Greetings Fellow Facilitators!

I want to thank those of you who responded to my last email about FActivities.com. Your responses were very helpful and I've updated my categories and exercise format based on some of your suggestions. If you missed that memo, it's dated September 5th and you can view it in the Archives.

I'm at a friend's place in Las Vegas for the next couple days just working away like a busy little bee. Though I'm not a fan of gambling and the frenetic pace here, I do enjoy visiting friends and getting out of house and town.

Last night, after watching the latest "Survivor" episode (we love this show, due entirely to our keen desire to continually assess the ongoing and varied group dynamics of course) we moved into a discussion on the attributes of a functional group. Well, we didn't actually move into it, I kind of "facilitated" us into it because I'm writing a guide to group intervention and this is just something I need to nail down. Since each of us in the room are fanatical group process voyeurs and fans of group facilitation, I jumped at the chance to pick their brains.

Our discussion yielded about 12 attributes of a functional group, which I've included below. The intent of knowing these attributes is to provide facilitators with a "baseline" of healthy group behaviors they can use to know when and why to intervene.

I'm also trying to tease out the core values for effective facilitation. Those I've seen come from Schwarz book, "The Skilled Facilitator," which are included below.

I'd love to get your feedback on these items so that they can be further refined. Please send me any changes, additions, or comments you have to help us better describe or define a functional group and core values of effective facilitation.

How does a "Functional" Group look?

- Group operating norms are known, understood, and agreed upon by all members.

- Group maintains a desire to find and pursue a common goal.

- Group's essential roles and functions are filled seamlessly and organically. Members take on new roles that show up and let go of current roles that are better suited to others at any given time.

- Group tends to assess the relative value and effectiveness of behaviors versus finding fault. Members look at what's working and what isn't instead of who's right and who's wrong.

- Group tends to balance product, process, and relationships, i.e., who, what, and how. This balance assures that the most effective process is developed to get the best product out in a way that respects and nurtures the relationships between those who produce it.

- Group leadership shows up organically as needed. In other words, an individual leader may emerge or may not. The leadership role may be taken up by different individuals at different times, shifting as the situation warrants and as individuals are internally called to take it on.

- Group members make sure everything expressed in the group is "heard."

- Trust is developed and to the extent required to accomplish the tasks at hand.

- Group effectively handles major transitions and events with appropriate acknowledgment and ceremony, i.e. changes in group membership, individual challenges that affect group functioning, conflicts and disagreements, etc.

- Group understands, acknowledges, and manages basic human needs, balancing them with the needs of the group. Needs include considerations for physical comfort, security, safety, and maintenance of an environment that supports these.

- Group installs and maintains feedback loops to support individual and group evolution, e.g. periodic checkups on process, status of individuals, regular review of accomplishments, means for implementing corrective action, etc.

- Individuals in group act civility toward one another and are willing to give and receive constructive feedback.

Core Values

- Valid Information. All relevant information is shared freely within the group in a way all can understand.

- Free and Informed Choice. All members freely choose the content and level of the work they do and the decisions they make. Facilitators don't change behavior, they provide information and processes to allow people to choose for themselves and training to show them how.

- Internal commitment. An environment is created thus that members feel personally responsible fo the decisions they make and are inspired to make them based on internal desires rather than from external pressure.

Thanks very much for your support!

Warmest regards,

Steve Davis 1.760.375.7384 1.877.768.9016 (fax) steve@FacilitatorU.com; www.FacilitatorU.com Virtual Facilitation Training and Resources......Just in Time, situation-based tools, providing what you need, when you need it.

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