Tips on Facilitating Great Discussions

In order to facilitate a good discussion the leader needs to:

1. Keep the discussion on track.

It is easy for group discussions to get derailed. The leader must detect when a discussion begins to go off on a tangent and gently direct the discussion back to where it should be headed. This can be done by simply reiterating the question to refocus everyone’s attention.

2. Encourage and allow for everyone to participate.

Good leaders encourage their quiet members to participate without putting them on the spot and making them uncomfortable. If a group member really doesn’t want to say anything, accept their right to be quiet. One strategy to help quiet people become more comfortable talking in a group is to plan an ice breaker or game that requires group-wide communication. Another strategy is to find out the interests of your members and to ask questions related to those interests. Almost everyone will open up when the discussion touches an area of interest.

3. Manage those who have a tendency to dominate the discussion.

Many small groups have one, or maybe two, people who are very talkative and tend to dominate the discussion. This problem can be avoided if you begin by stating that the goal is to give everyone a chance to add their input. That is a nice way of communicating right from the outset that you don’t want anyone to dominate. If you feel that someone is starting to dominate you can tactfully bring others in by either:

A. Asking a specific person to respond, so long as you know the person is comfortable being called on.

B. You can ask the rest of the group, “What do you think about what (dominating person) has been saying?

4. Ask good questions

Good questions are:

1. Open ended. Open ended questions require more than a one word answer. Ask questions that require people to share their thoughts and feelings.

2. Easy to understand. Don’t assume that the questions in the curriculum are clear. If they are confusing to you they are likely to be confusing to others. Re-word them if necessary and keep them simple.

3. Exploratory. Ask questions that help people to explore why they think or feel the way they do.

5. Bring it home.

A great discussion ends with the group members having gained an understanding of what they need to do with the information they have gained. They need to be able to answer the “so what?” question. You can do this by closing with asking everyone to share what God wants them to “take away” from the meeting.

Some other tips:

1. Don’t fear a few moments of silence. After asking a question it is ok for there to be a 10-20 seconds of silence. Be patient. If the silence extends beyond 30 seconds you might want to restate your question or ask another one.

2. Don’t fear disagreement. One of the worst mistakes a leader can make it to disallow anyone to disagree with him/her. A mature leader is able to respect opinions which differ from their own. Of course, if the disagreement concerns a basic belief of our church the leader needs to gently, yet firmly affirm the truth.