A Grounded Theory of Reflective Facilitation: Making the Transition from Traditional to GSS Facilitation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of what traditional facilitators go through to become GSS facilitators. The study was conducted in one setting and asked the following research question: How do facilitators of conventional meetings make the transition to facilitating face-to-face electronic meetings? Fifteen facilitators of conventional meetings participated in a series of GSS facilitation training programmes. Action learning and experiential learning approaches were used to design the GSS facilitation training programmes. Three separate but similar training programmes, each consisting of two full-day and two half-day sessions, were held, with five trainee facilitators (trainees) taking part in each. At the completion of the training programme, the trainees were asked to plan and facilitate a 'live' electronic meeting. The trainees were interviewed after each training session and also after the 'live' electronic meeting. The research data was collected and analysed by the grounded theory methodology. The major theoretical framework inductively derived from this study is therefore called A Grounded Theory of Reflective Facilitation (from now on referred to as Reflective Facilitation). It illustrates the stages and action reflection processes that the facilitators of conventional meetings underwent in making the transition to becoming facilitators of face-to-face electronic meetings. Reflective Facilitation has two theoretical components. The first, The Stages of GSS Facilitation Development, describes the four stages that the trainees went through: wondering and Exploring, Familiarising, Integrating, and Balancing. The second theoretical component, Reflective Practice, describes the trainees' ways of thinking about how to facilitate electronic meetings and the context in which those thoughts took place. Reflective Practice itself consists of two components: Active Reflection and Contextual Factors. This study is the first to identify the learning processes that traditional facilitators have undergone in making the transition to GSS facilitation. The theoretical framework, generated from the reality of learning GSS facilitation as it occurs in one setting, provides a useful addition to the expanding field of GSS facilitation and, in particular, to GSS facilitation training. It also has implications for facilitation practice, research and training.