Facilitator Training – Facilitate learning using a variety of given methodologies
This unit standard will provide recognition for those who facilitate or intend to facilitate learning using a variety of given methodologies. Formal recognition will enhance their employability and also provide a means to identify competent learning facilitators.
SAQA US ID
UNIT STANDARD TITLE
ORIGINATOR
CREDITS
LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING
SAQA US ID
117871
UNIT STANDARD TITLE
Facilitate learning using a variety of given methodologies
ORIGINATOR
SGB Occupationally-directed ETD Practitioners
CREDITS
Level 5; 10 credits
LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING
The credit calculation is based on the assumption that learners are already competent in the learning area in which they will provide training.
Why Facilitation Skills Are Important
Facilitation is so much more than running meetings; it’s a way to help people make progress, accomplish goals, remove impediments, and generally do great things. You can apply facilitation to all sorts of careers and job roles. It’s truly a foundational skill that can grow and serve you well on a variety of career paths.
Employers today want employees who know how to facilitate. They know this skill helps their staff make decisions and reach outcomes. Employees benefit from facilitation because their ideas will be heard and they will get an active role in decisions and collaboration.
Pass It On Training Centre -certified educators help you build your facilitation muscles in the PIOTC Coaching Skills – Certified Facilitator course. Grow as a facilitator who supports group events so people can make a difference at their workplaces. Please use the form at the bottom of this page to get an email when the PIOTC train the trainer course is open for registration.
How Facilitators Fulfill Their Role (and Why It Matters)
Facilitators help teams unlock their full potential. They do this by supporting teams during meetings, workshops, and other gatherings to solve problems and make decisions. They do so by:
- Helping a team discover and define a process
- Upholding that process but pivoting when necessary
- Remaining neutral to the outcome
- Fostering an environment in which all voices are heard, especially those that are normally silent
- Making sure that detours and unrelated conversations are brought back on track
The neutrality of facilitators is vital: They are the party that is neutral to the outcome the group reaches, which allows them to focus on process. A facilitator isn’t there to steer the group to a predetermined result or to influence. Instead, they are there to support the process that makes it possible for the group to reach a decision.
The group needs this neutral support because it allows them to focus on their expertise: the content of the meeting/event. The team is the expert on the content and the facilitator provides the process support.
What’s It All For?
Effective facilitation may lead to:
- People collaborating to innovate and co-create
- Teams accomplishing a goal or outcome that they want or that their stakeholders/managers are expecting
- Decisions being made
- Buy-in from everyone on the reason for the event/meeting
- Everyone’s participation
Even a group with the very best intentions may stray off-topic without the support of a facilitator. The facilitator helps them re-focus and commit to actions that support desired outcomes.
A group is more likely to have every member fully committed to the outcome when a facilitator is there for support: The process will be cooperative and involve everyone’s buy-in. People are more likely to have their voices heard and thereby lend their support to a decision under these circumstances.
A facilitator also helps with conflict when it arises. It’s normal and expected for disagreement to arise when a group of passionate people gets together on a topic. Without an effective facilitator, conflict may lead to an impasse, while a skilled facilitator knows how to support the group through disagreement and how to show the group to use conflict to come to a well-considered decision.
Effective facilitation makes a real difference. Without it:
- Workshops, meetings, and other purpose-driven gatherings may lose direction
- There’s no agreed-upon process or structure for the team to come to decisions, so progress stalls
- Only the most assertive and outgoing people speak up and share their ideas
- People who aren’t as comfortable expressing their ideas hold back and remain silent
- There’s less buy-in because not everyone’s had an opportunity to speak
- People don’t collaborate, communicate, or stay engaged when they meet
- No one has quite the same understanding of goals and purpose
Facilitation is important to job industries across the globe, including for remote teams who must collaborate virtually.
Facilitators Are Essential to Pass It On Training Centre
Facilitation is a good skill for PIOTC in many different roles to develop. Because PIOTC teams are often cross-functional and adapt rapidly based on feedback, group discussions and meetings are an important part of communicating, delivering, and improving. Facilitators are there to support those discussions and meetings.