Facilitating or Leading a Group Discussion

Encouraging Employees to Voice Opinions and Brainstorm Ideas

Sep 27, 2009

Facilitating or leading a group discussion is an important way to engage learners in the topic and keep learning active and interesting.

A good facilitator or instructor recognizes that they play an important role in keeping the discussion on track. Giving employees and opportunity to share their ideas and voice their concerns is fundamental when creating an innovative corporate culture.

Classroom or Boardroom Set-up

It is important to set-up the classroom or boardroom to allow for a free-flowing discussion where body language of the speaker is clearly visible and their voice is heard by the group. The best room set-up is a horseshoe (a U shaped arrangement of tables and chairs) or large open rectangle. The facilitator can be sited at the table if an open rectangle arrangement is created or at the open top of the horseshoe.

Start of the Discussion

In order to set the stage at the start of the session to create an atmosphere of open dialogue, it is important for the participants to introduce themselves (if they are strangers or do not work with each other on a regular basis) and for the facilitator to state the ground rules. A great opening exercise is to ask the question, “What would help participants feel comfortable to share their thoughts and ideas honestly and openly?”. This way, the participants consider the consequences of not following the ground rules instead of the ground rules being stated to them.

Phrasing Questions for a Discussion

It is important to phrase the questions in an open-ended way i.e. where more than a simple yes or no or other one word or phrase is the answer. It is also important not to lead the participants in a certain direction. For example, if the discussion is around the strategic plans for the department, do not ask a question like, “Would expanding internationally be a good idea?” Instead, as a question like, “What tactics could we use to expand our customer base?”. This allows the facilitator to not only explore expanding internationally (if suggested) but to also explore other ideas.

Keeping the Discussion on Track

A good facilitator of a discussion will interrupt if participants get side tracked and redirect the discussion to keep it on target. It is also important to ensure that all participants have an opportunity to speak and voice their thoughts and concerns. If a participant dominates the discussion, acknowledge their passion for the topic but suggest that other participants need an opportunity to speak. Remind participants of the ground rules that were set at the beginning of the discussion.

A great discussion can be a highly successful learning event. Participants that feel heard will appreciate the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns. Keeping learning active and interesting is very important when training adults.

The copyright of the article Facilitating or Leading a Group Discussion in Designing Training Tools is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish Facilitating or Leading a Group Discussion in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.