Facilitating futures
Most futures processes are strongly based on workshops and require facilitation. Some activities - such as systems mapping or scenario planning - require a high level of technical expertise and are probably best left to professional facilitators who specialise in those techniques. Others, however, may be run by more generalised facilitators or by individuals within an organisation (under certain circumstances).
The task of facilitation can be split into three phases: before, during and after a workshop.
Before
Before a workshop, the facilitator must design an approach that will deliver the objectives of the event's owners. The facilitator needs to clarify:
- what the objectives, outputs and desired outcome for the workshop are
- how the outputs will be used
- where the workshop sits in the organisation's overall futures process
- how many participants will be at the workshop
- who the participants are and how much time is available.
With this information, the facilitator can design a process that will meet the objectives and deliver the required outputs.
During
During the workshop, the facilitator must guide participants through the process. Futures workshops can be quite process driven and it is helpful to provide a roadmap of that day that explains the different steps that participants will go through. It is helpful for participants if the facilitator returns to the roadmap throughout the workshop and reminds them of where they are in the process.
As well as managing the process itself, the facilitator has to manage personalities. Futures workshops can be challenging for some participants, simply because they may be less practiced in strategic discussions of this nature. The key to success is to maintain everyone’s interest and engagement as fully as possible.
After
After the workshop, the facilitator will normally be expected to provide a full report of the meeting. It is important, therefore, to ensure that participants’ views are fully recorded and presented back to them. It may help to have additional scribes present during the workshop.
Each of the techniques presented in Exploring the Future: Tools for strategic futures thinking revisits this facilitation theme of before, during and after, via a section titled helpful hints.
Facilitators must at all times remain impartial and focused on delivering the process. At certain points in the process, this may require the facilitator to manage dominant personalities who are preventing other voices and opinions from being heard. At other points, the facilitator will need to encourage participants to look beyond their comfort zone and to challenge their attitudes and level of knowledge on a particular subject.
These can be difficult roles for an internal facilitator to take on – particularly if she or he is facilitating senior members of staff. If there is any doubt about an individual’s ability to take on these roles, it is best to engage external facilitators.