The Great thing about the Extraordinary Facilitation courses I run, is that they bring together many interesting people with a wide variety of facilitation experience.
At the beginning of every course we participate in an appreciative enquiry exercise which draws out our knowledge about what makes facilitation extraordinary and what you could do more of, if you want more extraordinary.
Out of interest, I have compiled the results from at least 6 of these enquiries and it is remarkable how consistent the answers are. I have boiled it down to 9 critical actions you can take to make your facilitation extraordinary. The table below collates the original statements; the graphic above pulls it all together.
Get in touch if you want better resolution copies of these resources….
| WHAT A FACILITATOR CAN DO TO GO FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY – COMPILATION OF 6 plus COURSES | |
| TAKE THE TIME | Time and creating space for unfolding |
| Time | |
| Slowing down and allowing time | |
| Taking time to reflect and use intuition | |
| Not rushing things allow more time for ideas, discussion connection | |
| Create space and time for mindfulness | |
| Hone your time management and awareness | |
| FOCUS ON THE WHY | Focus and braveness |
| Bring clarity of purpose and clearly identify it | |
| Know the why – what is the purpose | |
| Focus (reducing workload or distractions) | |
| CENTRE YOURSELF | Focussed and regular self -reflection |
| Know what natural skills you bring | |
| Where is your passion and energy coming from? – feed it and plug in | |
| Step outside of yourself | |
| Equanimity (avoiding imbalance) | |
| Centred | |
| Embrace vulnerability | |
| Find the real bit of you, you can share or be today | |
| Share and empower the group to share | |
| Lose the imposter syndrome | |
| Have faith and passion | |
| Believe in yourself | |
| Be aware of yourself | |
| Clarity | |
| refresh yourself | |
| Self care | |
| Self check = open | |
| ROLE MODEL WHAT YOU NEED | Model open risk taking behaviour “the stripped back exposure of humanity |
| Be a courageous example | |
| Come from the heart – purposeful self disclosure | |
| Speak from your truth making an invitation | |
| Share | |
| HEARKEN TO THE GROUP | Listen, really listen |
| Watch, really watch | |
| Actively Listen | |
| Sensitive, watchful, observant, tuned in | |
| Be consciously aware of issues in the group – writing them out, looking at them, acting upon them | |
| Be aware of the group | |
| Deep curious listening to others and self | |
| Acknowledge they may have other stuff going on | |
| Have the eyes of a child | |
| CREATE A CULTURE OF CONNECTION | Nurture and enabling a group culture to develop as a priority |
| Pepeha or mihimihi | |
| Invite people to bring a symbol or a story | |
| More getting to know each other and icebreakers | |
| Cultural symbolism matters, developing common language matters – music, symbolism, words | |
| invite people to share | |
| Safety | |
| Clear outcomes expectations and boundaries | |
| Create a safe space for people to engage for a common purpose – taking the time to draw out contributions | |
| Connection | |
| Build relationship | |
| Humanize | |
| Affirm and value emotional intelligence | |
| Empower those with passion | |
| Empower and sharing | |
| Connection and trust | |
| Break the ice | |
| CREATIVELY AND AUTHENTICALLY ACTIVATE AND ENGAGE | Activities and mixing it up to make it fun and engaging |
| Good food good place | |
| Prioritising fun and lightness when designing | |
| As enjoyable for everyone a possible | |
| Creative thinking | |
| Create opportunities | |
| Get people outside | |
| Movement | |
| Engaging and funny – like a video clip | |
| Evoke | |
| More cool tools | |
| Be open to trying new things | |
| Real – real content | |
| Create ways to engage deeply | |
| Play – activities with a core focus on trust in order to build trust organically | |
| Develop interaction and play | |
| Make action | |
| Get people Moving | |
| Engage with the group | |
| Create honeypots | |
| Ask great questions | |
| Less about content, more about enabling | |
| Challenge | |
| Lead by doing – everyone is in it together | |
| Use questioning techniques that lead to self learning | |
| Create activities and encourage them | |
| NIMBLY RESPOND | Manage turning points in the process, create enough structure and content, then be open to outcomes |
| Be receptive to the vibe and be flexible | |
| Let go of attachment to outcomes | |
| Trust and openness- no preconceived ideas | |
| Be open | |
| Change the state | |
| Be responsive | |
| Know what needs preparation | |
| Open to change, flexible | |
| Take risks, let go of rigidness | |
| Noticing – look out for the opportunity in the moment | |
| See what is emergent for the diversity of the group | |
| Go with the flow of each group | |
| Relaxing control | |
| KEEP LEARNING THROUGH DOING AND REFLECTION | Practice |
| Feedback loops and reviews | |
| Try, reflect, learn | |
| Make mistakes to learn what works | |
| Self reflection and keep learning | |
| Celebrate success | |
| Broaden your exposure – find a mentor, go to workshops | |