Roles and Expectations

Planning, conducting and implementing these mini-plans relies on a committed team of volunteers who are familiar with the methods in this toolkit. The content below summarizes strategies for forming your team and guidance on facilitation to help you proceed with confidence. Download a copy of the Roles and Expectations PDF guide for more detailed instructions and tips.

Form the team

Using the methods in this toolkit will require coordination and collaboration across many stakeholder groups. Forming a team and defining the roles and responsibilities for each team member will help you successfully plan for and execute on your objectives.

Your team should have three arms:

The facilitation team. Two or three people, including a lead facilitator, a co-facilitator and a support person who are in charge of planning and facilitating sessions with the community.
The core team. Three to six people, who are responsible for executing day-to-day tasks, and likely include some members of the facilitation team. Roles include project lead, project manager, community advocate, implementers and community liaisons.
The extended team. Other people responsible for securing resources, removing barriers, eliciting engagement, making key decisions or providing expert guidance.

Build a project plan

Before you put any session, conversion or workshop on the calendar, you should create a high level plan for the project with your team. This high level plan can be used to help you track your progress. Decide when you will regroup to report back on progress, collaborate, and define next steps that:

Set the wheels in motion to achieve the end goal of the project
Are owned and championed by individuals with the support of teams
Are measurable
Can be realistically achieved within the set timeframe

One way of capturing your plan is using a Gantt chart. These are visual plans that project managers use to list the key activities and milestones of a project over time.

For more information on planning your team and establishing milestones, refer to the Workstream Preparation method found in the Delivering module.

Facilitation Guide

Once you have a project plan in place, you can prepare for workshops with community members. A lot of work must happen before, during and after a workshop in order to maximize its impact.

Planning

Define the starting point and big picture.
Identify an inclusive list of potential participants.
Determine timing and location.
Draft an invitation and communications for participants.
Build an agenda outlining flow, key questions and topics.
Discuss and refine the agenda with your project sponsor(s) to make sure everyone understands and agrees on the goals and activities.

Nowadays, many workshops are run virtually, but there will be times when you will benefit from in-person interactions Keep these tips in mind if you are planning an in-person workshop:

Pick a location that is easily accessible to all participants.
Furniture should be easy to move.
Ideally, have extra space(s) for breakouts.
Finally, make sure you have access to large whiteboard(s), flip charts and/or working audiovisual (AV) resources. If you are using slides, consider securing a clicker.

Keep these points in mind if you are planning to run your workshop on a virtual platform:

Choose a platform that is accessible for your participants.
Explore and practice using the technology available in your chosen platform before the session.
Plan ways you can transfer in-person interactions into the digital world.
Focus on content, not technology. Keep the use of technology simple.
Send your participants instructions for using the technology and platform ahead of time.
Encourage participants to log in from a computer or tablet and be fully present.
Alert participants that you want them to turn their camera on ahead of the session, and encourage everyone to use video.
Ask everyone to stay on mute unless they are speaking.
Ask all of the participants to use their preferred name as their username.
Keep the content visible, whether it be content that you are presenting or that is being shared or created by the participants.

Documentation during the workshop

Anything that gets produced from your sessions will likely become an input for another activity. Therefore, be clear on what will be produced, by when, who will receive it, and how it will be used.

Assign someone the responsibility for storing, saving and displaying the documentation. This may include creating a shared digital folder using Google Drive, Sharepoint or another accessible shared storage option. If you are unfamiliar with shared folders, more information can be found in the Google Drive Help Center.

Be sure to name and organize files and folders accurately. Include the name and date of the session when saving your documents.

Keeping momentum after the session ends

Next steps and follow up. At the end of your session, you should let participants know what happens next, even if they don’t have an active role in future activities.

Debrief. Immediately after wrapping up, it is very helpful to debrief with your core team members. This debrief may touch on items such as key insights from the session, who keeps what was produced, what went well and what could be done differently. You can also schedule a debrief with your sponsor(s) and key decision makers to share any key insights and discuss their impact on your project outcome.

Refer to the Roles and Expectations PDF guide for more detailed instructions and additional tips on how to plan and facilitate a successful group session in your community.