Art of facilitation not as easy as you think

The word facilitation comes from facile, French for “easy”. To facilitate is to make easy. And that’s what good facilitators do.

They help groups clarify their thinking and move towards consensus — be it regarding their strategy, or some new project, or maybe just how they work with each other.

Some facilitators are better at doing this than others. And the best ones make it look effortless. But don’t be deceived. They operate like the proverbial swan, gliding along on the surface yet paddling like mad underneath, deciding at every moment if and how and why to intervene.

Facilitation is not a common skill among Kenyans. In the classroom it’s a million miles away from the approach of the revered mwalimu, the lecturer, who speak at students (whether they are first-graders or senior executives) treats them as ‘audiences’, and expects them just to listen and absorb.

It is also far away from the traditional Big Man model of leadership, where all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful figures come up with the ideas, give the instructions and implement a good proportion of them themselves.

These “stern parents” are surrounded by dependants only too happy to give them all the power they need. Let them take all the risks. Let them take the blame for any failures, and indeed the glory that comes from successes.

The rest of us “children” can play safe, lie low, and watch them sink or swim.

What a long way these mwalimus and Big Men (now of both genders) have to shift if they are to move to more facilitative styles. Whether in the classroom or in the workplace, these days we expect lively interaction — both human and through technology.

Thanks to the Internet everyone has access to everything, so the role of teachers and leaders has transformed from imparting knowledge and delivering instructions to challenging, stimulating and stretching.

21st century leaders must surround themselves by the brightest and the best, people who are likely to be more skilled, more knowledgeable and more up-to-date than they are.

Their role is increasingly to facilitate these knowledge workers to succeed. It defines a whole leadership style that enables, engages and motivates fellow workers.

Bosses must lead their people in shaping and living a vision, and in operating as a high performance team with aligned energy.

This means that from time to time it’s a good idea for the team to get away from their normal work environment to reflect on where they are and where they’re going.

When they do so an external facilitator might be called in, to provide a dispassionate guiding hand. Their role is to help the group have the most productive discussions possible.

That way everyone else, including the leader or leaders, can focus on contributing to the discussion as just another participant. And not over-dominantly.

Most groups manage without such external support — and some do very well by themselves. Others bring in outside facilitators who add no value, or are even counter-productive (usually because they either say too much or too little).

But increasingly external facilitators are in demand to help organisations run effective retreats and other meetings. What are the main skills and attitudes such facilitators must possess – whether they be internal or external?

They must have a clear and structured mind, and they need to find the strength to hold back from talking more than they should. Along with this they must be great listeners, and treat each contributor with respect — however helpful or otherwise their offering may be.

They must pose questions rather than offer answers, and they must generate a conducive atmosphere, within which everyone expects important and useful outcomes.

By conducive I mean a number of things. Participants (yes, “participants”, never “audience”) must feel relaxed enough to be at their best. This requires them to feel they are in a safe space, where there is no retribution if they come out with something controversial or inconvenient.

There must be high and positive energy in the room, but also a calmness that enables deep reflection, creativity and openness to serious change.

Good facilitators must be ambitious for the group, and know how to probe deeply without intimidating.

Participants must be stretched beyond where they thought they could reach, expanding their comfort zones, I find you can’t beat a light touch to encourage such performance, and also make the group feel good about itself.

Judgments must be made on when to encourage the timid, and when to curtail the noisy. On when to allow divergent brainstorming, and when to bring the group to convergence.

On when to intervene, and when to allow the group to operate as it will — however messily. On how to use and handle silence. On allowing and defusing crises, using them as learning opportunities. And on when and how to confront previously taboo subjects.

How often must such judgments be made? Every few seconds usually! The facilitator should intervene as little as possible, gently but firmly, ensuring proper management of the purpose and agenda of the event, and of how time is being spent.

He or she must help the group to align its expectations at the beginning, and build towards high quality consensus by the end, with clear and specific agreement on who has agreed to do what by when.

I first learned the art of facilitation in the early 1970s, when I was part of a team running workshops on ICT strategy for senior British and French CEOs, PSs and army Generals.

That’s when I learned how to ask the kind of questions that generated useful reflection and discussion. I’ve been learning more and more about facilitation ever since, realising what a rare and precious skill it is to have.

I have also been helping others become better at it, as a result of which I have seen quite how challenging it turns out to be for most of them. How is it for you?