There are three roles that help a working group.

Facilitator - responsible for enabling the process of the group’s work; sees that the space is arranged for work, that the necessary supplies are available; enables others to play their roles; etc.

Focuser - responsible for helping the group stay related to organizational responsibilities/power or technical knowledge. May be the person who "owns the problem", the manager of the division in which the plan will be carried out, a technical expert, etc. The Focuser controls what is finally accepted as the "Problem Statement" , the "Possible Solutions" to pursue, the "Solution" selected, the "Vision Statement", the "Strategy", etc. If there is no obvious person to plan the Focusr role, if all seem to equally share the issue or problem, the role might be rotated among participants. In that case the Focuser does not have the "final say" as suggested above.

Participant - responsible for offering their energy and ideas during the working session; for using core skills and working within group standards and norms; for cooperating with the facilitator in the process being used.

The "best" group size is usually 5 or 6 Participants, the Focuser, and a Facilitator. This provides enough people to create a sense of "energy" and have the differences needed for creativity without there being so many voices that the group becomes hard to manage and ties up too much time.

© Robert A. Gallagher, 1989

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