role and the other facilitator may chip in to explain a point or clarify any doubt. The key challenge in this model is sometimes the session is hijacked by the other facilitator giving no time to the facilitator to make his point. The Apprentice Model: In this one facilitator is more experienced than the other. The experienced facilitator takes the majority of the session allowing the apprentice (less experienced facilitator) to learn and practice safer activities. It builds the confidence of the less experienced facilitator as he knows there’s someone who can step in if things doesn’t go the way as planned. Co-Facilitation enhances the possibility and outcome of group programs, ensuring the facilitation experience comes from a place where the sum totals more than the parts. While there are a no. of advantages of co-facilitation, there are some potential disadvantages also and if you are going to co-facilitate a session you need to consider both to avoid any dangers of ruining the session. Advantages of Co-Facilitation Synergy: When people work together collaboratively and share their skills, resources and energy a synergetic effect often develops and usually the outcome of the deliberation exceeds the sum of individual contribution. Capitalizing on Strengths: Facilitators may have different styles and strengths and they can divide the session in a way that lets them to capitalize on their individual strengths. Lightens the Load: Co-facilitation eases the pressure of full responsibility. There’s a huge list of things which needs to be done before and during the session such as preparation, design, holding the space for the group, observing what is going on from a process standpoint and dealing with logistical issues. Robust Approach: It brings different approaches, attributes, energies, experiences, skills, styles and perspectives to the program and allow for a more robust approach. Enhanced Creativity: In co-facilitation different skill sets of the facilitators can be used to make the session more interesting by enhancing the creativity. Skill Development: Facilitating is a lonely activity and the opportunities for personal and professional development are less as usually the participants don’t give meaningful feedback on the facilitator competence. In Co-facilitation both the partners get feedback from each other for their work which in turn can help them to sort out the issues and become more proficient. Conserving Energy: It is very difficult to conserve your energy for a daylong session for a lonely facilitator. I remember falling ill during a training program and how hard it was to continue the session. Co-facilitator provides that breather to his peer facilitator where he can recharge himself and shine. Potential Disadvantages of Co-Facilitation Egos: Sometimes the co-facilitators do not lean into the relationship equally and they try to dominate each other and their egos may get in the way of effective co-facilitation. Competition: Sometimes the co-facilitators may become competitive with each other and adopt competitive rather than collaborative approaches. May be stressful: Co-facilitation may be stressful as there may be mismatch of the styles of the co-facilitators. Co-facilitation may be stressful for the participants as they may have to adjust as per the styles of the facilitators. Time consuming: Co-facilitation can be time consuming as it does not only need only joint planning but also evaluation and feedback. Different Styles and Orientations: Co-facilitators may have different styles and different orientations- theoretical, technical and personal- potentially spoiling the effectiveness of each other. Overtraining: With highly energetic two or more facilitators sometimes overtraining is very likely due to too many interventions which stifle both participants and learning. Blind Spots: If Co-facilitators are same in their theory/ technique and approach they are very likely to have mutual blind spots in recognizing different dynamics. There’s a possibility that both the facilitators missing out significant learning opportunities. This is first part of two part series on ‘The Art of Co-Facilitation’. In my next blog I’ll write about the ‘Tips for an awesome Co-Facilitation’. Happy Reading 🙂