Library of facilitation techniques

find the right tool for your next session

Featured Author – International Association of Facilitators

IAF is a worldwide community of facilitators promoting excellence in the use of professional group process facilitation to create engagement and impact.

IAF International Association of Facilitators
Learn more Learn more
1,523 results

Methods (1523)

Melissa Ladd

Samesies

"ice melter" to connect participants in small groups around something unusual they have in common (created by Jan Keck, of Ask Deep Questions)

Анастасія Таргонська

The win-win game

You will choose, as a team, which letter you will select from either X or Y. On a signal from the banker, you will show your chosen letter. The banker and the teams keep a tally of debits and credits.

Each must select 'X’ or ‘Y' in each round. Money is awarded or taken by the banker according to the scoring key below. Play as many rounds as is necessary to find a winner.

Carrin Robertson

Estimation Game - Cup of Tea

Estimation Games are great for starting conversations and honing and tuning estimations before an estimation session. This exercise helps a team to get into the right mindset for estimating and planning for the sprint.

Carrin Robertson

The Penny Game

The “Penny Game” allows the team to learn through self-organization and observation; specifically, that smaller batches can deliver value to the customer faster. In addition, the game demonstrates that the size of the batches has a direct impact on the delivery. With a large batch, the Workers feel more pressure on themselves to get the batch to the next Worker; with smaller batches, the pressure is lower but more constant.

Hyper Island

Near and Dear

Have you ever been in the middle of a discussion with a group that is trying to reach a decision about something and realized that you actually don’t have much of a stake in what happens? Or, have you ever been advocating for a group to take things in a certain direction and notice that others (for whom the outcome will not be relevant) are arguing just as passionately as you are?

Many times when we are trying to make decisions as a group, involved parties care about the outcome, but at varying levels. This tool helps identify who actually has a stake in the outcome and allows a group to get perspective on which voice(s) should be a priority in the decision process.