Poll and Predict: Characteristics of Effective Facilitators

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Compare personal priorities against collective expectations for effective facilitation without debate.

Use it when: Use during facilitation training, kickoffs for meeting leaders, or alignment sessions when establishing common ground on group leadership traits.

Skip it when: Skip when the working group needs to agree on binding operational rules rather than reflect on general leadership qualities.

Group arrangement: Individual work followed by whole-room tally and comparison

Timing: UWT synchronous live workshop pacing adapted from the asynchronous email game format described in the November 2001 source

Materials and tools

• One index card per person
• One pre-printed or digital reference list of 20 facilitation traits per participant
• Pens or pencils
• Flipchart and marker for live tallying (or digital whiteboard)

Before participants arrive

1. Prepare the 20-item facilitation traits reference sheet or digital poll based on common traits (such as confidence, empathic listening, flexibility, integrity, inclusiveness, and process expertise).
2. Have markers and flipchart paper ready for recording votes and predictions.

Say this to open

We each hold personal views on what makes a facilitator effective. You will review a list of traits, choose your top three, and predict which three traits will receive the most votes from the room. Write your three picks and your three predictions on your card.

How to run it

1. Introduce task and review traits 4 minutes

   Distribute the list of 20 facilitator traits. Read the opening script aloud. Clarify that personal picks reflect individual values, while predictions estimate what the rest of the room values most. For example, a participant might personally choose integrity, empathy, and active listening, but predict that the group will vote for confidence, neutrality, and time management.

2. Select top traits and write predictions 6 minutes

   Participants work silently and individually. Each person writes two distinct sets of three traits on their card: Part A lists their own top three traits. Part B lists their prediction of the three traits that will earn the highest vote counts across the group. Anyone who chooses to pass may hand in an unlabeled card or observe without recording.

3. Collect cards and compile group tally 7 minutes

   Collect all completed cards. Facilitator reads aloud the personal choices from Part A while an assistant or appointed volunteer marks tally marks beside each item on the flipchart. Count the totals to identify the top three traits selected by the group. Keep participant names anonymous during the reading.

4. Score predictions and reveal results 4 minutes

   Check Part B on each card against the top three group choices. Award one point for each correctly predicted trait (maximum three points). Announce the top three traits determined by the group poll and acknowledge anyone who accurately predicted two or three of the highest-voted items.

5. Debrief group patterns 4 minutes

   Conduct a brief whole-room debrief comparing personal priorities with anticipated group consensus. Take two to four brief observations from volunteers.

Debrief questions

• Where did your personal choices diverge most from your predictions of group consensus?
• What assumptions guided your guess about which traits others would value most?
• Which trait ranked surprisingly high or low across our group?

Finished output: A flipchart displaying vote counts for 20 facilitator traits, identifying the top three group selections and the most accurate peer predictions.

Remote

Use a digital survey tool or chat direct messages. Send the 20-item trait sheet via chat. Participants submit two short lists via private direct message or form: their 3 personal choices and their 3 predictions. Facilitator pastes aggregated tallies into a shared visual document and highlights matches.

Hybrid

Remote and in-person participants submit their choices into a single shared online form or private direct message to the co-facilitator. The tally is displayed on a shared screen visible to both physical and virtual rooms.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may submit blank cards or skip either the personal selection or the prediction task without explanation.
• Provide printed high-contrast text and digital screen-reader-ready copies of the 20 traits.

If the session gets stuck

A tie occurs among the top group selections.

Accept four or more items as valid winners for the prediction scoring, awarding points for matching any tied top trait.

Participants take too long choosing traits.

Set a strict two-minute warning and remind participants that rapid first impressions work best for this activity.

Terms used here

• Operational Definition: A concrete description of a concept stated in terms of observable behaviors or practical actions.