Here's how you can master the essential skills for facilitation success.

??Interrogating the brief: Look for the vulnerability ? Be the energy: It's infectious ??Flatten hierarchies: Be aware of the “HiPPO” ? Be neutral: Don't facilitate if you're invested ??Be diverse: Similar thinkers produce similar thinking ? Add knowledge: Invite experts / customers to challenge assumptions ??Plan, plan, plan: Start with the output and work backwards. Role-play your plan ??Control the time: Shut down monologues. Use a big timer on your phone. Add padding to the timings ??Weave a thread: Make the workshop part of a bigger story ??Themes and analogies: Borrow from understood situations to turbocharge yours ? Time To Talk: Don't "over workshop" ? Wrap up well: Leave time for reflections ? Humour: It's your superpower

Active listening is the most critical skill for a facilitator. You can do everything else well but if you don't do active listening well, you'll fail. Put aside your own thoughts and biases and just listen to hear the underlying message.

En mi experiencia, la escucha activa es una de las mejores herramientas que puede utilizar un líder de servicio. Es el paso número uno para poder llevar al equipo a la empatía y reflexión.

Facilitation Fundamentals to Active Listening: ??Embrace moments of silence ??Be neutral and avoid any bias ??Make space for people to share ??Suspend judgement Tools & techniques that help with this: ??Paraphrasing- fundamental to active listening ??Mirroring language- builds trust & validates ??Master open-ended questions?? Questions to make space: ?Can you say more about that/ tell me more? ?Can you give an example? ?How does that impact you/ your team? ?What else? ?What's coming up for you now?

Facilitation is the bridge between information and the audience, with diverse techniques at one's disposal the result being information interpreted, received, and often used is what a facilitator should strive for.

It's a facilitator's job to make the process of whatever the group is doing facile; easier, simplified. Having clear objectives is a great start. By setting clear objectives and a timeframe, you give participants parameters to operate within, making it far more likely that they feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of your time together.

As a facilitator, I frequently set and review SMART goals with the groups that I facilitate. One thing I have found to be beneficial is to go one step further to discuss SMART-C goals, with “C” being “Challenging.” I don’t remember where I saw this, but I loved the idea and began incorporating it into my groups. Some groups find this intimidating, some motivating, and some both! Either way, unpacking these feelings can help the group achieve their goals.

One thing that comes up when I’m planning an item of L&D work is ‘How do I make this *sticky*?’; I am constantly wondering how to be more and more certain that the content I plan to deliver will be retained by the target audience - in the time allotted for the session but also in 3/6/12 months etc. (depending how long they need to know it). Knowing your audience is pivotal: if you know their preferred learning style(s), job role and motivation as a bare minimum, you can tailor your session to them. Consider asking them in advance. Once the session is in progress, consider asking as you go along if it’s working for them. At the end have them complete an assessment and survey to give you a better chance of knowing if it was effective.

Todo facilitador debe tener claro el objetivo de la sesión y debe clarificarlo al grupo; recordemos que es el facilitador debe mantener al grupo enfocado en lograr el objetivo y en reencuadrarlo cada vez que sea necesario. Para ello debe ser empático y un excelente comunicador.

A place to start is what do you want people to do and/or act when they leave the session? Then how would like them to feel and what would you like them to say? This is a great place to start when setting objectives and outcomes. A consideration is - are you as the Facilitator setting the objectives beforehand with stakeholders or co creating with the cohort? have a plan for how you are approaching it and always have the end user as central.

When making decisions, it adds great value when you get team members to ask questions to clearify that everyone has the same understanding of the subject, before commenting their own opinions. Doing this your meetings and decisions Will be more effective and you will quickly learn that teammembers also get better to collaborate when the subjects are more critically and difficult.

Asking the right questions desers to pay full attention to the information: You can start with open-ended questions: this will develop empathy, provide you with information and help you stand out Use hypothetical questions Keep an eye out for non-verbal signals

"How" and "what" questions help avoid yes and no answers. They also support rich discussion to get to consensus, or uncover a challenge or solve a problem.

Fragen, nachfragen und weiterfragen sollten offen gestaltet werden. Sie sollten nie suggestiv klingen und niemals Rhetorik transponieren. Für mich ist eine differenzierte Meinung zu meiner eigenen immer sehr wichtig, um mit den richtigen Verst?ndnisfragen, die Perspektive besser beleuchtet zu bekommen. Beim Thema bleiben aber die tiefe des Gedankens inhaltlich verstehen ist mein Wunsch für die Fragen.

Being a facilitator is about creating a space to encourage a group to soar on their own; when an effective space is created, vulnerability creates a platform for emerging valuable ideas and discoveries. 3 Tidbits to create a space that allows for really robust group dynamics: 1) Collaborate with the group to create the space they need: ask at the start what people want to be able to share openly and be vulnerable. 2) Know your biases and opinions and check them at the door: you're showing up to create the space, not influence its outcome. 3) Operate the flow: The conversation should move naturally, like a water system. If it hits a barrier, your job is to open a new channel. Otherwise, let it flow on its own, and observe.

Don't be weird. Most of the time a facilitator is brought in, the situation is already abnormal for the team. It is a big couple day workshop or there is a big sticky problem at hand that needs untangling. Part of reading the room includes prep work to understand what you are walking into, what type of vibe will resonate and how you'll create that environment. I've experienced first-hand facilitators who come into a room of engineering executives overtly bubbly, silly and elementary-school-art-teacher-esque and instantly lose their respect. While each facilitator has their own style, remember you are offering a service for a customer not yourself. Identify a sponsor prior to the session whom you can get intel from and bounce ideas off.

One thing I've found helpful as a facilitator is to include some exercises around values mapping or shared interests when working with a group that shows hierarchical power dynamics (e.g. more and less senior members of a big department). Stripping back the job titles, focusing on why people get out of bed in the morning to do their work, and how those reasons are similar between people, can be a helpful tool to level the playing field.

Feeling what the group needs and how willing they are to engage in the proposed dynamic is something that helps me a lot as a facilitator. Many times I arrive at a workshop with one approach in mind, but I realize that the group needs something different. This flexibility and adaptability are essential for a good facilitator. Once I started a training session for police officers using a PowerPoint presentation, and soon understood that the group needed something to get them moving, connecting with a more personal and individual place that would allow them to trust my knowledge. I turned off the presentation, asked them to sit in a circle, and we had an open conversation about why they became police officers—everything changed.

?Qué dice el termómetro? Medir la dinámica(temperatura) de los equipos de trabajo en nuestro rol de facilitadores es crucial para lograr el objetivo comunicacional. Al inicio de una sesión es clave conectar con una dinámica de activación para saber la real temprratura de nuestro público y en base a eso orientar cada una de las actividades. Recordemos que cada participante tiene un estilo de aprendizaje particular y debemos dise?ar la puesta en acción para que todos tengan la oportunidad de disfrutar y aprender cada concepto.

One technique I've found very helpful for time management and making sure discussions stay on topic is the Parking lot. If the conversation seems to get off track, ask the participants if this new topic will help achieve the goal of the meeting. If not, then "park" the topic and come back to it at the end of the meeting. This prioritizes the meeting goal while also acknowledging participants' topics of interest. Always return to the parked topics, otherwise you will lose credibility.

When planning a session build in contingency time as you won't know how many questions there could be and what level of discussion. Make estimations of time linked to the objectives and deliverables for the session. To help manage time, have a "parking lot" for any topics that are not on point that could be discussed outside of the session. Be upfront about how much time there is and what we are here to achieve, that way you involve the cohort in time management (coming back from breaks on time, etc).

Zeitmanagement bedeutet auch das richtige Ma? zwischen effektivem Fortschreiten und der Unterdrückung von Kreativit?t zu finden. Eine Agenda und einen roten Faden in einer Sitzung zu erkennen ist meines Erachtens elementar. Aber bevor ich eine Sitzung plane, frage ich mich, bedarf es dieser. Ist diese sinnvoll? Mit welchem Ziel plane ich diese Sitzung? Sitzungen mit hohem kreativen Inhalt sind zum Beispiel sehr wertvoll, wenn sie gemeinsam vorbereitet sind oder anschlie?end in kleinere Gruppen weiter erfolgen. Demgegenüber sollten Sitzungen mit klarem Inhalt gut moderiert werden um das Zeitfenster durch Spielregeln ergebnisorientiert abzuschlie?en.

Si el grupo conoce con anticipación el objetivo y la agenda de la sesión las conversaciones estarán más enfocadas y la gestión del tiempo será más sencilla. También ayuda mucho al facilitador al inicio de la sesión hacer énfasis en que el tiempo de todos es valioso e invitar a los participantes a que sus comentarios sean concisos.

?Tiempo! Si bien es cierto en nuestro dise?o de sesión establecemos los tiempos por cada actividad, una recomendación es la técnica 10/10. Ejemplo: Si tu sesión está programada para 1 hora, dise?a solo en base a 40 minutos dejando 10 minutos libres para los inicios y 10 minutos para los cierres. A veces las cosas no salen como tú esperas,ahí tu habilidad para aplicar esta técnica para manejar imprevistos y que tus participante disfruten del espacio de manera significativa a nivel de gestión del tiempo.

Feedback is essential to continue perfecting and improving our techniques, a good way to make feedback is to take a satisfaction questionnaire with the activity, which will give you ideas of the points to improve for the next session

One thing that I find important during facilitation is the ability to ensure that everyone is carried-along and provided with equal opportunities to contribute. Therefore the ability to keep discuss active, interesting and timely hugely contributes to vibrant participation of trainees.

The most powerful tool at your disposal as a facilitator is the Self. Ensuring that this tool is framed–in alignment with the goals of the session and the participants–before each session will ensure that your compass is facing due north. This work could include you working through "your" thoughts on the intended outcome vis-a-vis those of the relevant stakeholders. It could also involve ensuring you are aware of the lenses with which you are looking at the goal of the facilitation process.

Bleib Du selbst! Keiner erwartet Antworten auf jede Frage. Bleib ehrlich. Wir alle kochen mit Wasser. Bring in die Moderation deine eigene Pers?nlichkeit mit ein ohne den Vortrag zu dominieren. Lerne über dich Selbst zu lachen. Sei nahbar. übung macht den Meister.

As a leader, I learn every day about the importance of showing vulnerability to my team and how much this contributes to the team feeling more connected to me and to what we do in our daily work. In facilitation, showing vulnerability is also essential, allowing people to connect with me and opening their minds and hearts to what I am proposing and saying. For example, when I facilitate discussions about gender inequalities, I often share examples of my own experiences so that other women can identify with me. With older men, I share experiences from my father, demonstrating my empathy and encouraging the audience to be more open to rethinking their behaviors.

Desde mi punto de vista la mejor manera de desarrollar habilidades para la facilitación es : Autoconocimiento, descubre que transmites y como te ven. Trabaja tus puntos fuertes. Acepta las críticas. Usa el sentido del humor. Escucha más la comunicación no verbal que la verbal. Disfruta. Aprende de los y las facilitandos/as. No trates de imitar a otros/as facilitadores. Inspiración si, copia no. Cada persona es quien es con sus fortalezas y debilidades. Sigue creciendo como persona y como profesional.