I’m in the middle of running an online training programme with facilitators looking to sharpen their approaches to facilitating innovation workshops. Whilst there are common skills we can all learn, it’s important to facilitate your way. To create a style you feel comfortable with. Where you also get the best out of the workshop participants.
So how do you do this? Here are some suggestions.
1 Bring your true personality to the Workshop
I’ve worked with many brilliant facilitators over the years. Yet they’ve all been so different. They’ve been introvert, extrovert, funny, calm, energetic, formal, informal. There’s no single personality type. What they do have in common is that they come across as their true selves. They’re not pretending to be someone they’re not.
One of the key skills of a great facilitator is building rapport with the participants. Being yourself is essential to this.
Showcase your humour. Play your favourite music. Respond openly. Share your experiences. Share stories that the participants can connect with. Bring your personal perspectives to the ideas or strategies that emerge.
Be yourself. Don’t create a false facilitator persona.
2 Harness your strengths
If there are specific facilitation skills that you’re good at, double down on them. For example, if you’ve got great drawing skills, use them to capture and visualise concepts. If you’re naturally high energy, harness this via energisers and games. If you’re super organised, be super-sharp on your timekeeping. If you’re great at designing frameworks or models, use these throughout. If you’re particularly creative, design some stimulating creative exercises.
Bring your strengths to your workshops and lead with them.
Equally, if you’re aware of your weaknesses, delegate them to others. If you’re not a great timekeeper, let someone else manage the timings. If you’re not confident at capturing ideas on flip charts, let others take the lead. Only do energisers you feel comfortable with. Equally, if you don’t like energisers, don’t do them.
You don’t have to be great at everything, but make sure you make you most of what you are good at.
3 Experiment
Now and then, push your boundaries. Keep adding to your repertoire of facilitation skills. Introduce the session in a different sequence. Explore a new idea-generation technique. Capture feedback in a fresh way.
Observe other facilitators and ‘steal’ some of their approaches. Or simply invent some alternative ways of your own.
This way, you’ll continue to evolve as a facilitator and discover new approaches. Equally, you’ll find out what doesn’t work for you, where you don’t feel confident or comfortable. You can then decide to practice these more, or else avoid these approaches in the future.
So to Summarise
With experience and practice, you’ll develop a facilitation style that’s unique to you. One that makes you both distinctive and effective. Remember, it starts with being your true self, where your quirks, personality, and experiences are given free rein. At the same time, identify and focus on your strengths and bring these to the fore. Finally don’t forget to try new things out, so that you continue to stretch and evolve.
There’s no standard facilitation style. We’re all different. Work out an approach that’s unique to you.