Facilitation of advisory groups

[Jim Creighton <jim@CreightonandCreighton.com>]

I've worked with nearly 30 advisory groups now, and I believe that: 1) the facilitator should be a neutral; and 2) the most important role of a good facilitator is in the "setting up" period. The facilitator can often guide the agency through the problems of representation and establishing procedures that can set the tone for the rest of the process. Most groups require initial facilittaion, as a minimum. We've used various models, all of which seem viable: 1) the facilitator leads the meetings through the complete training period and then a Chair is selected (and receives some facilitation training)then the Chair takes over meeting leadership; 2) the chair is really the spokesperson for the group to agency management and the media, and plays a key role in organizing and coordinating with subcommittees, but the faclitator continues to lead the meetings; and 3) the chair leads the ceremonial parts of the meeting but turns the meeting over to the facilitator during deliberations so that the chair can be a participant (and the more skilled meeting leader can run the meeting during the most intense discussions.

Jim