💡7 Tips for Facilitating Breakthrough in Your Groups

As facilitators, teachers, and trainers we can’t create a breakthrough for our learners.

But we can create the conditions for a breakthrough to happen.

A breakthrough can be described in a number of ways:

👉A new insight.

👉A profound realization.

👉An aha! moment.

👉A moment of clarity.

👉A ground-breaking discovery.

👉A deeper understanding of a situation.

👉Finding a new solution to an ongoing challenge.

Life is full of breakthroughs.

Big and small. And we have them more often than we realize.

Breakthroughs can be life-changing because they are often come with a new solution or new course of action.

But when we don’t open space in groups to the possibility of a breakthrough, we miss opportunities for deeper learning.

Here are 7 facilitation strategies that can open up opportunities for breakthroughs.

1/ Create opportunities for participants to keep an open mind. Breakthroughs happen when we are receptive to new thoughts and ideas.

Tip: Give a prompt question in chat “Something that has surprised you recently.”  

2/ Challenge participants to focus on the here and now. New insights come to us when we are not constantly distracted. 

Tip: Create a group agreement to “be present”. 

3/ Give participants quiet time for internal reflection. This gives the mind time to wander, which primes us for aha! moments.

Tip: Do a guided visualization followed by a timed freewriting exercise. 

4/ Create a positive atmosphere. Insights happen when we feel happy rather than anxious. 

Tip: Start with a fun warm-up activity that builds connection and joy. 

5/ Engage the body. When you warm up the body you increase receptivity and capacity for breakthrough moments.

Tip: Include stretching and/or movement in the warm-up activities. 

6/ Create a supportive space for making sense of experiences. You can help gently nudge learners to rethink old assumptions, create new mindsets, and open new pathways for action.

Tip: Build in time for reflection and sharing of experiences after activities.

7/ Accompany your learners. Facilitating breakthroughs requires you to be emotionally present and responsive to your group members. 

Tip: Check-in regularly, be curious, and hold space for your group.

Are you interested in learning more about facilitating breakthroughs?

Sign up here to receive information about Breakthrough Facilitation, a new 5-week cohort-based course launching this fall.

Gwyn Wansbrough is a Facilitator and Experience Designer based in Barcelona, Spain. She works with people and organizations around the world to create dynamic and empowering learning experiences online and in person. She writes about facilitation, creativity, and learning in a weekly newsletter called The Quest. Subscribe here or visit www.gwynwansbrough.com to learn more.