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
259 results

Methods (256)

Creative Commons Methods

Guided Journaling

Guided Journaling is a tool for the bottom of the U-process and builds on a completed co-sensing phase. It cannot stand alone! It allows participants to step into a deeper level of self-reflection and is often followed by a solo experience to expand on the insights that arise.

Liberating Structures

Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)

You can foster the empathetic capacity of participants to “walk in the shoes” of others.

Many situations do not have immediate answers or clear resolutions. Recognizing these situations and responding with empathy can improve the “cultural climate” and build trust among group members. HSR helps individuals learn to respond in ways that do not overpromise or overcontrol. It helps members of a group notice unwanted patterns and work together on shifting to more productive interactions. Participants experience the practice of more compassion and the benefits it engenders. HSR brings to life LS Principle #3, Build Trust as You Go.

1
Hyper Island

Hello Kitty

A simple and short group game all about trying to make each other crack a smile. Participants take turns being 'kitties' and 'puppies'. The puppies try to make the kitties crack a smile or laugh. The last kitty standing is the winner! An original from The Northern Quarter Agency.

Hyper Island

History Map

The main purpose of this activity is to remind and reflect on what group members or participants have been through and to create a collective experience and shared story. Every individual will gain a shared idea of what the group has been through together. Use this exercise at the end of a project or program as a way to reinforce learnings, celebrate highlights and create closure.

1
Tina Puc

Holloway

Holloway is a cooperative maze that only opens for a team that talks. Your group steps into a shifting labyrinth to find glowing sigils, none of which will lift for a single pair of hands — so you split up, call to each other across the walls, and describe what you see. Roughly once a minute the house rearranges itself, wiping the map in your head, and the only way anyone leaves is together.

Hyper Island

Hot Air Balloon

A great tool to kick-off ANY workshop! The hot air balloon is a metaphorical method that aims to identify strengths, weaknesses, external forces, stakeholders and goals all in a simple and well-structured process.

The charm is that you’re not relying on another dull matrix but actually going through an imaginary journey that engages us to think outside of our typical thought patterns. Just gather all participants and collect their input step-by-step in the process.

Gamestorming methods

How-Now-Wow Matrix

When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’.

The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

5