Facilitation as a radical act of care

I've been thinking a lot about the art of facilitation recently. It's something I’ve been trained in over the years with people like Upping Your Elvis, a counselling diploma, and coaching courses, plus it's been a key part of my role as a strategist for the last 15 years. A couple of recent sessions reminded me just how much I love it.

I think I love it even more now than I used to, because it's even more necessary now than it used to be. The kind of facilitation I’m interested in now is that which creates space for care.

I don’t mean the kind of care that fixes or smooths things over, but the kind that creates space for people to think, to be different, and to be fully human in a room together.

That kind of space is increasingly rare but necessary, as we are evermore over-stimulated, over-informed and under-connected.

We’re rewarded for speed, when what most of us need is time to think, to speak without certainty, and to change our minds. Having this space, and holding this space for others is a joy.

In creative or strategic settings we can focus too much on tools, and outputs e.g. what design process are we using, what's the output, how many ideas do we need?

But the real work is often invisible and drives long term value. It’s in the tone you set when you open the session. The way you invite participation without pressure. The energy you model. The moments of silence you don’t rush to fill.

This way of working is highly relevant to marketing teams because the conversations amongst the different people in the room, become the connections in an integrated communications plan.

Modern business is filled with siloes, and work is delivered in decks where different teams own a section. A well facilitated workshop allows people to discover their interconnectedness and identify how they might work together to produce more creative work.

Good facilitation is about tending to the conditions that allow people to show up as their best and most creative selves. Those conditions aren’t technical, they’re human. They’re about safety, belonging, clarity, and trust.

I don’t have a five-step model for this (yet). But I do have a few principles I return to:

• Highlight a desire to hear from everyone, this isn’t a performance for the loudest.

• Ask unexpected questions, and let them breathe.

• You don’t have to hold all the answers, but you do have to hold the space.

• It’s not what you say, it’s how you show up.

• Bring people together in real life to go deeper.
  

I think a lot of us are craving spaces that are more human, more thoughtful, and more nourishing right now. And facilitation, done well, can be one of the most direct ways to create them.

This is the kind of work I want to do more of. If you're exploring it too, I’d love to hear from you.