Groups of people gathered together with a common purpose constitute a team.  Intuitively team work can be both more efficient and higher quality than that of an individual or a group of individuals working together not necessarily with the same goal. 

Teams typically begin with a bunch of disparate views and ideas.  Think of these as filling the top of a funnel.  To gain the maximum efficiencies and quality the ideas need to be filtered, sharpened and moved down the funnel

Each move down the funnel focuses the work and thus fine tunes the objective so by the time it pops out the end of the funnel is is clean, clear and complete. 

Facilitation

Progressing down the funnel typically does not occur naturally.  Some finesse is required.  Having one member of the group accountable for facilitation (that is making the finesse happen) is a really good idea. 

Very simply stated, facilitation is behaviours focused on making an activity or process easier.  Taking a wealth of valuable input from the team and enabling them to uncover the  gold, that is the powerful product that comes out of the small end of the funnel, is a critical and invaluable skill.

Facilitation is a delicate path as true facilitators are like a catalyst,  helping the reaction procced but not actively part of it.

The first step is recognizing the team needs a facilitator, the second is appointing one and finally supporting them as they help the team achieve it’s goal.