Anthony Petrone

Jackson - Frasier

November 14, 2022

HDF - 413

Previous Facilitation Reflection

Being a Peer Leader for the University of Rhode Island's Leadership Institute program

allowed me to truly understand what it is like to be a facilitator. Prior to being involved in

leadership at URI, I have never been in a consultant role before. Over the course of time, I have

learned so much about myself as a leader through facilitating activities at events such as the

Institute.

During the Institute Program we as “Peer Leaders” were placed into smaller groups and

had the overall responsibility to facilitate several activities. With that being said, I found that the

schedule was set up in a way where I made connections with each member of the group. The

purpose of having significant relationships with my group allowed me to facilitate more serious

discussions/activities throughout the program.

Specifically, there was one activity that I took the role of facilitator called “Breaking

Boundaries”. This activity is supposed to make students go as in depth as they want to the

questions that were asked by the facilitator (me). The first objective as the facilitator was to

explain the directions clearly and concisely so the students could ask questions if needed. From

there I asked my prepared questions, and made sure to give enough time for students to answer if

they wanted to. I believe that the allotted time I gave for each question was one of the better

portions of my facilitation. In an activity like this, the silence that is being presented could be a

good thing - because students may be deeply thinking about the question and what they want
their responses to be. I did in fact notice that each person answered at least one of my questions

which was nice because that meant everyone was engaged enough during the activity.

When it comes to being a good facilitator, you must have a good debriefing strategy. The

one thing I believe I lacked was a good method on debriefing the “Breaking Boundaries”

activity. According to Kevin Beck’s presentation titled “Debriefing Techniques” he states “The

hope is that the group identifies everything that occurred and that you do not have to say or push

them to recognize this” (Kevin Beck, Debriefing Techniques, 2022). Reflecting this activity upon

myself, I feel that I did not do the best job explaining the purpose of the activity.

As I look ahead into many more facilitator opportunities in the future, I will make sure to

utilize my Clifton Strength of “relator” when it comes to running an activity. I believe that that

“relator” strength of mine allows me to generate relationships quickly and furthermore facilitate

in a way where I can be more successful. In relation to the VIA Strengths, I believe that my

“teamwork” strength fits this facilitation role very well because I can exemplify strong ways of

what it is like to be on a team and to complete the tasks at hand.

 References

Beck, K. (n.d.). Debriefing Techniques. Retrieved November 9, 2022.