Leadership: Facilitating The Show You Are In

I was asked what it takes to be successful at group facilitation.

My answer: You have to be an active part of what's going on and be able to watch it from the outside at the same time.

It's like acting in a theater production while sitting in the audience. You focus on the script that's  being acted out while interacting with the other characters; you watch how it unfolds,  then offer direction and coaching based on the performance.

We short-change our managers when we don't make facilitation an integral part of management development.  Effective facilitation requires an unbelievably deep awareness of self, task and process. In fact, it's exhausting because it requires "being there."

That's exactly what we're looking for in leadership:

People who are engaged with what needs to happen while orchestrating how to make it happen.

And this is why I'm looking forward to tomorrow's engagement. Developing this kind of expertise with managers who want to learn is as professionally rewarding as life gets.

Back at you after the curtain comes down. . .

photo attribution: www.laperladelmarchapel.com/2008/01/advanced-...

Comments

[Eric D. Brown]

You said:
"That's exactly what we're looking for in leadership: People who are engaged with what needs to happen while orchestrating how to make it happen. "

What a great way to put it. That's exactly what the function of a leader should be. Understanding what needs to be done and getting it done.

[Steve Roesler]

Eric,

It really can be stated that simply, don't you think?

I sometimes wonder if part of the difficulty in leading effectively isn't the fact that:

a. an orientation toward action leads some to execute before a situation is accurately understood.

b. an orientation toward understanding leads others to a state of paralysis and an inability to act.

Those are the polar extremes. Everything in between is some variation on the theme.

Thanks for the brain tweak, Eric.