{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.facilitation","code":"thing-q1941955","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q1941955/","name":"facilitation","alternateNames":[],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.PRC"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"Facilitation is the practice of designing and guiding a group's working process to support participation, shared understanding and progress toward its purposes, without necessarily supplying the substantive answers or making its decisions.","purpose":"Enable an AI agent to recognise, assess and support facilitation by recording how a group is helped to participate, work through differences and pursue an agreed purpose.","scope":{"in":["Agreement about the group's purpose, the facilitator's remit and authority over process","Design and adaptation of facilitated sessions or sequences of sessions","Participation, accessibility and the effects of power differences on group interaction","Interventions that support inquiry, deliberation, disagreement and collective work","Assessment of process quality, participant ownership and closure"],"out":["The substantive subject matter or technical solution the group is discussing","Formal governance authority and the validity of organisational decisions","Mediation agreements and dispute resolution procedures as independent practices","Teaching curricula, individual coaching and clinical therapy","Meeting software, venues and collaboration infrastructure as independent things","Biological facilitation and other uses of the term outside group process"],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["An instance should identify a group process being supported and deliberate actions intended to improve that process; attendance or administrative scheduling alone is insufficient.","Distinguish facilitation from chairing by recording whether the role supports interaction, exercises procedural authority, or combines both.","Distinguish facilitation from consulting by identifying whether an intervention helps participants develop their own content or supplies the facilitator's substantive answer.","Distinguish facilitation from teaching by identifying whether the primary commitment is to the group's work or to specified learning outcomes; an activity may combine both.","Do not infer neutrality from the facilitator label: record the person's substantive interests, decision rights and disclosed changes of role."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"purpose-and-process-mandate","name":"Purpose and process mandate","description":"Establish what facilitation means in this instance and whose agreement authorises it.","layers":[{"id":"practice-and-boundaries","name":"Practice and boundaries","description":"Identify the intended form of facilitation and its relationship to neighbouring roles.","findings":[{"id":"declared-facilitation-remit","name":"Declared facilitation remit","description":"Record the working definition and distinguish process support from teaching, advising, chairing or mediating within the same engagement.","questions":[{"text":"What does facilitation mean to the participants and commissioning party in this engagement?","id":"declared-facilitation-remit-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which activities require the facilitator to declare a change into an advisory, teaching, chairing or mediation role?","id":"declared-facilitation-remit-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"authority-and-ownership","name":"Authority and ownership","description":"Make the source and limits of process authority explicit.","findings":[{"id":"negotiated-process-authority","name":"Negotiated process authority","description":"Record who commissioned the work, how participants accepted or contested the remit, and who may change the agenda or stop the process.","questions":[{"text":"Who established the purpose and remit, and where is participant agreement or disagreement recorded?","id":"negotiated-process-authority-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"What may the facilitator change independently, and what requires renewed agreement from the group?","id":"negotiated-process-authority-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"participation-access-and-power","name":"Participation, access and power","description":"Examine who can contribute, under what conditions and with what exposure to consequences.","layers":[{"id":"access-to-contribution","name":"Access to contribution","description":"Connect membership and contribution methods to the people affected by the group's work.","findings":[{"id":"usable-participation-pathways","name":"Usable participation pathways","description":"Record who is present or absent and whether language, disability, technology, timing or interaction format limits contribution.","questions":[{"text":"Whose relevant experience is absent or represented indirectly, and how was participation selected?","id":"usable-participation-pathways-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which alternative contribution methods or accommodations are needed for participants to take part?","id":"usable-participation-pathways-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"voice-and-exposure","name":"Voice and exposure","description":"Assess how status, dependency and disclosure conditions affect participation.","findings":[{"id":"conditions-for-candid-contribution","name":"Conditions for candid contribution","description":"Record perceived pressure, confidentiality limits and differences between visible participation and experienced influence.","questions":[{"text":"How do participants report their ability to disagree, decline an activity or challenge a higher-status participant?","id":"conditions-for-candid-contribution-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What confidentiality limits and consequences of disclosure must be clarified before requesting sensitive contributions?","id":"conditions-for-candid-contribution-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"facilitated-process-design","name":"Facilitated process design","description":"Connect the group's task to a workable sequence of interaction methods.","layers":[{"id":"task-to-method-fit","name":"Task-to-method fit","description":"Specify why particular formats support the intended collective work.","findings":[{"id":"method-selection-rationale","name":"Method selection rationale","description":"Record whether participants need to explore, generate, understand, prioritise or decide, and why the proposed methods fit that need.","questions":[{"text":"What collective work must this stage accomplish, and what observable output would demonstrate progress?","id":"method-selection-rationale-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Why is the proposed interaction method suitable for this group, task and available time?","id":"method-selection-rationale-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"sequence-and-adaptation","name":"Sequence and adaptation","description":"Identify transitions and conditions for changing the planned process.","findings":[{"id":"adaptive-process-checkpoints","name":"Adaptive process checkpoints","description":"Record checks for readiness, understanding and fatigue before moving from exploration toward convergence or closure.","questions":[{"text":"What evidence will indicate that the group is ready to move from exploring options to evaluating them?","id":"adaptive-process-checkpoints-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"When should the facilitator extend discussion, change format, introduce a break or renegotiate the agenda?","id":"adaptive-process-checkpoints-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"intervention-and-disagreement","name":"Intervention and disagreement","description":"Make in-session process interventions and responses to tension inspectable.","layers":[{"id":"interaction-interventions","name":"Interaction interventions","description":"Relate facilitator actions to observed interaction patterns.","findings":[{"id":"proportionate-process-intervention","name":"Proportionate process intervention","description":"Record the basis for actions such as inviting quieter voices, interrupting repeated domination, clarifying a question or checking a summary.","questions":[{"text":"What observed interaction prompted the intervention, and what alternative explanations were considered?","id":"proportionate-process-intervention-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"How will the facilitator check whether the intervention helped participants without imposing a substantive interpretation?","id":"proportionate-process-intervention-q02","kind":"measurement"}]}]},{"id":"disagreement-and-process-limits","name":"Disagreement and process limits","description":"Distinguish useful differences from conditions the agreed process cannot handle.","findings":[{"id":"response-to-unresolved-tension","name":"Response to unresolved tension","description":"Record whether tension concerns content, relationships or the process itself, preserving objections and identifying when additional support is needed.","questions":[{"text":"Does the disagreement concern a substantive option, interpersonal conduct or the legitimacy of the facilitation process?","id":"response-to-unresolved-tension-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"What conditions require a pause, revised agreement, referral to mediation or termination of the session?","id":"response-to-unresolved-tension-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"closure-and-process-review","name":"Closure and process review","description":"Establish what participants actually concluded and how the facilitation should be evaluated.","layers":[{"id":"participant-validated-closure","name":"Participant-validated closure","description":"Separate recorded outputs from claims of agreement or commitment.","findings":[{"id":"accurate-account-of-group-position","name":"Accurate account of group position","description":"Record participant-checked conclusions, continuing objections and accepted follow-up responsibilities without treating silence as assent.","questions":[{"text":"How were proposals, decisions, objections and unresolved questions checked with participants before closure?","id":"accurate-account-of-group-position-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which follow-up responsibilities were explicitly accepted, and which remain unassigned?","id":"accurate-account-of-group-position-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"quality-and-learning","name":"Quality and learning","description":"Evaluate process experience and usefulness while acknowledging limits on attribution.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-of-facilitation-quality","name":"Evidence of facilitation quality","description":"Compare intended process outcomes with participant feedback and observations, distinguishing facilitation effects from task difficulty or external constraints.","questions":[{"text":"What evidence captures clarity, opportunity to contribute, treatment of disagreement and usefulness, including dissatisfied participants' views?","id":"evidence-of-facilitation-quality-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which observed outcomes can reasonably inform changes to facilitation, and which cannot be attributed to it?","id":"evidence-of-facilitation-quality-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-confidence-notes","name":"Check these first","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these check these first hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-confidence-notes-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation","name":"Standards and regulation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-measurements","name":"Typical measurements","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-measurements-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of facilitation this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Facilitate a group's process when the group has asked it to, keeping to agreed purposes and ground rules.","Summarize contributions and record decisions as the group made them."],"mustNot":["Steer a group toward an outcome it or its sponsor prefers while posing as neutral.","Record or share what participants said beyond the audience they agreed to.","Silence or ignore participants who disagree or speak less.","Report a decision the group did not make."],"requiresHuman":["Ending a session or excluding a participant.","Facilitating where conflict, harm or legal disputes are at stake."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Facilitators hold quiet power over who is heard and what is decided.","Groups trust facilitators with candid views that can be used against participants."],"affectedParties":["Participants","Quieter and minority voices","Those affected by the group's decisions"]},"owners":{"steward":"The group or organization that commissions it, with the facilitator answering for the process.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q3249551","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.facilitation","Wikidata: Q1941955 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1941955)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Working interpretation: Group process facilitation; learning facilitation; another explicitly defined interpretation","Facilitation arrangement: External facilitator; internal facilitator; participant facilitator; co-facilitation; distributed facilitation","Process mandate: Relationship among facilitator, participants and commissioning party specifying permitted interventions","Substantive involvement: Process-only remit; content contribution permitted; substantive stake disclosed; decision authority held; unspecified","Participation arrangement: Voluntary or required attendance; open or selected membership; synchronous or asynchronous; remote, in-person or hybrid","Process stage: Contracting; preparation; opening; exploration; convergence; closure; follow-up; paused","Experienced opportunity to contribute: Participant responses on a declared scale, with response rate and collection method","Unresolved process concerns: Recorded concerns about access, pressure, confidentiality, fairness or role conflict, each with disposition"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Clarify the group's purpose and negotiate the facilitator's process remit","Propose participation methods suited to the task, access requirements and power relationships","Monitor interaction and suggest interventions with explicit reasons","Help participants distinguish proposals, objections, decisions and unresolved differences","Recommend a pause or referral when concerns exceed the facilitation mandate","Review participant feedback and improve subsequent process design"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Hidden steering produces decisions that lack real support.","Poorly handled sessions can deepen conflict or expose participants."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Facilitation is used in meetings, workshops and consultations where a group needs support to participate and make progress together.","A facilitator guides the working process, including discussion and decision methods, while the group retains responsibility for its substantive choices."]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q1941955: facilitation","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1941955","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Facilitation (organisational)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitation_%28organisational%29","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Does the registry intend group process facilitation specifically, or a broader concept that also includes learning facilitation and other forms of enabling action?","How do relevant facilitation traditions define neutrality, impartiality and legitimate substantive involvement, and which differences should the model preserve?","Which operational measures of facilitation quality are supported for different settings, and how should conflicting participant assessments be represented?","Where should boundaries with chairing, mediation, teaching and organisational development be drawn when practitioners combine these roles?","Which existing Vercy world model, if any, already owns this concept and should serve as its single publication?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q1941955/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q1941955/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-12T09:37:07Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"not-applicable","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"not-applicable","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T10:10:28+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.","interaction.interfaces":"No single official standard or classification applies universally to generic group facilitation.","interaction.recognition":"Facilitation is a working method whose identity depends on the moderator's role and the group process rather than visual appearance."},"score":1.0}}