- Facilitators help organizations run smoothly. Without the organized flow of information and the ability to put one person in charge of sharing a certain set of knowledge, a business would have no way of ensuring that each person within the company knows what he needs to know.
- Anyone leading a meeting or conference can be described as a facilitator. The facilitator may be responsible for coordinating activities leading up to the event or be simply in charge of leading the discussion during the meeting itself. A meeting facilitator may be in charge of coordinating multiple speakers, introducing each person and the topic they'll be discussing.
- Conflict facilitators mediate conflicts between two people or groups. Conflict facilitators can work within an organization or can be part of an outside facilitator group brought in as a consultant to mediate a certain conflict occurring within a company. Conflict facilitators are often used in school systems, where students tend to get involved in conflicts with each other. Sometimes, facilitators within schools are even peer mediators or other students serving as facilitators.
- Course or training facilitators lead instruction. Whether a formal class at a university or a continuing education training for a group of professionals, course facilitators are responsible for planning activities and instruction to meet the objectives of the training. Course facilitators are faced with the task of ensuring all goals are met within a certain time-frame, while planning instruction engaging for the learners.
- Any person can find himself in the role of facilitator at any time. Human resources managers often facilitate conflicts or discussions among employees or between employees and managers. Whole organizations act as facilitators, or intermediaries, on transactions that occur between consumers and companies or between two businesses. Even friends can be facilitators between two other friends who are experiencing a conflict.
