Repeated, even frequent, facilitation sessions provide a breadth of experience you can call on in the future.
#Jack be nimble violin notes how to
Experience – studying how to do something is important but very different from doing it live.For brainstorming some examples are: Post-its, Shout-outs, Rotating Flip Charts, World Cafe, etc. Knowledge – know a variety of techniques/activities for a group to deliver a specific result.What does it take for the facilitator to be nimble and quick? I am very goal oriented, so helping others achieve their purpose and products really motivates me. The challenge of adjusting my style and processes to meet the personal and collective needs of both clients and participants is part of what I find so enjoyable about being a facilitator. Regardless of the element necessitating change, I’ve happily adapted. We were quick to explain to the group what had happened, took a few minutes to agree on what to do, and nimbly changed the activity on the fly. However, no more than 10 minutes into the session, we could tell it was not working and we called an audible. For example, a colleague and I discovered that a specific brainstorming activity worked so well at the end of a workshop, we added it to the beginning of the agenda for the next one. There can be any number of reasons why, from the realization that it will take much longer than you anticipated to recognizing that the result won’t be the product you envisioned, or maybe the group is simply getting frustrated. You start an activity and get that sinking feeling that it is not working. When this occurs, a facilitator must be quick to address the disruption and nimble at adapting the process to the interruption in order to maintain coherence and ensure the session objective is still achieved.Ĥ. I once had a client where, despite all the preparation we completed prior to my arrival, including standard planning, a review of the script and an in-person meeting the day before the event, they continually asked me to change the process during the session. Occasionally, you encounter a client who agrees to the initial process and script, but decides to change things while the session is in progress. Related: Three Tips for Keeping a Group Focusedģ. When the scheduled activity calls for brief headlines and a participant tells long stories, when the emphasis is on the big picture and a participant orients toward details, or when, a sponsor does most of the talking while the group is supposed to be sharing, a facilitator must be quick to refocus the group and guide them back toward the current topic Whether an activity takes more or less time than anticipated – usually more – a facilitator must be nimble and prepared to modify the schedule to accommodate time gaps or delays.Ģ. Four elements tend to drive these unexpected adjustments:ġ. Yet, inevitably there are changes that occur on the fly and require nimble and quick reactions.
I share these with my client before the scheduled session, so they have the option of reviewing them and making changes ahead of time. In addition, I write a script for my part of the session, which helps me solidify the process in my head, ensures I have identified all the materials needed, and that I know the approximate time requirements for each step. Just like other good facilitators, this includes working with my client to set the session’s purpose and product, block the agenda, and agree how each agenda item is to be handled. I am a Certified Master Facilitator™ and am known for investing a significant amount of time preparing for a session. He looks for it in his facilitators and also in his high potential employees. Yet, I would argue they are skills used by every remarkable facilitator.ĭuring a debrief on a 2-day session I facilitated, a VP of a world-wide corporation used the word “agile” to talk about the same concept. The words “nimble” and “quick” don’t typically appear in the definition of facilitation.
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