“Communication Breakdown, It's always the same, I'm having a nervous breakdown, Drive me insane!”

– Led Zeppelin I

If you are trying to open the door to change, good dialogue is absolutely essential! As the words up above state, bad communication can drive you nuts and leave you at a loss. Facilitating a good dialogue is a crucial skill that takes much practice. Good facilitation involves keeping a group on task and helping them have a meaningful discussion as opposed to talking and not getting anything accomplished. Below are 10 key elements to create a good atmosphere for dialogue as well as additional tips for successful meetings:

1. Get to the point: Know why you are there and what you hope to accomplish.
   
   
2. Be Prepared: Ideally a facilitator would be a neutral person to maintain order as well as regulate the discussion effectively. The facilitator should arrive on time, have agendas ready, have as much knowledge as possible of who will be attending and what their role is, as well as have done any necessary reading or research prior to the meeting. The facilitator should also make sure as many people as possible who are attending the meeting are as prepared as he or she is; no one person should possess all the information and thus bear the burden on whether progress is achieved
   
   
3. Know Your Role: Everyone has a part to play. Everyone should be appropriately assigned to their part and know what it entails. All meetings need a facilitator to lead, a time keeper to keep the meeting running in a timely manner and a note taker to gather and organize all the points discussed. These roles are pivotal to conducting a good meeting.
   
   
4. Process Agreement: This should be a group activity taking no more than 5 or 10 minutes. Have the group outline all expectations and agreements for what they want out of the discussion and how they will conduct themselves during the discussion. Expectations are what people are hoping to achieve through the discussion while the agreements are the rules people are setting for themselves in how they deal with one another. People support rules that they themselves generate and this bonds the group together under a common set of regulations; this is key to minimizing points of conflict.
   
   
5. Consensus: Essentially the consensus process arrives at a well-rounded solution involving the entire group’s perspective. Arriving at a decision based on consensus means that all the group members contributed at least in part to the outcome whether or not they believe the decision will work or whether they completely agree with the choice made. Consensus does not have to be the sole method of reaching a decision but it should definitely be incorporated into the decision making process. Consider smaller groups if the conversation stalls. Occasionally smaller groups of 2-5 provide more conducive arenas for discussion and resolve any conflicts that may be occurring amongst the larger group.
   
   
6. Council: The process of council can be done in any size group and involves deep listening and enriches the respect of each group member for one another as well as the group as a whole. Usually groups will use a “talking piece” and pass this object around the group as many times as necessary where only the person holding the object speaks and everyone listens. The person holding the object may just as easily opt not to speak and can either pass the object on or hold it to hold a period of silence over the group and provide a time for reflection.
   

   “Four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still.”

   - Calvin Coolidge

7. Brainstorm: Let the ideas flow.Brainstorming is all about unclogging our thoughtprocesses and not censoring our ideas because we think they might be wrong. The group must also respect everyone’s ideas and not dismiss anything that is said; it is ok to repeat an idea as well. Sometimes things are easier to understand or they can be said in a different way. Let all the ideas in before you evaluate them.
   
   
8. Get trained in facilitation: Check local community centers and colleges and universities for courses offering facilitator training. One can never learn too much about human communication or have too much practice talking to people. There are some who make a career out of facilitating discussions. It is a skill that cannot be underestimated or easily mastered.
   
   [How to Get Trained]
   
   Contact the United State Students Association to host a GROW (Grassroots Organizing Weekend) on your campus regarding an issue. They will help you organize, recruit, and develop your overall skills. For more information go to their website at: http://www.usstudents.org/foundation/GROW/index.asp
   
   
9. Keep the Right Attitude: Listen with an open heart. Do not interrupt! Appreciate what others are doing as much as you can. This is a key ingredient in encouraging further involvement from individuals to the group. As a facilitator try to encourage rather than force people to participate. Sometimes people need time to think about their answer or simply do not feel comfortable responding. Being considerate of others and making sure the rest of the group is respectful of other people’s attitudes fosters a comfortable atmosphere for discussion
   
   
10. Be clear about what the “next steps” are: Wrap up the conversation as well as plan future meetings, discuss agendas for future meetings and goals that should be achieved by that point to continue to move forward.

 

About the Author

Victoria Hassid is senior history major at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has written for several daily and weekly newspapers including The Davis Enterprise, The Santa Barbara Independent and the Daily Nexus.

Contributions

Discussions with Leah C. Wells, the former Peace Education Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

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