Key Components to Facilitating Groups for Young People

Introduction:  It is important to note that there are no hard-and-fast rules that result in a positive group process.  Rather, this end result is the coming together of the group itself, personal perspective and style, and your motivational skills.  This is all built on trust and it is this key element that makes or breaks the group process.

Your role as facilitator:
There are a number of key components to remember as you assess your ability and readiness to lead a group for young people.  This assessment begins with self.  It is important to have explored or attempted to understand what your goals, expectations, and beliefs are related to the work you are about to undertake.  To that end, open and frank discussions with the Trainers for this module are suggested.  It is in this “training” context, surrounded by other facilitators who present with varying degrees of experience and familiarity with the work, that these issues can be addressed.  In addition, it is important that these discussions continue under the rubric of supervision long after the group has started, has coalesced, and is functioning, more or less, as a unit.

Key components to good group process:

1. Listening:  paying attention to the overt and covert messages being presented to you by the group members

a. What are the group members saying?
b. Do you really understand this message?
c. Have you probed for clarification?
d. Are your inquiries respectful of the young people and their background?
e. How is this being received by the other group members?
f. Are you modeling the skills that you are attempting to teach the young people?

2. Observing:  paying attention to the nonverbal communication that is occurring in the room between the young people and between you and the young people.

a. What is not being said?
b. How can you facilitate this discussion?
c. Are the young people at a place where they can address the nonverbal messages that they are sending?
d. Are you at a place where you can hear what your nonverbal communication is sending to the young people?
e. Is there a nonverbal response that can be sent to alert the young people to your understanding of the messages?
f. Is it most expedient to send a nonverbal response to them?

3. Focusing:  keeping the group on track.

a. Do you have the group’s attention?
b. Can you present the materials in ways that increase your ability to keep their attention?
c. Are you reaching the desired outcomes of the class?
d. Can you use the information being presented in the group to illustrate your point, thus redirecting the conversation back to the task at hand?
e. Is it always important to “complete” the assigned goal of the curriculum?
f. Assess and see if the goals and objectives can be broken into smaller chunks, thus making it more deliverable to the young people.

4. Connecting:  how can we all get to know each other in meaningful ways?

a. Do the group members know about each other?
b. Do the group members know about you?
c. Do you know about the group members?
d. Have you taken the time to nurture relationships with the group members?
e. Are you working on building trust with these young people?
f. How are you able to address and sit with the differences that might present themselves in the group?
g. Can you embrace all the differences seen in the group?
h. Can you help to create an environment where the group members respect these differences?

5. Communicating:  talking to each other and not at each other which involves listening, asking, and understanding.

a. Do the young people who are a part of the group have the opportunity to share their views and beliefs?
b. Do you ask them to help structure the discussion with their experiences?
c. Do you allow them to express their feelings and then demonstrate ways that might be most effective in sending their message?
d. Do you guide the young people to a deeper level of discussion and analysis with your questions?  Moving from cliché’s to people and events to ideas and judgments to feelings.

6. Having Fun: are you and the young people enjoying the process?

a. Is the environment comfortable enough for their to be lots of laughter and camaraderie?
b. Are the exercises fun?
c. Is the energy in the environment high?

Issues that could derail the group process:

1. Lack of preparation:

a. Are you familiar with the material that you are presenting?
b. Are you familiar with the supporting materials that are needed for your presentation?
c. Have you laid the groundwork before the group begins:  materials, etc.?
d. Do you understand the differences between being the expert and leading the group?

2. Not understanding your role:

a. Do you understand your role as group facilitator and the limitations attached to your role.
b. Are you flexible enough to work with the young people where they are at?
c. Are you using the tools with which you are attempting to equip the young people?
d. Have you made your expectations clear to the group?
e. Can you really affect change in the larger systems that the young people are a part of?

3. Ignoring the dynamics in the group:

a. How attuned are you to the specific needs of each group member?
b. Do you feel comfortable addressing them?
c. Can you affect change within this context?
d. Can you validate the differences within the group while protecting everyone’s right to their respective point of view?

4. Ignoring the differences in learning:

a. Can you present the material in a number of ways, thus ensuring that each student’s specific style of learning is met?
b. Can you be flexible with the material?
c. How can you integrate the young person’s experience as the material is presented?