Library of facilitation techniques

Encourage team reflection in a fun and expressive way!

Fishbone diagrams show the causes of a specific event.

I dread the moment when people ask me, “What do you do?” I don't know how to explain that I am a performance technologist, or an instructional designer, or a facilitator. So I cheat by saying that I am a trainer.

Here's an activity that helps you become more fluent in explaining what you do for a living.

A focused meditation to become present and aware. We accept our feelings, leaving behind what we doesn't serve us right now. A ideal way to open a workshop or team meeting.

Participants throw an invisible ball to one another through their computer screen, paying attention to how it changes as it gets passed around.    

Whoosh, bangs, zaps etc. are passed around the circle. Great opportunity to introduce failure bow

In pairs, players mirror one another's movements.  

In pairs, participant A attempts to communicate the use and value of a modern-day object to participant B, who plays the role of someone from 500 years ago.

This game is effectively shows the power and advantages of collaboration and can be a practical demonstration of the Prisoner Dilemma

Participants work individually, thinking about three teams and the behaviors of desirable teammates and undesirable teammates. Later, they work with a partner (and still later, in teams) to prepare a list of dos and don'ts for being a desirable teammate.

Because a checklist is a focusing object, it demands that the team discuss the order and importance of certain tasks. Team members are likely to have different perspectives on these things, and the checklist is a means to bring these issues to the surface and work with them.