MTS Facilitation Skills & Techniques 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary role of a facilitator during a training session?
- To deliver expert content and ensure participants memorize key facts
- To guide the group process and create conditions for effective learning (Correct answer)
- To evaluate participant performance and assign grades
- To control the pace and sequence of all group activities strictly
Correct answer: To guide the group process and create conditions for effective learning
A facilitator's primary role is to guide the group process, not deliver content, enabling participants to learn through discussion, reflection, and engagement.
Question 2: A facilitator notices one participant is dominating the discussion while others remain silent. Which technique is most appropriate?
- Publicly ask the dominant participant to stop talking
- Use a round-robin technique to invite each person to contribute (Correct answer)
- End the discussion and move to a solo written activity
- Ignore the imbalance and allow the group to self-correct
Correct answer: Use a round-robin technique to invite each person to contribute
A round-robin technique structures participation so every person contributes in turn, redistributing the floor from dominant participants without singling anyone out.
Question 3: In facilitation, what is a 'parking lot'?
- A designated break area outside the training room
- A visual space where off-topic questions are captured for later discussion (Correct answer)
- A section of the agenda reserved for unstructured free time
- A technique for ranking ideas by priority before discussion
Correct answer: A visual space where off-topic questions are captured for later discussion
A parking lot is a visible list (often on a flipchart) where off-topic but important questions are placed so they are not lost and can be addressed later.
Question 4: Which facilitation technique is specifically designed to give every participant an equal and anonymous voice when generating ideas?
- Fishbowl discussion
- Nominal Group Technique (NGT) (Correct answer)
- Socratic questioning
- Jigsaw method
Correct answer: Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
The Nominal Group Technique structures idea generation with silent individual writing followed by round-robin sharing, ensuring equal and anonymous contribution before group discussion.
Question 5: When a facilitator paraphrases a participant's statement back to them, the facilitator is primarily demonstrating:
- Redirecting to keep the session on schedule
- Active listening and checking for understanding (Correct answer)
- Challenging the participant's assumptions
- Summarizing the session for documentation purposes
Correct answer: Active listening and checking for understanding
Paraphrasing is a core active listening behavior that signals the facilitator is attending to the speaker and checks that the meaning was accurately received.
Question 6: Open-ended questions are most useful during facilitation when the goal is to:
- Confirm factual accuracy of participant recall
- Control the direction of a discussion that is going off-track
- Promote deeper thinking and encourage participant reflection (Correct answer)
- Quickly assess baseline knowledge before a module
Correct answer: Promote deeper thinking and encourage participant reflection
Open-ended questions cannot be answered with yes/no and require elaboration, making them ideal for stimulating reflection, discussion, and deeper exploration of ideas.
Question 7: What is the primary purpose of conducting a 'check-in' activity at the start of a training session?
- To take attendance and ensure all participants are present
- To assess prior knowledge for grading purposes
- To establish psychological safety and engage participants from the outset (Correct answer)
- To review the agenda and confirm the session objectives with the sponsor
Correct answer: To establish psychological safety and engage participants from the outset
A check-in invites early participation, helps participants feel heard and present, and begins building the psychological safety needed for open engagement throughout the session.
MTS Facilitation Skills & Techniques 1
What is the primary role of a facilitator during a training session?