Review of Facilitating with ease! Core skills for facilitators, team leaders and members, managers, consultants, and trainers.

Abstract

Reviews the book, Facilitating with ease Core skills for facilitators, team leaders and members, managers, consultants, and trainers by Ingrid Bens (2005). The primary objective of the guide is to provide core tools and techniques regarding the process of facilitation. These tools and techniques are based on the works of Chris Argyris, Donald Schon, and Edward Schien and the personal experience of the author. In presenting the tools and techniques, the author focuses on "how" to facilitate a meeting and provides plenty of checklists and worksheets to guide the user in the process of facilitation. While this reviewer noted the problems with lack of foundation material in this book, it should be noted that this was not the primary objective of the author. The primary objective was to provide an overview of skills, tools, and techniques that a facilitator can use. The author did reach this objective in a brief, concise manner. The checklist and worksheets are extremely helpful but are limited if the user does not have the background or foundation in the following content areas: individual differences including cognitive style, group decision making, team management, and conflict management. This book is ideal for an individual who has the background in the afore-mentioned areas and wishes to improve skills in facilitation. This individual would find the worksheets, checklists, and tools covered helpful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)