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First, let’s be clear about the difference between Facilitation and Dialogic Facilitation. Often facilitation is defined as a process in which one person or two guide the conversation in a group. These are usually people who have the acceptance and trust of the members of the group, are sufficiently neutral with no decision making power and intervene to help the group in the way it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions.
The end result of good facilitation is always increased group effectiveness. To intervene here means to assist the group in seeing a wider range of possibilities, to ensure that different angles are explored and that the conversation stays in an effective flow.
Empowering every person in the room
Dialogic facilitation is built on the general approach to facilitation, but it does not necessarily require an outside person to do the facilitation. The skills of facilitation need to be available for every person in the group. Particularly people in leadership positions need to acquire facilitation skills when they call for meetings, ask for feedback, try to understand a difficult situation, or want to help other people identify their problems.
Dialogic facilitation aims to empower every person in the room to make facilitative moves and become an active co-creator of better group results. It moves away from handing over the responsibility for group effectiveness to an outside neutral person. A person who facilitates in a dialogic way is concerned with the question: what is the conversation we really need to have here in order to move forward?
Dialogic facilitation is the ability to help a group through difficulties, to move to a certain end point or to reach a new level of thinking together. It ensures that:
- Different perspectives or viewpoints of participants are considered
- The voices of all relevant participants or stakeholders are heard and listened to
- Meetings are held more efficiently and effectively
- The quality of decisions is improved and problem solving is enhanced
- More participation, energy and enthusiasm is encouraged during the implementation of decisions
The intention of dialogue is to reach a new level of understanding and, in doing so, to form a new basis from which to think and act collectively. Negotiation, on the other hand, aims at reaching a compromise between parties who differ.
Would you like to facilitate your next meeting or event in a dialogic way? How to start?
When preparing meetings or events, we usually tend to focus more on the content and less on the design. The CIFCARR tool provides you with guidelines to assure that you have taken into consideration 6 key components. It represents an acronym, which stands for:
C Container – How will you create cohesion in the group?
I Intention – How will you create a common purpose?
F Frame – How will you create an appropriate structure?
C A Collective Action – How will you design the actual work and content areas?
R Results – How will you capture the results?
R Reflection – How will you ensure there is valuable reflection?
After having identified the main issues and the challenges your event faces, and decided on the type of application needed (strategic dialogue, planning sessions, team building, conflict resolution, small and/or large group settings, etc.), you can apply the CIFCARR tool to guide you through your reflection and as a check list. Read more in the
CIFCARR One-Pager (297.3 KB)
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