Group Facilitation Methods: Reflection and Feedback on Facilitation #3 Participants: Chris, Megumi, Kelly, and Mike

What do you feel your group did really well? Choose three things and provide some details around why you chose these. 1. Knowing when and how to help each other when appropriate 2. Preparation for facilitation, getting on the same page successfully, splitting time between facilitators evenly 3. Keeping the facilitation light and fun, especially when our facilitation activity occurred late in the day, being able to adapt to group dynamics. What would you change if you were to facilitate this session again? Choose three things and provide some details of what you would do differently. 1. Writing the rules on the board. The rules were explained at the beginning, but not followed. We concluded this wasnt because they were not clear, but perhaps too many rules to remember. 2. Transition from upbeat activity to parked discussion with limited amount of opportunities to speak. We lost control of the group (perhaps due to exhaustion), when we transitioned from the icebreaker to the explanation of the activity and could have refined transitioning to this. 3. Ensuring activity is explained clearly and comprehension within the group as a whole is achieved before materials for the activity are distributed, and groups are divided into sub-groups for the activity. At what points in your session did you feel that participants were most engaged and why? Participants were most engaged in the ice breaker and Group activity because it was a high energy and fun way to address complex issues late in a long day. It was also interactive, and incorporated tactile as opposed to verbal communication. How well did your session address issues of power, privilege and marginalization? How could you rework the session to more effectively engage with power issues? All four of the groups members seemed to work together very collaboratively and effectively, perhaps given we are mostly MIIS students. Though, to more effectively engage with power issues would be to insert one of the facilitators as a problem member in one or more of the groups, introducing pieces that didnt fit into any of the squares, imposing a shorter time frame, or in general introducing more stress into the situation, or a prize for the person who finished their own square the first (emphasizing the importance of individual square completion).

How would you describe your teamwork in preparing and facilitating this exercise? After reviewing the facilitation exercise, we brainstormed ideas for each section of the facilitation, and have developed appreciation for each others strengths, but are also able to help each other in moments of weakness. We were able to divide up the facilitation exercise appropriately, and each of us were able to contribute creative ideas to the facilitation activity equally. After four days of working together, we are developing a balanced group dynamic and are able to build upon each others strengths to successfully complete each activity as a group. What is the most important feedback that you received that you will take with you and apply? The most important feedback that we received was around instruction-giving. Though we thought we explained the instructions clearly at the beginning for the exercise, there was some confusion among each of the three groups during the exercise around what exactly the rules were. Given the time of the day our facilitation took place, and the attention span of the group members at this time of day, we should have adjusted our instruction to make activity rules more explicit and written these on the board as well as emphasized with each individual group during the activity.