A Framework for Co-facilitation: it’s not that easy!

I thought it would be great if I could develop a ‘framework’ that would support co-facilitators in working together and thought that I could “borrow from other fields where more systematic empirical research is available” (Argyris 1970, p.15).

Working with teachers and assistants, we tried to map issues and questions that were recognisably ‘authentic’, coming from the expertise of people in the field and grounded in practice. We called it a ‘recipe’.

As the study progressed, I found myself challenged by the very notion of creating a framework for co-facilitation.

• How could a framework provide co-facilitators with sufficient support to enable them to reflect on their own thinking, skills and experience, and share it with others?
• How can defining words, or answering questions, really assist understanding of behaviour?
• How much do the questions in a framework determine the answers?
• How can a framework provide support for the diversity of people, needs and settings in which co-facilitators co-facilitate?
• When co-facilitators work through a set of questions in order to establish a working relationship are they seeking unity or accommodating difference?
• Is it possible to develop a framework which respects the opinions of both parties, whether or not they are equal in power?
• Is this framework like a ‘prenuptial agreement’? Will a prenuptial agreement actually help co-facilitators in working together?
• Does the development of a framework imply that any relationship can be effective with the appropriate support? Is the framework a ‘recipe’ for co-facilitation?
• Does a set of questions simply confirm co-facilitators as ‘inadequate knowers’ by showing them all the areas they haven’t considered or thought about?
• How many questions should be asked in a framework?
• Are all questions relevant to all co-facilitators?

I came to the conclusion that while it was possible to create a framework of questions and processes which encouraged co-facilitators to discuss some issues relevant to working together (and we had), the format of a framework potentially prevented co-facilitators from developing their own processes for working together, specific to their own skills, strengths, the setting, participants and events. A framework implied that one set of questions and processes would meet the needs of all co-facilitators in all settings. Answering questions implied that opinions or understandings stated would be evident in practice. Predetermining ways of working suggested that challenges or conflicts could be planned for, and that any that did surprise the co-facilitators could be remedied on another occasion by more planning. A framework could not provide the support co-facilitators needed and could, in fact, prevent them from developing structures that would assist them in working together more effectively.