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KEYWORDS
facilitation, facilitation techniques, collaboration process design, Collaboration Engineering, design and preparation, Group Support Systems.
ABSTRACT
Groups often rely on the expertise of facilitators to support them in their collaboration processes. The design and preparation of a collaboration process is an important facilitation task. Although there is a significant body of knowledge about the effects of facilitation, there is a dearth of knowledge about the ways in which facilitators design collaboration processes. Increased understanding in this area will contribute to the effective design and use of collaboration support and to the development of collaboration process design support. The research reported in this paper explores how facilitators could benefit from libraries of facilitation techniques and what is required to support facilitators in selecting and using new facilitation techniques, we sampled perspectives on the use of facilitation techniques from a large number of professional facilitators using a survey. We found how facilitators use and document facilitation techniques and offer suggestions for the documentation of facilitation techniques.
INTRODUCTION
Facilitators employ a variety of methods, tools and interventions to support groups in achieving their goals collaboratively. Facilitators possess skills and knowledge that they employ to guide and motivate a group to achieve a specific outcome. One important step in facilitation is the design and preparation of an intervention. As described in the code of ethics of the International Association of Facilitators; "In dialogue with the group or its representatives we (facilitators) design processes that will achieve the group's goals, and select and adapt the most appropriate methods and tools (Facilitators, 2004)."
To design a collaboration process, facilitators need to select methods and tools to support the group in achieving its goal. In literature a number of libraries and books with facilitation tools, techniques and methods exists such as thinkLets (about 70 techniques), the method database (over 250 techniques) and techniques for problem solving (Briggs & Vreede, 2001; Jenkins, 2005; VanGundy, 1981). One of the first complicating factors with respect to the choice of facilitation techniques is the number of techniques from which facilitators have to choose. Choosing among many techniques might be difficult as many considerations and deliberations play a role, while choosing among a few limits choice. For most techniques some level of training and experience...