ABSTRACT
Facilitation is the work involved in ensuring that the right structures and processes exist for helping the group to meet its agreed objectives, and in helping the group members to identify and overcome problems in communicating with one another and in managing emotion. A facilitator has three overlapping tasks: to observe the group dynamics, to manage the group process and to obtain the best possible outcomes from the sum of the parts. If the group is inexperienced, it may not have the level of maturity needed to allow one of its own members to take on the facilitator role, even if a suitable individual can be identified from within the group. Facilitators who take positions on content issues within groups will lose their authority to manage the group process. Facilitation should allow the correct resources and information to be available to ensure that the group's decision making is of the highest possible quality.
