‘I need a facilitator!’

‘I need a facilitator!’

Before you pick up the phone to talk to one, take a few minutes to ask yourself ‘why’.

It might be because you are:

🔸 Part of the group and want to contribute too.

🔸 Immersed in the content and can’t zoom out.

🔸 The leader. You’re not sure how honest people will be if you’re facilitating.

Now there’s a handy list for building your business case for engaging an independent facilitator.

What impact will it have if you facilitate the group yourself?

What’s the cost of you not sharing your ideas? Not being able to see the wood for the trees? Or only hear what people think you want to hear?

But I digress.

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‘I need a facilitator.’

It could be because you:

😟 Are worried about what people might say and want someone else to take the heat.

😉 Want someone to blame when you don’t get what you want.

Truly. I’ve had someone say that to me. We didn’t work together.

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‘I need a facilitator.’ Is it because you:

😖 Get impatient with people who don’t contribute?

🙄 Don’t know how to stop the louder people from taking up all the air-time?

😯 Get nervous about going ‘off script’?

Deep down, it might be because you think:

😟 ‘I’m not very good at reading the room.’

😟 ‘I can’t think on my feet.’

😟 ‘What if people won’t do what I ask?’

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So many reasons. So much to unpack (I’ve done that here). 

There’s a real person (or more) behind each one. They’ve told me at design meetings or quietly, over a coffee.  

I’m sure you’ve spotted the underlying theme. ‘Me’.  ‘My’ worries, fears and insecurities. 

All real and valid.  

But what about the group? What’s on their mind? What are their needs? What do they hope to get from their work together? What ideas? What decision? What change?  

I spend some time helping people move from the ‘me reasons’ to the ‘group reasons’. Once that’s clear, you can think about who you might need.  

The main reasons people ask me to facilitate is because a group needs to work together in a different way. What do you want a facilitator to be able to do with your group? I’d love to hear. 

Stay (fl)awesome!