We’ve all experienced ‘average' facilitation

Facilitation: someone at the front of room, leading a meeting/workshop, helping make things easier. (Whether it's the right definition or not isn't what this is about.)

My point is: there's an abysmal standard of facilitation in workplaces today.

You might think it’s not ‘that bad' or workshops you’ve attended have been mostly ok.

Not so quick. Know that facilitation is something you learn: like making an omelette, riding a horse, flying a kite. You’re not born with facilitation skills, you learn. It's not long at work before we experience average facilitation.

Think of all the sh*tful meetings you’ve been in.

Meetings that:

😖ran over time

🤯were dull and disengaging

😠achieved few outcomes

🤢were dominated by a few/same voices

😱were unsafe or awkward ... the list goes on.

Bad workplace meetings contribute to bad workplaces and working environments. They're time wasting, energy-draining, enthusiasm-robbing ... feeding cynicism, negativity and disengagement.

Yuk!

If you're a leader or want to be, it starts with you at every meeting.

You can learn contemporary facilitation skills. Then you won't lead sh*tful meetings. 

'The consultant’s facilitation skills were average'

I heard this comment from a big company ... reporting on a big consulting firm’s management consultant... and how average their facilitation skills had been at a significant workshop event.

The fee that consulting firm charged for their services DID NOT MEET the value or expectation of the calibre of facilitation skills that were required.

And it was one of the BIG consulting firms.

You’d think - or assume - that the facilitation capabilities of management consultants would be contemporary, collaborative, impactful. They're always leading meetings and workshops as part of company transformations and consulting engagements.

But nope. It was average. Most average.

Time on your feet does not equal quality. Most of us think we're better at facilitating meetings and workshops than we are. It's like driving. Most of us think we're above average drivers. We're not. Some of us suck. We think we’re good but we’re average. Most average.

An easier skill for the future

Futurists and foresight genies tell us the skills we need for the future. 

But what if we had a skill that just made things easier, less difficult? How good would that be!

There’s a mix of skills that are a stand out in the world of work - they're about collaboration, safety, inclusion and progress. They help get things done, in ways that help people work together, and make them feel safer and included.

Great leaders know that facilitation - not the hippy ‘what do others think’, bell-dinging moderator, wafting about a room - but an outcome-focused, engagement-driven enabler who helps people do better work together - is a power-house competency. Facilitation helps support a team to achieve the 'magic four'.

To be:

1️⃣effective

2️⃣productive

3️⃣collaborative, and

4️⃣creative.

All at once! Drop one and the team, project or work suffers, crumbles.

Facilitation means 'ease'. It’s no wonder it’s the skill of the moment.

It’s valuable when it’s realised

We all have ideas and hopes but it’s not until we put them into action that we see their potential value. The value of something isn’t realised until it's put into effect, brought to life.

Same with us. People don’t know who we are, what we can do, how we do it, how we think, what we're capable of. It’s not until we put ourselves out there that we can be realised, our value seen.

So here’s the thing… are you keeping value trapped inside you, not letting it out there into the world?

Do you have ideas that haven’t been tried, launched or delivered?

You bet you do! We have wonderful potential but not until it's released do we see the value.

This week has been all about value; here's the rest of the ladder image completed!

⬇️ The downside of value: we reject, don’t know our value, doubt and deny it. We make what we do worth less. ⬆️ The upside of value: we accept, identify, package and then deliver our value.

What’s an idea you’ve got waiting in the wings, ready to be realised?

It’s not all about the package, but it helps

When we buy things they're often ‘packaged' up. Not only the physical package but the price, conditions, benefits. "It's all part of the package." A warranty, servicing, accessories, spare parts ... or the lunch and coffee special I spotted in a cafe yesterday, or how Apple with their new releases attend to the package as part of the experience.

It’s the same with us people. When we identify that yes, we are valuable, we can look at how to package ourselves up. With the theme of ‘bring your whole self to work’ thankfully resonating in more organisations and in more teams, there’s an opportunity for us all to identify our unique value and how we can package that.

You’re more than what’s on your CV or resume.

You’re more than your email signature; more than the photo on an ID card and more than a name in an organisation chart.

You’re more than what you’ve done, more than you’ve ever thought about and have a wonderful potential that is yet to be realised.

You're the most wonderful of all packages, and most certainly full of value.