Page 344 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

Meetings should have an agenda.

Guiding Unobtrusively and Encouraging Interaction

The facilitator guides indirectly, helping the members to relate better to one another and to complete the task.
The facilitator can encourage interaction among the group members by looking away from speakers in the
group as they attempt to harness his or her eyes.14 Although this may seem rude, the speaker quickly gets the
idea and looks to the other group members for feedback. The facilitator should resist the temptation to make
a reply after others talk, but should instead wait for someone else to reply. If no one else comments, however,
the facilitator can ask for reactions.

Reinforcing the Multisided Nature of Discussion

The facilitator can reinforce the nondogmatic, multisided nature of discussion by phrasing questions so that
they are open-ended. Examples are “How do you feel about that?” “Who in your opinion . . .?” and “What
would be some way to . . .?” Facilitators need to think before asking questions to avoid closed and leading
questions, questions that can be answered by only one or two words, and questions that suggest a limited
number of responses.

Controlling Overly Talkative Participants

A common problem that facilitators have is deciding what to say to a person who is overly talkative. There are
many appropriate ways of handling this type of participant, keeping in mind that when facilitators interact
with any single member of the group, all other participants experience the interaction vicariously.

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