by Brendan O’Shea, participant in an undergrad course teaching skills and habits of facilitation. O’Shea helped facilitate a dialogue between JMU undergraduates and members of JMU’s Lifelong Learning Institute
Having the opportunity to be a facilitator for an intergenerational dialogue on the topic of the role and impact of media in our lives was a really valuable experience. It gave me hands-on learning about serving in the role of the facilitator but also allowed me the chance to get a glimpse of the pivotal dynamics and elements that make a group discussion productive. The experience offered me a few key takeaways that I can utilize in the future when acting as a participant or when serving as the catalyst of conversation during a group discussion or meeting.
First – Every participant’s insight, perspective, and experience are important and valuable to the group’s discussion. As the facilitator, this was more apparent than ever. Being in a role where my focus was to guide and prompt discussion between the participants, how what each participant shared impacted and added to the conversation that was emerging. My discussion group had participants that varied in age, the motive for coming, occupation, and life experience. Everything that made each participant’s insight unique to them helped create a rich conversation that offered every participant new insight and prompted questions from one participant to another.
Second – Active listening is a crucial tool in engaging in productive discussion as a group. This was an aspect of the group conversation that the participants in my group did really well. I knew how important active listening would be in my role as the facilitator but it was interesting to observe just how helpful it can be between participants discussing a topic. Sometimes active listening was shown through a follow-up question from one participant to another. Other times it was shown through a reflective statement to show that a participant’s perspective was heard and understood. And often it resulted in statements such as “I’ve never really thought about it like that, but I can relate to that!” or “That’s a great point, do you think that occurs because of… (enter an engaging and relevant question). Overall, active listening is a vital force of group discussions. When all members of a group discussion including the facilitator are listening to each other and striving to understand other perspectives, productive and enriching conversation is not only possible but likely.