Tips for Effective Moderating
FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS
A moderator supports a group to do its best thinking by encouraging full participation, promoting mutual understanding and respect, fostering inclusive solutions, and teaching new thinking skills. These are the basic skills and methods a facilitator should use in leading a group in deliberation.
1. Validate Various Communication Styles and Evidence Variety—Some participants tell stories and prefer narratives and analogies, some prefer data-driven claims. Regardless of communication styles, all points of view are welcome and the moderator should validate participants’ preferences.
2. Paraphrase – This fundamental listening skill has both a clarifying and calming effect on the speaker. It helps people feel their ideas are being heard (validates worth) and understood (checks accuracy of intended message).
3. Listen courageously to draw people out – This is the art of holding the uncertain balance between yourself and the speaker as you explore what their idea is about. Testing inferences generates valid information that you can use to make informed choices. This is a particularly helpful skill when someone is having difficulty clarifying an idea or when someone thinks s/he is being clear, but the thought is actually vague or confusing to the listeners.
3. Brainstorm – This skill allows the facilitator to gather ideas for possible solutions, and is an especially useful technique when attempting to discern “next steps” or an action plan.
4. Stacking – This skill assigns an order in which peoples’ points will be acknowledged, when multiple voices wish to be heard at the same time. It assures people who want to speak that they will have their turn when people can listen to their ideas without distraction. It relieves the facilitator of having to privately keep track of who has spoken and who is waiting to speak. This also helps members avoid competing for airtime and reduces impatience and disrespectful interrupting.
5. Tracking – This skill weaves back in earlier points made, and relieves the anxiety felt by someone who wonders why the group is not responding to her/his ideas in a discussion. Very often, people act as though the particular issue that interests them is the one that everyone should focus on. Tracking lets the group see that there are several components of the issue being discussed and all are valid.
6. Balancing – This skill assists members who need support in expressing views they think are minority positions. In this technique, the moderator asks for other views that may be present but have not yet been expressed helps; this helps round out a discussion.
7. Making space – This skill gives permission to the less verbal members of a group that it is okay if they do not wish to speak, but that if they would like to participate, the opportunity is extended. Members do not speak for a variety of reasons: they are afraid of being perceived as competitive; they are new and unsure about what is and is not acceptable; they are not sure their ideas are as good as others; or, they are slower thinkers and may have trouble getting a word in edgewise.