Online Group Facilitation Skills

Abstract

Traditional face-to-face (F2F) group facilitation is a well-evolved practice. Roger Schwarz defined it as “a process in which a person who is acceptable to all members of the group, substantively neutral and has no decision-making authority intervenes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions, in order to increase the group’s effectiveness” (Schwarz, 1994, p 4). Like most practices, facilitation includes a wide range of techniques and philosophical underpinning. For example, while Schwarz notes that group members can’t formally fill the role of facilitator, or do not have decision-making power, there are other models that include both these conditions.