Facilitation Key Concepts

Teams and Facilitation
Key Concepts
Groups and teams............…...…..................2

Differences in teams…........................…......4
Types of team member.…….........................5
Functional and dysfunctional teams..…..…...8
Effective teams....................................….....10
Team tasks……….......................................13
Moderation, facilitation and leadership........14
Types of leadership…..................................15
Bibliography….............................................17
ICRA Learning Resources: Teams – Teams and Moderation – Key Concepts - 1/17
Groups and Teams
A “group” can be defined as:

Two or more people who share certain values and whose social roles
are interrelated.
A group in the broad sense is a collection of people belonging to
an institution, ideology or race.
A group in the narrower sense comprises people who interact
directly.
A Team
A team has been defined as a group of

people who:
Have a specific purpose

Have clearly defined and shared objectives
Are organized
Have a fixed number of members
Share a common strategy
Act inter-dependently
Understand, analyse and improve their own
procedures.
All teams are groups

- but not all groups are teams
Differences in Teams
Teams are not all equal:
Teams do not all have the same potential, nor have the same
needs, levels of experience, expertise for the task, confidence, etc.
The conditions within which teams operate are different in terms of

time and material available, institutional environment, leadership
etc.
The expectations of team members in terms of leadership are

determined by their cultural background, educational levels,
professional experience, etc.
Types of Team Member
The Coordinator
Self confident, knows how to
listen, promotes decisions
Is a bit manipulative
The Energy Source

Creative, source of ideas
Bit impractical
The Implementer
Works hard, is logical, disciplined, reliable
Lacks imagination, needs instructions
More...
Team Members (cont.)
The Shaper
Positive, dinamic, pressurizer
Polemic, can bully people
The Sweeper
Attention to details, deadlines
Worries about small things
The Specialist
Source of exotic knowledge
Loner, contributes on a narrow front
More types...
Team Members (cont.)
The Monitor/ Evaluator

Analytical, rarely wrong
Lacks imagination
The Resource Fixer

Extrovert, makes contacts
Indisciplined, short attention span
The Counciller
Perceptive, promotes harmony
Indecisive
Source: Adapted from Belbin 1992, cited in
Pretty et al 1995
The Funtional Team
The types of behaviour that help a

team function include:
☺ Initiation, of ideas, suggestions
☺ Seeking of information, opinions
☺ Harmonizing, reducing tensions,
☺ Listening, encouraging, responding
☺ Looking for common ground
☺ Compromising, offering, accepting
The Disfuntional Team
Behaviour that leads to teams NOT

functioning well include:
Aggression, asserting individual rights
Blocking, arguing at length, rejecting ideas
and consensus
Competing, polarizing discussions
Disrupting, excessive clowning around,
interfering with team concentration
Absence, showing indifference.
Effective Teams
Effective teams are those where:

Goals are understood and committed to
There is a climate of trust
There is open and honest communication among members
There is a sense of belonging and pride in accomplishments
There is a diversity of opinions and ideas are encouraged
Creativity and risk-taking is encouraged
The team is constantly learning and improving itself
Procedures are developed to diagnose, analyse, and solve problems
Participative leadership is practiced
Decisions are supported and made together
Team Tasks
To function well, a team has to:

Ensure all members participate, and:
Encourage “passive” members to contribute.
Control overbearing members: allow other team members to participate.
Ensure all team members understand what is going on, and:
Seek understanding: probe or clarify when needed.
Manage time carefully, and
Establish, review periodically and keep to a timetable.
Respect the different styles of team members, and:
Manage conflict between members.
Take a break when tired.
Moderation, Facilitation, Leadership
Moderation means “to avoid extremes in behaviour or expression” in a

process that channels energy of the team and prevents it from loosing track
of objectives and tasks. The term moderation is usually used in the context
of group discussions or conferencing.
Facilitation means “to make something easy” for the work of the team. It
is usually applied to team processes, and hence is a similar concept to
moderation. A facililitator who is external to the team is less likely to be
emotionally involved with the issues and team personalities, and so can
focus on the process rather than content of the team tasks.
Leadership also involves aspects of moderation and facilitation. In some
cultures and institutions however, it also implies being the “boss”, with
authority over other team members and with responsibility for decisions
taken by the group.
Tasks of the moderator
A good moderator DOES:

3 Establish a learning environment for
the team.
3 Promote efficient progress in team
discussions.
A good moderator does NOT: 3 Promote communication and
2 Monopolize discussions. understanding between team
members.
2 Take decisions for the team.
3 Guide the discussions of the team.
2 Have all the answers.
3 Guide the team to an appropriate
2 Take sides in conflicts between team strategy for decisions.
members.
3 Guide the team process.
2 Dominate the team.
Difficulties in the role of Moderator
The majority of conflicts Team members find it

within teams come from an difficult to concentrate on the
emotional defence of process of the discussion as
different points of view. well as the content.
Being moderate and To be a Being capable of

objective oneself, and concentrating on
moderator
maintain a certain the process for the
implies: good of the team.
distance from the actual
topic being discussed.
What is a Leader?
A leader can be: Teams can also be “self

self nominated, managed” without a formally
nominated by nominated leader. But
usually there will a “natural”
authorities, or
leader who has the respect
Nominated or of other members.
recognised by the team.
There are some principles of good leadership but there is

no standard code of behaviour for leaders because not all
teams are the same.
Characteristics of a good leader
A leader should:
Create the conditions under which the team can express its collective potential and
achieve its objectives.
Be conscious of the needs and expectations of the team members, and the
constraints that the team faces
Adapt to the mode of operation of the team.
Know how to learn.
Be aware of his/her own talents,
ways of thinking and communicating ,
and methods.
Bibliography
Pretty, J. N., Gujit, I., Thomson, J. and I. Scoones, 1995. Participatory
Learning and Action: A Trainer’s Guide. IIED London.
Acknowledgements
This learning resource was prepared for ICRA (www.icra-edu.org) by Uwe
Nagel and Nour Sellamna, and edited by Clive Lightfoot and Richard Hawkins
It forms part of the ICRA learning resources, written for use in capacity
building in “Agricultural Research for Development”. You are welcome to use
these materials for non-profit purposes; we only ask you to send us a short
email at Secretariat.ICRA@wur.nl, or leave a comment on our webpage
telling us how you have used them and how you think they could be improved
– Thank you!

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Teams and Facilitation

Groups and teams............…...…..................2

A “group” can be defined as:

A team has been defined as a group of

Have a specific purpose

All teams are groups

Teams are not all equal:

The conditions within which teams operate are different in terms of

The expectations of team members in terms of leadership are

The Energy Source

The Monitor/ Evaluator

The Resource Fixer

The types of behaviour that help a

Behaviour that leads to teams NOT

Effective teams are those where:

To function well, a team has to:

Moderation means “to avoid extremes in behaviour or expression” in a

A good moderator DOES:

The majority of conflicts Team members find it

Being moderate and To be a Being capable of

A leader can be: Teams can also be “self

There are some principles of good leadership but there is

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