Facilitation with a Change Design approach
Choosing a facilitator can be like hitting shuffle on your music playlist. There's a perfect song out there for the mood you want to achieve, but sometimes the beats begin and the song isn't quite what you hoped, and the day drags by feeling out of sync.
Those magic days when your playlist is in tune with exactly what you need, it has that special something that creates energy, creativity and magic happens.
Just like great facilitation can achieve with your team experiences.
At Timbs and Co we want finding that kind of Facilitation to be far less random than your playlist shuffle.
So we've distilled the essence of great facilitation into some key principles, which you might never have considered before when evaluating facilitators for your team experience, or preparing yourself as a facilitator.
Here's a small taste of three of our Change Design Facilitation principles:
1. Be the guide from side; rather than the sage from the stage
Sure we have expertise to bring to the session - we also value there is wisdom and experience in the room to draw upon. We love to help teams reveal what they individually and collectively know, and to turn that insight into action they define and are motivated to implement.
We rarely stay in one place in the space, because we don't want to fit the pattern of being 'on stage'. Instead we move about and connect with people in the room, being by their side. Think of us as the support act, rather than the leading lady.
2. Consider and manage your personal energy.
We recognise that in facilitating a session our personal energy matters - for we are a vessel through which actions and words are delivered into the room and group. How we show up sets the tone of the energy that others can tap into or have permission to embrace.
This isn't to say we are swinging from the chandlers on an adrenalin high. We take time the day before and after sessions to prepare and replenish our physical and psychological well-bring, so we are in peak fitness for serving the group.
3. Be present and responsive to the moment.
We come with skills, tools and resources that we don't know if we will use. However we have them available for when something emerges indicating a different next right thing to do or use.
Because we come with calm energy, we have enabled ourselves to be present to what is happening in the room. We listen to our gut (and even have goose pimple moments) that alerts us to something significant happening with the group. Then we can decide if we abandon or amend the current plan for something else that we are generally, but not specifically, prepared to do. We respond to what is most needed.
We've distilled all of this into our Facilitation Services available today. We deliver approach that comes from years of experience and a range of different techniques, tips and tools that been road-tested in virtual and face-to-face environments.
Some we have created, and some we have acquired from others whose work we admire. If you'd like to bring our Facilitation with a Change Design approach into your business and see what we can do with your teams, find out more today.