Group Management is another of the four faces of the Integral Facilitator that focuses on the processes, methods, and structures to engage groups in healthy participation as they progress towards their stated goals.
Group Management Archetypes
Setting (The Lover)
- Model and demonstrate ways to cultivate safety and trust
- Prepare the physical environment for mood, culture, and purpose.
- Configure room to support group culture, purpose, and process.
Facilitating Participation (The Magician)
- Help groups understand the value of full participation through stories, metaphors, and actions.
- Give clear and concise instructions for group activities and check for understanding.
- Clearly summarize key points during dynamic discussions.
- Demonstrate techniques that cultivate a participatory environment.
Facilitating Process (The Guide)
- Distinguish process from task and content
- Employ the appropriate process tools given the task, culture and individuals in the group
- Assure the group understands what process it is using and why appropriate
- Effectively facilitate selected processes to reach the stated goal or task
Intervention (The Coach)
- Lay the groundwork for intervention—Permission
- Identify behaviors requiring intervention—Perception
- Weigh the decision to intervene—Predicament
- Use an effective intervention method—Process
Conflict Magic (The Mediator)
- Provide a safe environment for conflict to surface
- Engage participants in a collaborative negotiation process to address key aspects of a conflict
- Impartially articulate various perspectives of an issue
- Identify the underlying needs and interests of all parties
- Develop and analyze options and consequences
- Constructively respond to disagreement in support of learning and group capacity
Consensus Building (The Guardian)
- Facilitate understanding of consensus concept
- Know the pros and cons of consensus-building and alternative decision-making methods
- Model positive tone for collaboration
- Facilitate a consensus-building process
- Facilitate alternative decision-making methods
Integral Facilitator’s Primer & Self-Assessment. Complete this assessment to determine your level of competency for each of these archetypes, then consider the questions that follow to help you craft a development plan to enhance your skills.
Take the Journey of Facilitation and Collaboration
This model is taught in an applied format during our Journey of Facilitation and Collaboration Workshop, a five-day experiential event offered regularly at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and sometimes at other locations throughout the country based on interest and by invitation.
