The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation

Sandy Shuman The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation

As a recent International Association of Facilitator’s member I finished a truly impressive book that the IAF is using as its core collection of ideas that form the “how to” for a professional facilitator – The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation. This book features a collection of short articles, edited by Sandy Shuman into a concise textbook-like edition that help the facilitators to improve their knowledge and skills in facilitating discussions in a wide variety of different settings – small groups, large groups, collaborative groups, hostile groups, unanimous groups, multifaceted groups etc.

The book can be used as a primer for somebody is just starting off as a junior facilitator. But there are also lots of interesting case studies to contemplate for very experienced people who have decades of facilitation or coaching experience. The book is set up on six different parts which answer to the following questions

• How to create and maintain client relationship during facilitation process – what does it mean to be as a facilitator in one-to-one setting with somebody who requires my services;
• Planning the group processes – how to prepare a group exercise well and make sure that the event will run smoothly;
• How to be inside a group facilitation process – what to do in order to handle dynamic situations, how to improvise and how to create a true dialogue among the discussion participants;
• How to make sure that the discussion would not be just for talking heads – making sure that the group discussions render useful outcomes, lead to decisions, increased cohesion and achieve changes;
• What are the core competencies of professional facilitators and how to develop oneself as a facilitator, how to maintain professional ethics and focus on one’s core values.

Below is the full table of contents of the book for your information.

• PART 1 – Creating positive ongoing client relationships
  • The Big Picture: Creating an Ongoing Client Relationship
  • The Skilled Facilitator Approach
  • Facilitation: Beyond Methods
• PART 2 – Plan appropriate group processes
  • Eight Ps of Effective Facilitation Planning and Preparation
  • The Architecture of Participation
  • Building Trust: The Great Enabler
  • Facilitation of Group Brainstorming
  • Promoting Mutual Understanding for Effective Collaboration in Cross-Functional Groups with Multiple Stakeholders
  • A Procedural Analysis of Group Facilitation: A Communication Perspective
• PART 3 – Create and Sustain a Participatory Environment
  • Graphic Facilitation: The Art of Drawing Out the Best in People
  • Creating a Positive Participatory Climate: A Meaning-Centered Counseling Perspective
  • How to Build a Collaborative Environment
  • Effective Strategies for Designing and Facilitating Dialogue
  • Dynamic Facilitation: Design Principles from the New Science of Complexity
  • Facilitating the Whole System in the Room: A Theory, Philosophy, and Practice for Managing Conflicting Agendas, Diverse Needs, and Polarized Views
  • Successfully Facilitating Multicultural Groups
  • Improvisation in Facilitation
  • Facilitation of the Future: How Virtual Meetings Are Changing the Work of the Facilitator
• PART 4 – Guide Group to Appropriate and Useful Outcomes
  • The Team Start-Up: A Scripted Approach to Facilitating the Start of an Effective Work Team
  • Facilitating Large Group Meetings That Get Results Every Time
  • Facilitating Communication in Group Decision-Making Discussions
  • Consensus Building: Strategies for Resolving Disagreement
  • Quality Without a Name
  • Facilitating Participatory Evaluation Through Stories of Change
  • Assessing the Effectiveness of Group Decision Processes
• PART 5 – Build and Maintain Professional Knowledge
  • Facilitator Core Competencies as Defined by the International Association of Facilitators
  • Operational Dimensions of the Profession of Facilitation
  • How to Build Your Expertise in Facilitation
  • Dimensions of Facilitator Education
• PART 6 – Model Positive Professional Attitude
  • Facilitator Values and Ethics
  • Facilitation from the Inside Out
  • The Gift of Self: The Art of Transparent Facilitation
  • Affirmative Facilitation: An Asset-Based Approach to Process Consultation