This sketchnote is a summary of the introduction to Tools, the second book from Rob Evans in his Collaboration Code collection. In this first section he talks about the approach of facilitation used in his methodology. There is a lot of cross over here with IAF facilitation competencies. The idea that particularly struck me was that facilitators are not an objective third party and do have a point of view. This connects very much to the ideas from systems thinking. We are as facilitators, a part of the systems, whether we like it to not. We are charged to drive towards a contracted outcome and that means we assert or exert our ideas on a group. I also love the idea that “no one is the enemy”. As facilitators we should stay in a neutral or positive place and help participants appreciate others in their system, even if they can seem “negative”.

Facilitation Approach