How do you share knowledge in a facilitation session?

I’ve always found it helpful to not just understand your audience as individuals or a group, but truly understand their context. Some questions you could ask yourself are: - What is the organization trying to achieve (mission, vision, strategy) and how does that influence my session? - What is the energy in this organization? E.g. cruising, extreme growth, decline or crisis? - What things are going well in the organization and what things need work?

It is important to understand the right pace to make sure learning happens at a rate that can be absorbed but also provides plenty of ¨reflection moments for the newly acquired views on a particular topic to have time to become knowledge. Also make sure you bring everyone along in the journey!

Before facilitating a session, I have conversations with all participants for several reasons: (1) To understand the unspoken needs, expectations, and potential obstacles. The sponsor's view isn't the only perspective that matters. Engaging with all participants ensures a well-rounded session design that isn't skewed by a single viewpoint. (2) To build trust. Especially since facilitation often pushes people outside their comfort zones, I want participants to trust me and the process I'm inviting them on. (3) Lastly, these conversations offer a chance to learn from past experiences—what has worked well and what hasn't—to avoid repeating mistakes.

I would suggest a balanced approach, and here's what I mean: you know what you need to deliver and you know you'll have different people! So, along your sessions lead your pre-defined activities, assessments, etc. and also gather feedback, comments, opinions from them on how they worked (or not!), and adapt from there! Know your audience so you can make the most out of training by including everyone's voice.

It is useful to consider how many and which people actually need to know how much. Eg - is it necessary that all hear all contributions standing in a circle or similar ? Or would it be sufficient that people share 1to1? Might it actually be better with this more intimate way of sharing - at the cost of all not hearing everything?

And one of the most powerful - not on this list - is having participants share their knowledge. Lived-experience can be a powerful facilitator of other's learning.

The experience we craft for participants and their sense of safety is more crucial than the platform we use. Learning doesn't happen if participants don't feel psychologically safe (to admit they don't know and to ask questions). Learning doesn't happen if participants don't understand why the material would be relevant for them, and learning doesn't happen if participants don't engage with each other and the content.

Multiple formats help participants to engage in different ways with your content, enhancing their learning experience! Help them assimilate, relate, apply, and understand your content, and you'll achieve incredible results.

Also consider disruptive approaches, such as constraints, surprises, changes of rules and challenges to play on different group dynamics, work with energy levels and keep motivation and attention high.

Furthermore, let's make sure the lesson fits like a glove with what's happening in their lives. Ask everyone if they've got a story to share or a problem where they think this lesson could lend a hand. And don't hesitate to bring up those situations where folks might not be sure how to make the most of what we're learning. This way, we can all put our heads together and help find some solutions. It's all about making the lesson relatable and getting everyone involved!

Not everyone participates in the same way. You'll have extroverts who speak up and introverts who prefer to mull things over before they contribute. Mix up your activities to cater to these different strengths: quick debates for the extroverts, reflective periods or nominal-group exercises for the introverts. You are passionate about bringing value — but don't be offended or feel you have to intervene if there's a moment of silence. Sometimes, the most empowering thing you can do is to stand there and let the room breathe and ideas soak. Silence is a tool for creating space for deeper thought, allowing everyone the opportunity to engage in their own time and way.

In an era where AI assistants provide instant information, assuming the group has gathered to learn from one trainer alone is outdated. Failing to let participants contribute disrespects the group and misses peer-learning opportunities. If only one person is teaching, a live session isn't needed; a video or blog would suffice. Also, according to research by Gloria Mark, a knowledge worker's attention span is close to one minute. Hence, one-sided teaching is ineffective. Respect participants' time by ensuring they have regular opportunities for engagement, be it through self-reflection, group discussion, or tool interaction.

I agree with Tim Sweet. When I debrief/process activities with groups, it is evident the extroverts speak out first and fast where the introverts need time to think and reflect before they share. I welcome moments of "uncomfortable silence" and have noticed that participants do eventually share. As facilitators, we need to welcome these moments of silence and respect those who need more time to collect and share their thoughts.

Many assumptions here... "knowledge" is comprised of knowing. To "know" is a personal characteristic. Thus rather than "needing" to explain why some knowledge is important - make it relevant to the context. In some cases, that will be personal to the one sharing the knowledge. For example, "I need to know this in my profession because..." The work of connecting knowledge to participants' prior knowledge and experiences - is the work of participants, not the ones sharing knowledge (e.g. an instructor). A skilled knowledge sharer establishes spaces in which participants can discover their own context and relevance. This makes for more long-lasting 'learning'

The group's insights outweigh the facilitator's or instructor's summary. Therefore, it's crucial to reserve time at the end of the session for participants to share their takeaways. I usually ask: What are you taking away in your heart and on your to-do list? This fosters a collective understanding of the session's impact and learnings. It also empowers everyone to act and hold each other accountable for progress. Sharing personal experiences and emotional states further enhances a sense of belonging and energises the group.

As a facilitator, be the guide on the side and not the sage on the stage, that is, your voice shouldn't be the only one heard in the room. You can be there to help them surface ideas, options, and topics and engage the room based on the objectives outlined and the ground rules you collectively set. When you listen, you will learn and as the facilitator, you will be enriched as well.

Communities of practice are a perfect way for facilitators to keep learning and updating their knowledge. They will learn from each other and be confronted with different perspectives, experiences and cultures. As facilitators, it's as important to participate in workshops and be exposed to new activities and frameworks so that we remind ourselves how it is to be on the other side: How it feels to be pushed out of comfort and to follow someone else's process.

Learning Journals are a powerful tool for any facilitator to engage on a regular basis. Life is a Learning Journey and thus why not keep a Learning Journal, just as many do when travelling to unfamiliar places. Just as lifelong learning is vital - so is lifelong Unlearning. Often we learn new things that need to usurp the old things. Think for example of practices related to smoking in public. As a kid it was commonplace for smoking on planes, busses and in restaurants (still in some parts of the world). Now, as knowledge of risks and consequences have expanded, many have unlearned what used to be commonplace. Learning and Unlearning go hand-in-hand.

I work with a 4-step process to ensure my learning. 1. Right after the workshop: Immediate emotional wash up - how I am feeling right now. 2. With a little space: technical debrief - what worked what didn't and how did I solve it. 3. The following day: initial reflections - how does it feel to today. What are my takeaways. What would I do differently and what did I really like. 4. A few days later: deeper reflections - what sits with me. What are the key insights into my practice and what do I want to take forward from here. This is highly effective also with co-faciltiators. What is essential is not to mix the spheres and make the learning a step-by-step process. I also read the feedback at each stage to add that perspective as well.

Building on the Communities of Practice idea contributed by Myriam Hadnes - a great way to "Keep Learning" would be to trade recordings of a webinar you facilitated with a peer. Each of you would watch the recording and provide feedback. Sounds great, right?

If you, as facilitator, observe areas where participants lack knowledge in order to make a good diagnosis or generate quality solutions, bring in experts who may work with them in a facilitative way, by inspiring them with stories, case studies, examples (not imposing directly their ideas). Facilitator can improve participants knowledge in the concepts related to the process he/she designs.

Two things to add to this topic from my experience in working with learners in public seminar environments (where they pay to learn and are highly motivated, unlike the corporate learners): (1) Always ask for permission from the audience to share my experience (e.g. is it ok if I share with you my ....). And it will always be a "yes," and at the same time, it's crucial to (2) share only relevant experiences to a particular topic or discussion and never make things up or share "opinion." The audience is smart enough to sense whether your sharing is real or faked.