Good Facilitator : Bad facilitator

What does being a good facilitator look like?

To become a good facilitator, it’s worth reflecting on where you are now and the traits you have.

Let’s start by considering the ‘Wow, that was so good’ vs ‘There’s three hours of my life I’ll never have again’ aspects of facilitation you’ve experienced.

My Top 5 traits of a good facilitator

• Planning – Have clarity re the structure you’re going to use. I use Sam Kaner’s approach to (i) tap into the diversity of the group; (ii) give them time to do their thinking group ample thinking, and (iii) produce tangible outcomes
• Adaptability – Know when to let the conversation flow and when to intervene. Develop ways to gently move the conversation on (e.g. “this sounds like a great morning tea conversation”)
• Integrity – Do what you say you’re going to do, deliver the outcomes as stated
• Focus – Work hard to stay in the zone, once I get distracted, the group will follow that path!
• Innovative – Be willing to try new things and test boundaries where appropriate

Dark side facilitation

Picture the workshop where you’re seeing a bath in hot fat as more enjoyable alternative to what you’re enduring. Here’s what you may be experiencing…

• Banging on – a very technical term for long-winded openings and explanations of everything
• Too much information – lots of presentations, data and context at the expense of participant input
• Brand or Rock star facilitator – it’s all about me, I’m the Queen of facilitation
• Overcrowding – processes that are overly complex, have too many steps or aren’t given the time needed to do them properly
• Favourtism – the facilitator has mates, senior or self-important people that they’re giving too much air time to

So What? 

My encouragement to you is to apply this in three simple ways:

1. At the next workshop you attend, note what the facilitator did that you liked and made it an enjoyable and productive experience for you
2. Self-assess yourself re positive facilitation traits and add your own
3. Think of how to pick up on and limit some of the dark side traits in your own work

Key points

1. What does ‘good’ like when you’re a workshop participant?
2. What do you look like when you’re at your best as a facilitator?
3. What traits can you strengthen to be at your best consistently?

PS – Looking for help in trying this for yourself? Get in touch or go hard and book a FREE planning session today

PPS – Remember to check out my reignited ‘Working with Teams’ podcast. In this new episode my colleagues James and Isabella sat me down and went hard at me to take a ‘deep dive’ into Designing a Strategic Planning Session