Mastering Facilitation - Adopting Facilitative Mindset

Adopting a facilitative mindset is not just a nice thing to do.

➜ It is essential if we want to improve our ability to facilitate groups.

➜ It is essential if we want to be more impactful leaders.

➜ It is essential if we want to drive better results in business.

And it is not so easy to do❗️

In my experience almost all HR and L&D Leaders will say they have a facilitative mindset. For sure all trainers will say very confidently they have a facilitative mindset.

And yet in the corporate and business world we observe a severe lack of facilitative culture. Even the learning sessions are conducted in directive mode. A trainer will put up some slides and “tell” participants the right ways of doing things. And this fails to achieve the desired outcomes.

So how do we go about adopting the facilitative mindset❓

Here I list out four things that help in developing a facilitative mindset.

1️⃣ Strengthen the belief that facilitation works.

Most business leaders, HR heads as well L&D heads, are unaware of the benefits of “facilitative” ways of working. The belief is that people need to be told what to do. And once they are told what is right and how to do it, they will agree with it.

We forget that what is unique about the human mind is its power of choice. And outwardly people may express they agree, inwardly they may choose not to agree. Their choices determine their behaviors and actions.

I have often been approached by CEOs to help them with some team building for their CXO level team. The company values may include aspects of “collaboration”, “one team” etc. Yet there are challenges of silo working. I am sure many HR / L&D leaders have struggled with this.

For overcoming this challenge of un-healthy conflicts and silo working, telling the group how to be collaborative will not work. First their points of views need to be brought out in the open and then issues need to be sorted out. Through group facilitation.  Then there is a chance they may make the choice of being “collaborative”. And the choices they make will remain that way for a longer time.

In short facilitation works. Believe in it. Genuinely. And this needs to be a strong belief for us to be impactful facilitators.

2️⃣ Look through the Window and not at the Mirror

Most progressive leaders often ask “how can I be a better leader ❓”

They try and analyse themselves. It’s like they keep looking at a mirror to see how they are.

 Nothing wrong in that as such. They will benefit from a critical self-analysis.

Yet at some stage they need to stop looking at the mirror. And start looking through the window at others. Look at others to understand them. Understanding what the group needs is far more powerful than knowing what I need.

This shift in focus to the groups needs is a fundamental aspect of facilitative mindset.  

Learning to look through the window at other people opens us to a number of possibilities. Possibilities for positive change.

3️⃣ Be curious and not just knowledgeable

When I got certified as a trainer (in 1995!), I was a functional subject matter expert. And I would take pride in the fact that knew what I was talking about.

And as I failed thru attempts of making people learn, I realized that curiosity is a great tool for being facilitative. We should have curiously about what people “what they already know” or “what they may want to know”. We should be curious about perspectives and possibilities.  

Curiosity is infective ❗️ 

When we display curiosity, people around us also adopt curiosity.

So, from a “know it all”, I made a personal shift to thinking “I am curious to find out what may happen in today’s session”. And that helps in building a facilitative mindset.

4️⃣ Questions are the answers

Facilitators need to frame appropriate questions. In fact, the first step in designing a facilitative session is framing of questions that the group will deal with to move forward towards their outcomes.

Framing good questions needs to be learnt. It requires understanding of the context, understanding of group dynamics and the expected outcomes.

One of the best books I came across on faming questions is Making Questions Work by Dorothy Strachan.

From a mindset perspective, facilitators need to learn to use questioning techniques to respond to any content related queries the group may have. It becomes a habit. In fact even in my consulting practice my first response is a question.

For example I use some frameworks for the discovery process, that entail getting answers to questions. And then the client may ask “what should I do to overcome this challenge?” My first response usually would be “lets explore the possibilities. What all can be done to over come this challenge?” !!

Helping to uncovering the answer, is much better than providing the answer ❗️

Even when we know the answer, it’s more effective to take the group through a facilitative exploration of questions. That way, the group has more faith in the answers they uncover. And quite possible they will come up with different solutions that work for them.

In summary, build a belief in facilitation, look through windows for people, be curious and adopt a question first approach. This helps building a facilitative mindset.

Adopting a facilitative mindset needs work. For me it is a constant work. It’s a rewarding work.

Would love to hear you views and experiences on the mastery of facilitation. Do share in response to this article.

And do share this article with all those who you think can benefit from it.