Facilitation and Leadership

The role of facilitation is akin to that of great servant leaders. Their concern is to enable the functioning, effectiveness and inviting the highest potential of the individuals and group convened for a unique purpose in a meeting or workshop. This includes:

• Engaging and motivating their team. Facilitation is the ability to draw out the best contributions of group members so each person can contribute their unique piece of the puzzle - their knowledge, expertise and experience.
• Excellent communication skills. Transparency, active listening and empathy are all important factors to servant leadership. These same traits are characteristics of effective facilitators, demonstrating respect, appreciation and understanding of various views.
• Encouraging collaboration and engagement. Servant leaders value the opinions of everyone on their team and encourage them to share those opinions and to actively contribute to the team regularly. Facilitation skills allow leaders to design and lead effective collaborative group processes that tap people's best ideas, and fosters synergistic and inclusive thinking for innovation.

Humourous: So You Want to be a Facilitator?

• Large Ears - to listen to all things said and "spoken between the lines".
• Sharp Eyes - to read body language and visual cues in a single scan.
• Tiny Mouth - to hold onto personal opinions, while speaking with integrity and neutrality.
• Warm Heart - to treat everyone with respect and compassion.
• Open Hands - to manage process effectively with methods/questions that invite full participation.
• Solid Feet - to be a stable force in the face of complexity, dynamics and emergence.
• Unifying Spirit - to serve the health and well-being of the whole.