Facilitation Practices to Support Access, Inclusion, and Belonging

This session will explore the benefits of inclusive facilitation and develop participants’ comfort and skill in facilitating virtual and in person sessions that engage people across differences. We will identify common barriers to equitable access to participation and introduce specific design for accessibility principles, tools, and techniques to overcome those barriers. We will demonstrate ways to build connection and trust among participants.

TipCore Competencies Strengthened

Icon legend: Values = | Skills = | Stewardship = | Results =

  • Empathize
  • Embrace vulnerability
  • Move at the speed of trust
  • Embrace complexity
  • Build capacity in others
  • Work to transform power
  • Ensure belonging, access and opportunity
  • Deliver high quality results
  • Drive cycles of continuous improvement and evolution

Ensuring Equitable Access to Participation

To tap diverse perspectives and catalyze productivity and creative problem-solving, we need to design meetings (and projects) so everyone can participate fully, rather than just a few. When tackling complex challenges, voices from the edge are often critical to uncovering new insights and approaches. Democratizing participation doesn’t have to be all about controlling the dominant voices in a group; with thoughtful planning and some simple tools, you can design any conversation so that everyone can contribute.

A few simple techniques can help:

  1. Mix up the format, e.g., combining silent reflection, round robin, breakout groups, plenary, and/or “liberating structures” (more on these below)
  2. Offer different channels for information sharing - verbal, nonverbal, written, visual, informal, formal
  3. Track and stack who wants to speak
  4. Invite, amplify, and credit “quieter” voices
  5. Use active listening - reflect back what you think you are hearing in simple terms and check your assumptions regularly

Be creative and empathetic when you design your agenda. Think about your participants and what is going to help all of them participate fully and creatively. Beyond the thinking preferences, you may also want to consider these other dimensions of diversity when planning your process design and facilitation:

  • Introverts vs. extroverts
  • Visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners
  • Disciplinary diversity
  • Career stage
  • Language
  • Time zone (for geographically distributed teams)

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