Facilitation
Facilitation literally means ‘easing the way’. It is a process designed to enable a group of people to reach their own decision.The facilitator is a skilled, neutral person who helps the group to achieve its goals by assisting members through a process. The facilitator takes responsibility for managing the process, enabling the group to focus on the details.
Differences between facilitation and mediationMediation is generally used to resolve disputes between individuals, or an individual and an organisation. It rarely involves large numbers of people.
Facilitation is used for large-scale disputes, often involving several parties, an organisation, a department or entire community.
The purpose of facilitation is not limited to resolving an existing dispute. It may also help manage a situation to prevent future disputes. Facilitation can also be useful for organisations whose members and committee need to discuss major changes and require a neutral facilitator to guide this discussion.
Situations suiting facilitationThese could range from environmental disputes to workplace planning. Our dispute resolution centres have provided facilitation in a variety of settings:
- environmental disputes involving government authorities, conservationists, and industry representatives
- workplaces
- meetings between agencies
- policy consultations between the government and community or special-interest groups.
We provide facilitation services throughout Queensland. Generally there is a fee for this service. Contact your local dispute resolution centre to discuss your particular situation.
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