Intergroup Dialogue Group Facilitation Skills

1). Listening

  •  Active Listening: Listening for accuracy and feeding back the content and feeling of the message.
  •  Generative Listening: Listening for strengths, skills, qualities and values in a person that they may (or may not) recognize they have.

2). Asking questions that produce discussion and reflection. This includes:

  •  Collective Reflection
  •  Asking questions during discussion/conversations
  •  Summarizing

3). Getting participants to ask each other questions and follow up on ideas

4). Encouraging sharing of experience and ideas: This includes the facilitator being vulnerable and sharing their experiences as well.

5). Noticing and Managing Dynamics: This includes noticing….

  •  Who’s talking? Who’s not talking? How do the identities of these patterns impact the group or interaction?
  •  What is not being said in the space? What does the body language look/feel like?
  •  What does the silence mean? Is it because participants/residents are reflecting? Or are they uncomfortable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan