Online Facilitator Qualities and Skills

Knowledge of Self (personal qualities)

• Tolerance for ambiguity
• Accepting of others, hold others with unconditional regard
• Authentic, congruent, honest ... e.g. walks his/her talk
• Caring, compassionate
• Charismatic (How? When is this appropriate?)
• Conceptual and systemic thinking (able to put it all together)
• Concern for quality (and able to describe it)
• Empathetic (ability to see the situation as the other sees it)
• Flexibility, versatility, (ability to switch gears at the last moment)
• Inspirational
• Objective/neutral (no vested interest in one solution over another)
• Open to self-growth
• Self knowledge and awareness (strengths, weaknesses, ego, impact on others)
• Sense of when to stay quiet

Knowledge Base (knows/skilled in...)

• Adult learning principles
• Communication styles
• Learning styles
• Cultural competency
• Group and interpersonal dynamics
• Group facilitation
• Knowledge of/assessment of audience
• Subject/content matter expertise
• Teaching/training

Facilitation Skills

• Active, effective listener
• Encourage open communication
• Feedback skills
• Attentive to when participants are/aren't "walking the talk"
• Questioning (as opposed to telling) skills
• asking questions that will lead to insight
• asking provocative questions
• using problems, questions, tools and other means to stir the mind and body to learn
• not providing all answers to the participants
• Clarify experiences for additional insights
• Create or nurture constructive conflict or "creative abrasion"
• Focus -- keeping the discussion on track
• Listen from a non-judgmental place
• Listen for understanding and context
• Maximize gaining of knowledge and skill in the time available
• Observation skills
• notices patterns in group interaction and brings it up to the group for exploration.
• notices what is NOT said as well as what is
• organization skills
• observes and listens for opportunities and actualities of learning
• Pacing skills --change the level of the discussion at the appropriate time (from brainstorming to evaluation to decision to action planning, or from thinking to feeling)
• Presentation skills
• Problem solving
• Ability to extract positive outcomes from difficult situations
• Read not only individuals, but also interaction between individuals, and the subtleties of group
• Resume/restart groups
• Steer the group in a positive direction
• Summarization skills (succinct, accurate, non-judgmental)
• Use out-going participants to get the discussion rolling and make room for the quiet ones
• Writing skills

Technology Skills

• Email
• Email list software (i.e. "listservs")
• Threaded discussion tools
• Linear discussion tools
• IM (instant messaging) tools
• Chat tools (IRC, java, html, voice)
• HTML
• Web page publishing
• FTP
• Groupware tools

Online Interaction Experience

• Social online communities (i.e. Salon's Table Talk)
• Chat, live events (synchronous)
• Email lists
• Virtual teams/virtual workgroups
• Cross cultural groups
• Distance education/training

Last edited 8/07/01 njw/awl