Greetings from Barcelona☀️☀️☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest.
If you are joining for the first time, welcome to our deep dive into facilitation, learning, and how to live a creative life.
This week I’m excited to share How to Facilitate Outside the Comfort Zone Without Landing in the Panic Zone.
Let’s jump right in!
I wanted to try something new.
Early in the pandemic, I was leading a virtual session for 30 young teachers. It was the virtual launch event for a new project. They were already exhausted from spending so much time on Zoom. I knew they couldn’t stand one more online presentation. So I decided to lead them in a group stretch with music.
😬I didn’t want to end up in my panic zone.
A few months earlier the idea of leading a movement activity online would have sent my anxiety levels skyrocketing. My inner critic would have given me a million reasons why I was going to fail. And I would have stuck with my trusted roster of activities.
📈I felt the pressure rise as I left my comfort zone.
This time leading a movement activity online felt like a challenge rather than being out of my depth. I had tried the activity a few times before. I wasn’t 100% sure how it was going to play out with this group. But I was curious to find out.
💡Taking the calculated risk paid off.
After a few warm-ups, I invited everyone to stand up. We took a few deep breaths together. I hit play on the music and we started moving. I saw people laughing, relaxing, and even dancing. Engagement through the rest of the session skyrocketed.
🕸️Find your stretch zone so your group members can find theirs
Leading exceptional virtual group experiences requires you to constantly put yourself out there and try new things. When you facilitate outside of your comfort zone, you will stretch your abilities. And you will help your group members do the same.
How can you facilitate outside of your comfort zone? That’s our Quest for this week🔎
👉The Learning Zone Model @ Mindtools
👉Get Comfortable with Discomfort @ Shift Facilitation
👉6 Tips for Helping Your Group Members Move Out of Their Comfort Zone
🎯The Learning Zone Model: Moving Beyond Your Comfort Zone
An article from MindTools about the 3 stages of the Learning Zone Model. This model will help you find the right level of risk for your group, so they can find the sweet spot of learning.
👉The Comfort Zone –> This can be a safe place to reflect, but it can also prevent you from developing new skills. This can be an easy place to get stuck.
👉The Learning (Stretch) Zone –> The zone where your current skills and abilities are stretched allowing you to learn new ones. This is where transformation and breakthrough happen.
👉The Panic Zone –> The place where the degree of challenge far exceeds your ability to handle it. This is where anxiety, fear, and self-doubt can take over. Think cringy ice-breakers that create anxiety.
Read the full article 👉 here.
🌊Get Comfortable with Discomfort
A blog post from facilitator Michaud Garneau from Shift Facilitation. His point? Seasoned facilitators are skilled in helping people experience new things, while also feeling safe. The key is to get comfortable with discomfort.
He offers up 3 tips on how you can do that:
1/ Let participants know they will feel uncomfortable. Let your group members know the purpose of what you are doing upfront so they know what to expect.
2/ Stand by your decisions. Don’t give up at the first sign of resistance from your group members.
(^I will add an important caveat here. If your activity is triggering participants or making them feel unsafe you need to check if you’ve pushed them into their panic zone and re-evaluate the best way forward.)
3/ Expose yourself to more uncomfortable situations. Get used to the feelings that emerge when you’re in your stretch zone outside of your sessions. You’ll do a better job at holding space for others who are going through it in your sessions.
Read the full blog post 👉 here.
How do you increase your comfort with discomfort?
💡6 Tips for Helping Your Group Members Move Out of The Comfort Zone
A Twitter thread I just published with tips on how to help your groups move out of their comfort zone, into the stretch zone, while avoiding the panic zone.
Gwyn WansbroughHere’s the TL;DR in case you don’t have Twitter👇
1/ Create safety –> Meet your participants in their comfort zone.
2/ Start with small risks –> Like a dimmer switch, gradually increase the intensity.
3/ Share the why –> Share your purpose and let them know the benefits.
4/ Show empathy –> Acknowledge possible fears.
5/ Give choices –> Offer options to participate in a number of ways – chat, whiteboard, or verbally.
6/ Model it –> If you ask your group members to take a risk, be willing to take it yourself.
How do you get your participants to move out of their comfort zones?
✍️Quote of the Week
“There’s no comfort in the growth zone, but there’s no growth in the comfort zone.”
Tim Elmore, CEO of Growing Leaders
💌Thanks for reading The Quest
I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Just hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas.
Visit my website for ways we can work together 👉 here.
If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to The Quest 👉here.
If you are enjoying The Quest, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with anyone you think might like it.
Creatively yours,
