Participate to facilitate

⚠ RANT ⚠

There were five of us in the group.

We had four minutes to connect.

We learned the name of one person.

And a whole lot more about their job, their organisation and the community that they work with 🙄.

😞 I felt disappointed. I didn’t get to meet anyone else in the group.

😖 I felt frustrated. I didn’t hear any responses to the facilitator’s question.

😠 I felt resentful. I didn’t want to stay in this group if this was going to continue.

And I have to admit, I felt responsible. If this can happen in a group of engagement specialists, it can happen in any group.

I guess we were a bit stunned into silence. Bulldozed even.

Then I felt a bit guilty.

I wonder if anyone feels like this in my workshops?

When I was an embryo facilitator? Undoubtedly.

As an emerging facilitator? Occasionally.

As an experienced facilitator? Ouch.

No matter how well I read the room, I only have one set of eyes and ears.

I cannot sense 100 per cent what’s going on in every small group in a workshop with 30 or so people.

That’s one of the reasons I enlist a co-facilitator or table facilitators for bigger groups.

But I’m on my own most of the time. It’s up to me to help the small groups with clear instructions for any activity.

Try to keep it to three and use imperatives. In this case:

🔸 Say your name***

🔸 Respond to this question…………..

🔸 Take turns

🔸 You have x minutes – watch the time.

***Yes, be this explicit. The generic invitation to ‘introduce yourselves’ can be interpreted differently, as our ‘dialogue diva’ demonstrated.

(Oops! I see I stretched my own rules! I see three instructions and one guide 😉. Rules, after all, are made to be broken. That’s (fl)awesome).

People often ask me how they can learn how to facilitate.

If it’s not obvious yet, I’ll spell it out.

Participate.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ve heard me say that a writer needs to read. An artist needs to appreciate art. A musician needs to listen to music. A teacher needs to learn.

A facilitator needs to participate in workshops, as a member of the group. It teaches us what people might need and expect from us.

Other facilitators inspire me. I get great ideas when a workshop is working and when it’s not. I’ve got a few more to share from my experience at this same workshop. Stay tuned.

Finally, a question for you. What would you call someone who takes up all the airtime? Just riff in your head – don’t ask your AI buddy. I’d love to hear.

Thanks for reading this far.

Stay (fl)awesome!

#facilitation #connection #workshops #experts #facilitator