🚫The Quest #28: Facilitator Do’s & Don’ts

Facilitator do’s and don’ts, staying creative, free events

Hello friends,

Greetings from Barcelona☀️ where I am preparing to lead 5 facilitation sessions over the next two days. So I’ll keep it short and sweet.

🎟️ There are two fantastic FREE events happening this week:

• Catalyst 2030 Catalysing Change Week May 3-7. Join me and an outstanding group of co-facilitators this Wednesday, May 4 @12 EDT/6 pm CEST for a 90-min interactive session “Activate your Facilitation Superpowers to Catalyse Collaborative Change”. Please share! Register here. There are 100+ free online events all week to supercharge your systems change skills. Register for sessions here. Big props to Quest reader Nick over at Catalyst 2030 for making this happen.

• Science & Wisdom of Emotions Summit May 2-5. Hosted by the Dalai Lama and 30+ thought leaders and teachers in this space. Register here. Thanks to Monica for this link.

👉 This Week…

If you are joining The Quest for the first time, welcome to our weekly exploration of creativity, facilitation, and learning. 

You can catch up on last week’s edition on 🔑Keys to Powerful Experience Design and all past editions here.

This week we are exploring Facilitator Do’s and Don’ts and more 🔎

👉 Are there things a facilitator should never do?

👉 Keep Going – ways to stay creative in good times and bad

Let’s dive right in.

🚫Are there things that a facilitator should never do?

I’ve been asked this question a lot lately.

It takes me back many years ago to the all-time worst experience that I have had with facilitation.

I was a participant in a team strategy retreat for a start-up social enterprise.

Our boss, an eccentric billionaire, announced that he was going to facilitate the meeting.

We all looked at each other in horror. Please, no! Anyone but him!

This guy had about as much self-awareness and social skills as boss man Michael Scott from The Office.

But there was nothing we could do. So we started.

The boss/facilitator launched the retreat with a lengthy speech with his views on teamwork. He made it clear that he was controlling the purse strings. Today we would be competing against each other for a slice of next year’s budget.

“Who wants to start?” He sounded like a Roman emperor calling the gladiators to the arena.

We had worked hard to prepare a presentation, budgets, and projections. My colleague and I raised our hands. “We’ll go.”

Big mistake!

No sooner had we started our presentation, our boss/facilitator jumped in. “That’s not going to work. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Before we had a chance to respond, he had called on the next group.

Ditto.

Our “facilitator” continued around the room. Controlling who spoke. Shooting down ideas. Ridiculing several team members along the way. He was both the Roman emperor and the gladiator.

The meeting ended in shock and horror.

Every one of us felt demoralized. And we were no closer to a strategy than we had been before the gladiator show.

“Are there things that a facilitator should never do?”

To clarify, he wasn’t a facilitator. He had no experience facilitating groups. He was a controlling boss.

The facilitator’s role is to create a safe and supportive environment where groups can function well and succeed in reaching their goals.

I’ve had many well-facilitated experiences since then. I realized that there are things that skilled facilitators do and don’t do.

I’ve made a starter list in this Twitter thread👇.

What would you add? Join the conversation on Twitter here.

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

One of the things that skilled facilitators do is that they keep their creative wells filled. Does anyone else find that hard right now? If anyone can give you an emergency dose of creative inspiration, it’s Austin Kleon. He’s a “writer who can draw”. And a New York Times best-selling author. I reviewed Steal Like An Artist in a previous issue of The Quest. I finished Keep Going over the weekend.

Kleon offers up 10 tips for staying creative, focused, and true to yourself. I especially like #7 You are Allowed to Change Your Mind.

How do you keep your creative well filled?

Also, check out his recent blog post “I’m not languishing, I’m dormant”. It’s his take on trying to flourish in terrible conditions. One that the gardeners in the group will love❤️.

📷Photo of the week

I have never lingered around a hospital after a doctor’s appointment. Until last week. I had an appointment at this Noucentist mansion-turned-hospital in Barcelona. What you can’t see in the photo are the stunning gardens and plants around the building. I am actually looking forward to my next doctor’s appointment!

💌Thanks for reading The Quest 

I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Leave a comment below👇or hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas. Visit my website for ways we can work together here. 

If you are enjoying The Quest, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with anyone you think might like it. 

Until next week!

P.S. I loved hearing your comments on my new Creativity Kickstarter e-book. If you haven’t seen it yet you can download it for free here💥. 

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