What are the best techniques to enhance your facilitation and communication?

My main advice is to be truly grounded and open to any diversity you can encounter. This is the inner work that is essential to any facilitation. Facilitation has 3 main components (following the integral theory): first person - refers to creating a team environment where all individuals can be in a process of transformation. Dialogue is related to the 2nd person and highlights the importance of promoting dialogue between team members. Technique is related to the 3rd person and refers the facilitator taking care of the technical aspects of the group process (e.g., management of time, taking care of space preparation, following the agenda).

For an ongoing workshop on how to coach peers, we like to start with the "Stinky Fish" metaphor. Because this is an icebreaker in which participants must be vulnerable, I typically start us out with my own stinky fish and then invite all participants to share individually. By starting from a vulnerable place, we are able to set a tone of trust for the workshop. We build on this trust by going right into a guided discussion. In the discussion, the facilitators' job is to ask a few (pre-planned) questions in a strategic order and listen actively. Given the small and intimate nature of these workshops, this technique has been successful.

Allow participants to feel success. Stop and acknowledge the skills and contributions they are bringing to the table and remind them along the way of the progress you've made as a group. If you're asking a group to "push" themselves in their thinking, show them how they already do/know awesome things, so they can do this, too.

As a former educator I know how invaluable little group and paired work tasks are in reinforcing the learning of your audience. Most groups cringe when you mention ice- breakers at the start so I always begin with a simple ‘hands-up’ style consensus question to get the group onboard from the outset and actually get participants moving their body and, in a subtle way, altering their state. Something like, ‘ Raise your hand if ….’ modelling this yourself. Then, later when they are working on the task in break away groups I find it really useful to interact and mingle and weave the feedback into the next phase of the session. It makes for a much more bespoke and personable training session that impacts on their specific situation directly.

When facilitating any type of group discussion, I always try to incorporate varying media with which participants can "play" with the topic at hand. Is there a way I can visually prompt the discussion? With words? With movement? Think outside the box - some of the most creative and open brainstorms or idea sessions I've led have used kids' games!

Over the past nine months, I've had the privilege of facilitating several #IAmRemarkable sessions. Each session has consistently yielded inspiring and diverse reactions from the participants. Through this experience, I've come to understand that our role as facilitators is primarily to guide, not to instruct or dictate. By establishing a platform for people to engage and exchange ideas, we inherently enable ourselves to adapt and improve in response to their feedback, allowing participants to derive new insights. As a facilitator, remaining open to change also ensures that we stay engaged and focused in every session.