Siarra Chabot

Alison Jackson Frasier

HDF413
5 December 2018

Co-facilitation Experience

As I’ve grown throughout my experience as a facilitator and as a Leadership minor I’ve

learned what type of leader I am and I now know the potential I have for what I want to grow

into as an individual and as a leader. Facilitation has taught me to become more confident in

myself. Time and time again I’ve doubted myself in certain situations, but I always make it out

very successful. I’ve proven to myself that I am the leader I’ve always wanted to be in the past

and that I am a driven and confident leader. Every year here at URI I’ve learned so many new

skills that will be applied to my relationships and in my future career. I’ve grown immensely in

just a year and a half here at URI and I can’t wait to see what opportunities come my way.

I recently helped facilitate a retreat with an organization called Musically Inclined. Their

goals that they’ve set for the retreat were group listening and communication skills, as well as

building relationships with their newest members of the organization. The retreat overall was a

huge success and everyone told us that it was by far the best retreat that they’ve ever been on.

Each and every activity brought them closer as an organization and it also met their goal of

group listening and communication. For example, Natalie and Felicity facilitated an activity

called, “Tee-pee shuffle”. Each member had to be silent, which forced each member of the group

to interact and effectively communicate with each other. While the activity was in action you

could also tell how much they were enjoying the activity with each member of the group.

Another activity that went very well was the “Web”. We ended our retreat with this activity, but
we wanted to change it because this particular group has seen web at every retreat that they’ve

been on. Natalie and I facilitated this activity and we were also the ones to create a more

meaningful type of “Web”. In the beginning of the retreat we handed everyone a card with a

group members name on them. Once they were given the card they had to watch this member

and at the end point out all the positive things you thought that person contributed to the group.

Once the activity was finished they were all extremely happy with the twist that we incorporated

into it. This also met both of their goals of group communication and listening, as well as

bonding and building relationships with the new members. Overall the retreat was amazing, but

if I could change a couple things I would. For example, when a facilitator was leading an activity

a lot of the other facilitators would group together and disengage from the retreat. This happened

on several occasions and some of the participants noticed too.

As a facilitator I tend to frequently use three of my top five strengths. Those being,

Positivity, Includer, and Developer. I used Positivity as I went through the entire retreat. Staying

positive is what keeps the group happy and motivated. You could easily point out my strength

while I’m facilitating just in the tone of my voice. I tend to project my voice in confidence, but

it’s also soothing and relaxed. When I’m facilitating a certain activity where a group will just get

frustrated I always jump to encourage and motivate the organization to keep going. I use my

Includer strength to encourage everyone to participate when I introduce an activity. I want

everyone to be able to have the opportunity to grow as an individual and as an organization.

Without participating in activities, members of an organization won’t be able to met their goal

and the retreat will be pointless to them. One of my favorite strengths that I use while facilitating

is my Developer strength, I believe this strength really helps organizations come together and
meet their goals. For example, in this retreat I helped Natalie facilitate “Web”. I used examples

from that day of how they came together as a group and the positive impacts they’ve made on

each other. I helped them realize their growth and I told them how positively they were

developing as a group. They took what I was saying into perspective as they were starting the

“Web” activity with each other. Everyone was then very emotional and it felt great to be able to

be apart of developing their organization for the better. I pushed them in the right direction and

once I made that push they all took off and developed and grew as a whole.

As Robert Greenleaf once stated,”The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the

natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire

to lead.” Servant-Leadership comes from your drive of compassion for service and leadership

within. It also benefits you greatly as you’re helping others by growing as an individual. I believe

the Servant Leadership model effectively describes this retreat and specifically to my feelings

towards it. In the model there are also 10 characteristics of Servant-Leadership. Those being,

Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight,

Stewardship, Commitment to the Growth of People, and Building Community (Greenleaf, 1970).

I believe the other facilitators, and I represented each characteristic on the Musically Inclined

retreat. If we didn’t possess these characteristics, the retreat wouldn’t have been successful and

the members of the organization wouldn’t have grown individually and as a group. These

characteristics make up what a true leader is. As I’ve been here for only a year and a half, I’ve

not only learned about each characteristic, but I’ve been able to grow into the individual and

leader that I want to become.

 At the end of the Musically Inclined retreat my passion for helping others by using my

facilitation skills has only increased. I cherish all of my facilitation experiences and from each

one I grow as a leader and as an individual. On this retreat I really put my facilitation skills out

there and once I did, it benefited the organizations retreat greatly. This boosts my confidence and

my abilities immensely. I learned what skills I possess will effectively help organizations meet

their goals. I plan on improving my skills to keep benefiting more organizations that I facilitate. I

also learned the skill of debriefing on this retreat and I now will be improving this skill to work

with future retreats. Debriefing scared me at first, but I know I’ll be able to be successful at it as I

was when I first started developing my facilitation skills. In conclusion, each retreat I facilitate I

learn even more about myself as a leader and how I want to improve for the next retreat. Each

retreat is a learning experience that I also benefit greatly from. I’m excited for the future and

what kind of leader I will become with the rest of the time that I have left here at the University

of Rhode Island.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Student Organization Leadership Consultants 
Musically Inclined Retreat 
November 3rd, 2018 
 
Group: ​Musically Inclined   
Group Contact & info​​: Chris Alves (calves97@my.uri.edu) 
SOLC Contact: ​Ray Schrager (rachel_schrager @my.uri.edu) 
Goal of Retreat: ​We want to work on our groups listening and communication skills. In the past, 
we have found issues in students not respecting the executive board/they don't listen to their words. 
There is a time and a place for talking, but we need to have our members understand when that is. 
We also have a TON of new members this semester and we'd like to get them to know the rest of 
the group better 
# Participants:​​ 22  
Date:​​ November, 3, 2018  
Time:​​ 10-1pm  
Location​​: MU Ballroom  
Facilitators​​: Natalie, Siarra  
Shadows:​​ Shawn, Jen, Lindsay, Felicity   
Food Requests: ​ None 
Special Requests/Needs​​: activities that do not require yelling (they have a singing competition 
later/next day) 
 
Retreat Agenda​​: 
Time/  Topic/Activity  Facilitator  Debrief style (if  Notes/Supplies 
location  applicable)  needed 
10-10:05 am  Arrival (“one duck” while arriving),  All  Mention  Clipboards, Shadow 
Waivers, Introductions (Shake 8’s)   clipboards  papers, Index Cards, 
waivers, pens 
10:05- 10:15  People to People   Jen     Ubuntu cards 
am 
10:15-10:30  Quick-witted Compliments (cards handed  Siarra & Felicity    Name cards 
am  out at end) 
10:30-11:00  Values Smackdown   Natalie & Jen    Thumbmometer  Music notes, 
am  pens/markers, 
Poster paper 
11:00-11:55  Act or React  Shawn & Ray   Thumbmometer Dot stickers 
am  and Kolbs 
11:55-12:00  Break- use break to fill out cards   none    Pens  
pm 
12:00-12:10  (Music based) Walmart   Lindsay & Siarra     
pm 
12:10-12:45p Tee-Pee Shuffle/ Birthday Lineup  Natalie & Felicity     Tape, blindfolds 
m  
12:50-1:00  Web/cards  All    (already given out) 
pm  Index Cards, Yarn & 
scissors 
Energizers to keep in the back of your mind:​​ Finding nemo/finding Dory, Wiz Bang, Elbow tag, craters 
and volcanoes, Bear Salmon Mosquito, TP facts, “One Duck, Fell in, The pond, Kerplunk”, Evolution, 
Entourage, Yee-haw 

Handouts: Waivers, index cards  

 
General Supplies Checklist: 
- Index Cards, Pens (& markers), Music notes and Poster Paper, Dot stickers, Tape, Blindfolds, Yarn, 
Scissors