4 Facilitative behaviours
What skills do you need for effective facilitation? The next activity will help you to analyse your own skills as a facilitator.
Activity 6
Part One
In order to increase your competency in the skills of facilitation, you may find it useful to undertake a brief analysis of those skill areas in which you feel confident, and the skills which you feel you need to improve. You may also wish to share this questionnaire with someone you work with in a group, and then compare your own scores with those of the other person.
Below is a list of statements: read each statement and, thinking about your typical behaviour in a group, make a note of the number which best agrees with your assessment of your skills, where:
1 = disagree strongly
2 = disagree slightly
3 = neither agree nor disagree
4 = agree slightly
5 = agree strongly
| 1 | I find it easy to get on with most people. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | When I meet new people I have no problem in developing a relationship. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | Even when I have strong opinions, I am able to hold my tongue. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 4 | I do not show my feelings even when I hear something I dislike. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | I find it easy to let people have their say. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | I am a listener rather than a talker. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 7 | I make good use of questions to establish facts. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 8 | I am not afraid to probe for underlying feelings and concerns when I feel it is appropriate. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 9 | I find it easy to observe detail. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 10 | I can interpret body language effectively. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 11 | I can quickly summarise the content of a conversation. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 12 | I find it easy to get to the heart of an issue. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 13 | I am not afraid of conflict. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 14 | I have confidence to deal with difficult situations. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
You may prefer to print out this activity [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] and circle the numbers.
Discussion
Scoring
Now look at your scores. Add the following two questions together and note your scores.
Questions 1 and 2, which relate to empathy, score out of 10.
Questions 3 and 4, which relate to neutrality, score out of 10.
Questions 5 and 6, which relate to listening, score out of 10.
Questions 7 and 8, which relate to questioning, score out of 10.
Questions 9 and 10, which relate to observation, score out of 10.
Questions 11 and 12, which relate to summarising, score out of 10.
Questions 13 and 14, which relate to intervention, score out of 10.
How to interpret your scores
The average score for this questionnaire is 7 for each section. A score lower than this indicates that you need to increase your competence in this area. Above this score and you should already have the skills to help you become an effective facilitator – but practice always makes perfect!
Part Two
Finally, look at your score for each section and summarise your development needs in the box below.