How do you coach new facilitators?

1 Assess their needs

Before you start coaching a new facilitator, you need to understand their goals, strengths, challenges, and preferences. You can use a simple tool like the Facilitation Skills Inventory to assess their current level of competence and confidence in different aspects of facilitation, such as planning, designing, delivering, and evaluating sessions. You can also ask them to share their expectations, motivations, and concerns about facilitation with you. This will help you tailor your coaching approach and content to their specific needs.

2 Provide feedback and support

One of the most important roles of a coach is to provide constructive and timely feedback and support to the new facilitator. You can use various methods to do this, such as observing their sessions, reviewing their materials, debriefing their experiences, or having regular check-ins. You should aim to balance praise and criticism, focus on specific behaviors and outcomes, and offer suggestions for improvement. You should also encourage the new facilitator to reflect on their own performance and learning, and to seek feedback from others, such as participants, co-facilitators, or stakeholders.

3 Model best practices

Another way to coach new facilitators is to model best practices and demonstrate effective facilitation skills yourself. You can invite the new facilitator to observe or co-facilitate sessions with you, and explain your rationale and choices before, during, and after the session. You can also share your own challenges and successes, and how you cope with them. By doing this, you can show the new facilitator how to apply facilitation principles and techniques in different contexts and situations, and inspire them to learn from you.

4 Share resources and connections

As a coach, you can also help the new facilitator access relevant resources and connections that can enhance their facilitation knowledge and skills. You can recommend books, articles, podcasts, videos, courses, or tools that can provide useful information and guidance on facilitation topics. You can also introduce them to other facilitators, networks, or communities that can offer them opportunities for learning, collaboration, or mentoring. By doing this, you can expand their facilitation horizons and support their ongoing development.

5 Challenge and empower them

Finally, you can coach new facilitators by challenging and empowering them to take on more responsibility and autonomy in their facilitation practice. You can do this by setting realistic and achievable goals with them, and helping them monitor their progress and celebrate their achievements. You can also encourage them to experiment with different facilitation styles, methods, or formats, and to learn from their mistakes and failures. You can also acknowledge their strengths and potential, and trust them to make their own decisions and solve their own problems. By doing this, you can foster their confidence and competence as facilitators.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?