Want to become a leader? Start by becoming a facilitator.
Published in Modern Steel Construction.
Early in your career, it’s wise to identify your own opportunities to practice being a leader. (And if you’re past the early stage, not to worry! It’s never too late to hone leadership skills.)
While leadership is demonstrated in a myriad of scenarios, one option is to put yourself in a “facilitator” position. What’s a facilitator? Simply put, it’s an individual that leads a group—of any size—through discussion. Maybe it’s woven within a formal presentation at a conference or seminar. Maybe it’s while conducting the weekly internal project team meeting. Maybe it’s during an in-progress project meeting with the client. Or maybe it’s while running a meeting for a volunteer organization.
Translating Leadership from Volunteering to Work
If you’ve recently joined the workforce, the latter option might be the perfect one to practice your facilitator skills so that you can enjoy the magic firsthand. After all, young enthusiasts with fresh ideas and energy are warmly welcomed within nonprofit organizations—whether the affiliations are professional such as AISC, philanthropic such as your local animal shelter, cultural such as the junior board of a theater company, or all-out recreational such as your local intramural sports group. These organizations all have boards, committees and special project groups; they need you as much as you need them.
Presuming that you’ve identified an organization that you can genuinely pour your heart into, your next step is to become actively involved. Most nonprofit organizations clearly articulate the options, as they know that’s the best way to recruit young blood! Fast-forward to the point where you’ve aligned with a committee or special group. Now is your chance to locate facilitation opportunities.
Setting the Framework
Like any worthy skill, facilitation cannot be fully explained in a single article. However, here are some initial tips and best practices to apply when facilitating, particularly if you’re new to the game.
Focus on the prize: a meaningful overall experience for the group. Believe it or not, attendees are expecting to learn from one another and to be heard. What does this mean for you as the facilitator? Keep your own presenting (lecturing) to a bare minimum, and instead use prompts to encourage discussion. Rather than having everyone speak to you as the leader, help navigate connections between attendees. Some people will do this naturally (e.g., “Building off what Colin said, I had a similar challenge but with a different outcome.”) But as the facilitator, you too can help underscore commonalities and connections. Think of the overall experience as everyone talking to everyone, rather than the group (attendees) talking to an individual (you, the facilitator). The facilitator provides the foundation and the glue. The attendees provide the building blocks.
• Collecting information from attendees in advance. This effort pays off three-fold:
1. Shape your agenda and ensure involvement. Who has time to talk with attendees prior to a meeting (or formal presentation) particularly in a volunteer capacity? You do! If you craft an agenda based upon the input of others, they will ultimately have a vested interest in the meeting’s success. It’s shared ownership. Isn’t that worth an extra hour or two? But take note: You’re not asking attendees to review your full agenda. Rather, you are surveying them to gain their insights and/or questions about challenges, ideas, visions, goals, competitors, communication or whatever themes make the most sense for your charge.
2. Feed two birds with one seed. During the meeting or speech, proactively reference relevant attendee information. “Kaitlyn shared an inspirational story about a recent adopt-a-pet blitz. Sloane spoke of a challenging conversation with a theater patron. Connor mentioned a new idea for the volleyball tournament. Carlos described his eye-opening experience when touring the client’s facility.” If it’s relevant to your meeting and will motivate discussion, weave it in! Attendees will collectively relish the personalization, even if you don’t reference each person directly.
3. Create warmth and intimacy, one person at a time. As an introvert, I welcome connecting one-on-one; it’s manageable rather than overwhelming. So when gathering information, dedicate time to learn tidbits about what’s going on with that person, at work or otherwise. Then, when the actual presentation or meeting occurs, try to privately reference those side notes, either before the meeting or during a break. In general, other attendees will feed off the energy that exudes from personal connections between the facilitator and individuals. Maybe Michael is expanding his family. Perhaps Cynthia just won an award at work. Heather is dealing with an aging parent. And Marc is training for an Ironman race. Whatever the tidbit, your genuine interest (and it must be genuine—otherwise, don’t bother!) will strengthen your connections.
• Keep your prepared content (lecture) tight. Sometimes in meetings—and most certainly in formal presentations—you’ll need to provide substance for the audience to chew on. It’s tempting to data dump a whole lot of information in one fell swoop, with the hope that it will stick. Yet due to today’s short attention spans—along with the audience’s desire to learn from one another—it’s best to chunk your content. After delivering a chunk between five and 15 minutes, provide a subsequent prompt for the audience to either discuss or apply. While this approach may feel risky at first, with practice you will discover that it energizes the overall experience.
• Tap into your inquisitive self while facilitating. Ask thought-provoking questions and listen with open curiosity to responses. Keep your questions tight, and provide initial prompters to encourage quick but thoughtful responses. For example, “In your experience as a project manager, what do you find to be the biggest challenge to motivate your team? Is it identifying interesting projects? Opportunities for career advancement? Continuing education?” These types of questions are more provocative than simply asking, “In your experience as a project manager, what is your biggest challenge to motivate the team?”
• Group ’em, then group ’em again. Personally, I vastly prefer to converse one-on-one or in smaller, intimate groups. Even if your meeting is comprised of just eight people, there’s still value in providing opportunities for intimate conversations. Then, to further add to the dynamic overall experience, regroup them. Shake it up. Whether it’s rotating or putting pairs with pairs (to create a new group of four, for example) information and ideas will flow. The variety will do them good, and it will provide an opportunity for them to more closely connect with multiple people.
Already mastered some of these tips as a facilitator? Great! Stay tuned for my next column, which will focus on “what-ifs?” and how to troubleshoot on-the-spot during facilitations.