We need more facilitators at work

Consider the following scenarios at work:

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• The marketing team calls upon a meeting to analyze regional sales trend and come up with course of action to boost sales.
• The production team wants to discuss continuous improvement efforts to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
• Your boss wants to brainstorm with the team how to utilize generative AI at work.

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What does it take to make the above discussions and meetings successful? There are plenty. To name a few, the meeting agenda must be clarified and communicated. Next, the process must be well thought out and skillfully executed. Moreover, all attendees should fairly contribute their ideas and co-create the solutions. There are more but let’s stop here.

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The next question is, who ensures those success factors? The host? Who plays the role of the host? One of the meeting attendees, the team leader, or someone from HR?

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In fact, there’s a proper name for the “host” in this case – it’s called Facilitator. The facilitator clarifies and communicates the meeting objectives, designs the agenda, and executes the process. The meeting can be called a “facilitation session”. The facilitator literally facilitates the process and assists the participants to reach the objectives – whether it’s problem-solving or consensus building.

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The skills and knowledge that enables a facilitator to do the job well, i.e., the “success factors” we mentioned earlier, is called “facilitation skills” in general.

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Now go back to the three scenarios at the beginning of the article. When you had similar meetings (or facilitation sessions) at work in the past, who played the role of the facilitator? Did he have the proper facilitator skills?

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Facilitation Myths

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There are common myths about facilitation and facilitators. Many people confuse them with training and trainers. In fact, there are related but distinct. A trainer’s job is to impart specific knowledge or skill to the learners during a learning event. The trainer knows something the participants don’t. We may call the trainer a “Content Master”. On the other hand, a facilitator may not know anything more than what the participants already know regarding the issue at hand. However, the facilitator knows how to design and execute a process that enables participants to collectively move forward on the challenge. We may call the facilitator a “Process Master”.

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A good trainer can be a good facilitator. While many training skills can be transferable to facilitation, a trainer must supplement himself with additional facilitation skills in order to do the job well as a facilitator. The reverse is also true.

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The value of traditional training programs is being compromised.

Why is facilitation needed

Let me put my assertion up front: we need more facilitators and fewer trainers at the workplace. Here’s why.

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1. Knowledge is cheap

The last time you don’t know something and want to fill your knowledge gap, what did you do? For me, I googled it and watched YouTube. If I want to learn something more specific, I subscribe to some learning platforms (For example, LinkedIn Learning) and watched their learning videos. Knowledge acquisition is convenient (available 24/7), accessible (everyone can access them), and low cost (plenty of free resources, even paid resources are very affordable). Thanks to COVID-19, people are generally quite comfortable with online learning now. In short, knowledge is cheap. The value of traditional training programs is being compromised. Trainers who only know how to teach may risk losing their jobs soon.

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However, knowledge itself cannot solve all the problems at work. Go back to the scenarios at the beginning, they cannot be solved by watching YouTube alone. We need someone who can bring people together, engage them in a process, and collectively problem-solve. We need facilitators.

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2. Group learning that generates alignment and commitment is badly needed

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As the world gets more complicated and uncertain, leaders and managers won’t have all the answers for the problems at hand. We must be able to tap into the group’s collective wisdom, engage their participation, and create ownership and accountability. Sadly, this level of group learning and engagement is rare at the workplace today. Many organizations and groups are siloed, short-sighted, and filled with personal agenda.

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Compared to online learning which is accessible and convenient, group learning and collective problem-solving cannot be done easily online. This is where the role of facilitator adds value. Facilitation, when done right, can bring engagement, alignment, commitment, and energy to the team. Skillful facilitators know how to create a safe space to encourage input, ensure voices get heard, and bring alignment to the decision.

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Think about the first scenario: A meeting was called upon to analyze regional sales trend and come up course of action for the marketing team. Does the head of marketing have the answers? He may have some thoughts or opinion prior to the session, but saying that he has all the answers is obviously an overstatement. Imagine you were one of the participants. If you were invited to voice your opinion, and your felt like your voice got heard. You had the chance to discuss and debate issues healthily with colleagues, and you participated in the decision-making process. The final decision was not something you opted for but you felt like you agree to “disagree and commit”. At the end of the facilitation session, how motivated would you be to commit on the course of action? Very high, I would say. That’s the power of effective facilitation.

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Facilitation is one area that AI cannot surpass human, yet.?

3. Human facilitators are less likely to be replaced by AI than trainers

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The rise of generative AI and related technology is rapidly disrupting many jobs and industries. Fortunately, facilitation is one area that AI cannot surpass human, yet. For example, during the facilitation session a great facilitator knows how to “read the room”, assess the group dynamic, and adjust the facilitation style or tweet the agenda. In the near future, we might be fully immersed in a metaverse in which AI acts as the virtual facilitator who can do everything a human facilitator does. Until then, it is safe to say that human facilitators are enjoying an advantage over AI at the moment. However, this advantage won’t last forever.

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If you are thinking about increasing your value at work without worrying too much about being replaced by AI, facilitation skill is something you should consider developing. While you don’t need to worry much about being replaced by AI yet, you should definitely learn how to leverage AI to make your facilitation work easier. For instance, try to use ChatGPT to help you craft a session agenda. There’s a saying that if you don’t know how to use AI, you probably won’t be eliminated by AI but you sure will be eliminated by someone who knows how to use AI.

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Facilitation at work and in life

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We have talked a lot about facilitation at work, but facilitation is not reserved for work-related context. Consider the following scenarios:

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• You and your friends are deciding what and where to eat for dinner.
• You and your family are discussing the destination and agenda for the next family trip.
• You are leading other church members to share their spiritual experiences.

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These scenarios all require some level of facilitation skills. While you may have been doing those things without learning facilitation, an in-depth learning and practice of facilitation skills can go a long way. If you have not learned facilitation before, it may well be time to start the learning journey.