Master Colloquium Eline Woudstra (EST) - A Balancing Act: Shaping the Role of the Facilitator by Utilizing Leadership Balancing Strategies and Dialogical- and Supportive Moves in Learning Communities

Speaker  

:

Eline Woudstra

Title

:

A Balancing Act: Shaping the Role of the Facilitator by Utilizing Leadership Balancing Strategies and Dialogical- and Supportive Moves in Learning Communities

Abstract

:

Learning Communities (LCs) are seen as a solution for collaborating on societal challenges. These LCs consists of multidisciplinary groups of employees who are working towards a stated goal. To achieve a productive dialogue and collaboration, an external facilitator assists the (learning) process. The importance of a facilitator is described in the literature, however, the behaviors of facilitators in its role are not clear. The main objective of this exploratory study was to research how facilitators utilize their role by using leadership balancing strategies and dialogical- and supportive moves, which are seen as strategies that facilitators use in their role and the behaviors they employ. Semi-structured expert interviews and non-participating observations, with three facilitators, were generated in order to gather in-depth information on the role of the facilitators. The analysis revealed that facilitators adapt their role to the needs of the involved members to maximize their and the LCs’ potential. However, this study showed that facilitators apply different strategies during their role to support the group in their learning process. To establish this, facilitators focus on requesting information, opinions or clarification of members and providing members evidence or reasoning. This indicates that facilitators establish a common ground within the group by providing evidence or reasoning in combination with stimulating the group to take action, as well as taking time for reflection on tasks, opinions, and the learning process. These findings could be expanded more in future research by focusing on a larger sample size and taking into account context-dependent aspects of collaborations.

Keywords: learning communities, facilitators, leadership balancing strategies, dialogical- and supportive moves

Date

:

April 11, 2025

Time

:

11:00 hrs.

Building/Room

:

Ravelijn 4334

Graduation     Committee    

:

prof.dr. Maaike Endedijk

Britt Wiefferink