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:
Identify the key question/problem
Develop a plan to answer the question/problem
Be flexible and adaptable on your plan given group dynamics
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!