Hello friends,
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest, your weekly round-up of tips and insights to help you design and lead exceptional online sessions that your group members will love.❤️This is issue #128.
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Let’s jump right in!
On a scale from 1-10, how comfortable are you at giving up control in your live sessions?
When I started my facilitation journey I was about a 2. As a Virgo perfectionist, I did everything in my power to stick with my plan. There was no time for things to go off track.
I tried to control the situation.
As the person leading the live session, I felt like I needed to have all of the answers. And my default response in the face of not knowing was to try to control the situation.
It was crushing engagement in my sessions.
As soon as I swung into control mode I noticed that engagement immediately dropped. My control default was causing my group members to shut down.
I didn’t know how to change.
One of my first facilitation teachers Charlie Murphy showed me how. When he didn’t know the answer to a question he saw an opportunity to explore it with the group. Whenever he opened things up engagement skyrocketed.
Being in control vs controlling.
Charlie was in control of the process. He knew that his job was to guide the conversation in a useful way. But he wasn’t controlling the situation. He wasn’t over-talking, rushing people through an agenda, or shutting down discussions. Understanding this difference led to a big breakthrough in my own facilitation.
Finding the sweet spot.
As the group leader, it’s your job to provide enough structure and support to unlock the group’s creativity. But not too much control so that you stifle exploration.
How can you be in control without being controlling? That’s our Quest for this week.🔎
👉How to (Loosely) Control the Room, Douglas Ferguson, Voltage Control
👉How to Maintain Control of a Group in a Workshop, AJ & Smart
Plus
👉Seven Pro Tips for Hosting Engaging Community Events
⚡ (Loosely) Control the Room, Douglas Ferguson, Voltage Control
What does it mean to “Control the Room?”. That’s what Voltage Control founder Douglas Ferguson explores in this article.
I found it useful to explore some of the nuances of control. What do we mean by control? Is controlling the room the job of a facilitator? And how does control jive with inclusivity and empowerment?
Ferguson makes the case that in order to best serve teams it is necessary to incorporate an element of control.
Here are my three biggest takeaways👇
👉Control can be tight or loose, but a lack of control altogether is bad
👉More upfront control is needed to have less control in a virtual space
👉Tools like Liberating Structures can help distribute control
How do you control the room? Do you control the room? Hit reply to this email with your thoughts.
🤝 How to Maintain Control of a Group in a Workshop, AJ & Smart
A 47-second video from AJ & Smart with tips for keeping control of a group without sounding rude or unprofessional.
How? Explain your facilitator role and responsibilities at the very beginning of the workshop.
That way you’ll be able to make sure things stay on time, that the goals are met, and that discussion doesn’t go off-topic.
Check out the video here👇
🙌Seven Pro Tips for Hosting Engaging Community Events
I was thrilled to be invited to write a guest post on the Circle Blog with tips for hosting live online community events.
If you are planning live community events this fall, check out the blog for:
👉 The biggest “engagement” mistakes (and how to avoid them)
👉 The key to engaging your audience from the get-go
👉 How to balance content and interaction
Big thanks to Circle team members Mathilde Leo, Emma Catranis, and Marcus Guido for their input and ideas!
What are your top tips for engaging your community in live events? Join the discussion on LinkedIn👇
P.S. If you don’t know Circle I highly recommend you check it out. It’s the community platform I use to run my live online course Breakthrough Facilitation.
💌 Thanks for reading The Quest
I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Just hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas.
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Creatively yours,
Whenever you are ready there are 2 more ways I can help you:
👉Custom coaching & team training. Book a free 15-minute zero-commitment call with me to see how I can support you and your team.
👉5-week Live Online Course. The Breakthrough Facilitation course gives you tools, personalized feedback, and a proven framework for designing and leading high-engagement live sessions. Join the interest list and be the first to get the next cohort dates and discounts.
