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Facilitating With Excellence By Leonard Kok

As a Facilitator, I find satisfaction in

meeting the clients, getting to know

their objectives and translating them

into Experiential Learning activities.

Facilitating an entire programme is an

invigorating, exciting experience for

me, especially so when the team is

able to meet their learning objectives

and hearing them shake our hands at

the end of the day and say: ‘Job well

done!’

All of us are made uniquely and have different experiences and backgrounds in life.

Thus, any facilitator who believes in Experiential Learning can and will be able to

gather new insights. Alvin Toffler says that the illiterate of the 21st century will not

be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and

relearn. This enlightening statement cuts across time; it can be applied in times of

affluence as well as times of adversity.

What can we learn as facilitators? We interact with different programmes, create

and manage learning outcomes and venues. It also, and certainly, includes

participants - simply because each one of us, including the participants, have

unique experiences to share. Their experiences can surely enrich us if we choose to

interact with a learning attitude.

Most of the time, facilitating is a physically tiring, sometimes mentally exhausting

experience but at the end of the programme, satisfaction in a job well done

motivates and encourages me to do better. I am able to sleep at night with a clear

conscience that i have done a good job. Of course, receiving online and other forms

of compliments after a programme acts as a booster for continuous improvement.

Through getting constructive and very often, excellent feedback, i have garnered

what i think are the factors which are important for the personal facilitator’s toolkit:

1. Facilitate with confidence Confidence begets confidence. Confidence in oneself is the starting point of any

programme and adventure and it sends a clear message to our participants about our

professionalism and image. For younger facilitators, know that you are not standing in

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front of the participants alone. The boss, the organizers, and generally the participants

want you to have a successful programme. If we look at it from the perspective, we can

take the programme and do a good job of it.

In addition having confidence in oneself acts as a security blanket in situations where

our participants have not faced before, like going against the gravity for 10 to 25 metres.

So, more than a smiling face, confidence radiates not only warmth but also issues a

sense of credibility and authority in our profession, which leads to trust in what we do.

2. Relate with Sincerity

More than many other professions, we facilitators interact not just with

human beings but also the organizational processes which drive their

behavior and just about everything which explains their existence in the

marketplace. Their time spent with us means they are entrusting their well-

being and the whole set of objectives, which they hold dear to their hearts,

to us. Relating to our participants must mean more than just having

professional knowledge of the things they do. First and foremost, sincerity

should be the very cornerstone for our interaction with the participants. Many

of us have heard of this statement ‘People don’t care how much you know

until they know how much you care’. Just as our professionalism encourages

our participants to trust us, our sincerity causes the participants to open up,

have fun and understand us when sometimes when things don’t exactly go

the way we want them to.

3. Facilitate with a listening ear

More important than our verbal facilitation, we have to listen. We are the

host, caretaker, first-aider, weatherman, clown, magician, servant and helper

– each role we play demands a different set of job description. If we are able

to listen, we will be able to fulfill these multiple roles with excellence.

Listening will also enable us to ensure that our process debrief is to the point

and relevant for their organization. I strongly believe that a facilitator who

listens will correspondingly increase his or her situational awareness.

4. Plan with seriousness

When I was a student, I have been drummed with this message: ‘If you fail

to plan, you plan to fail’. The same goes to planning for a programme. A

facilitator who attaches the adjective ‘professional’ in front of his or her title

must surely do some research into the organisation’s mission and goals, the

core values which explain their market existence and other information which

enable us to do a good facilitation. Just coming in at 0800 hours for a

‘template’ programme starting at 0900 hours will do fine but putting in the

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extra mile will enable us to facilitate with a higher situational awareness and

intelligence; plus a higher EQ as well because we will know what are the OB

markers and will not tread onto ‘thin ice’.

5. Manage expectations well

The management of expectations is an acquired skill. Expectations not set or

set in an unthinking way will meet with obstacles along the way. After the

participants have set the expectations, what next? Do we just leave it to

chance for the text on the flipchart to materialize and concretise or do we

proactively seek to refer to it along the facilitation process and to provide

means and platform to fulfill them? In addition, out-of-the-template

requests, if managed well, will result in comebacks and returning clients. The

reverse is also true – promises made but not delivered will not just drive

away our clients but also create some negative publicity by word of mouth. A

great facilitator I once knew said that a satisfied client will publicise to five

other people and a dissatisfied client – ten.

6. Deliver Fun

Why do children have some much fun and ‘a-dull-ts’ have so much fewer LOL

moments? We take ourselves too seriously. Seriously, that’s how I

sometimes feel about myself too. However, if we include fun in the entire

process of facilitation, it lowers the emotional barriers and will naturally

result in gut-wrenching, floor-rolling moments of spontaneity. Laughter is

one of the objectives of the organizers and the participants themselves.

‘FUN’, we have realized, will always appear during the setting of Expectation.

7. Practice Safety

Is this an overstated objective or understated opinion? Years ago, I was in

the Combat Engineers, being introduced to C4 and other explosive devices

and booby traps. In the very first introduction to the very exciting part of the

entire course, we were shown gory human parts, scattered around this

region in Singapore called the Area ‘D’. Due to carelessness, such tragic

mishaps took place. It will serve us well if we learn from foresight instead of

hindsight, because hindsight means sad sights. Safety should always be the

foundation of a fun programme. Is it not a fact that ‘To have a safe

programme’ is one of the often heard expectations? This therefore means

that we walk the actual ground before the participants use the elements. In

fact, any activity comes with a certain amount of risk – it will do everyone

good if we minimize it. This brings me to the next and related point.

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8. Walk the ground

I learnt a very memorable lesson in Batam in the not so distant past when I

as the lead facilitator forgot to check the ground, only to find out one hour

before the programme started, in the morning. My heart almost dropped out

of my mouth when I discovered that the entire Low Elements were shifted to

a location which was deemed to be very unsuitable for any programme to

take place. Shocked? Just ask yourself how many times has the Low

Elements moved away from a site? Thankfully, in my situation, the clients

were understanding and a change of activities were put in place and

accepted. I learnt that if we don’t walk the ground, we have to accept the

consequences of our assumptions and plan for the unplanned. Cross-

reference to point 3.

9. Focus on the Objectives

If all of us, from Project Managers to Instructors to fellow facilitators are

focused on the clients’ outcomes and objectives, what is being planned and

what is not planned for (‘screw-ups’) will be managed with a great deal of

understanding. To me, being objective-based will enable us all to focus on

the issue(s) on the ground and not on the person(s). I have had tremendous

satisfaction working with my fellow facilitators who, with one heart and one

mind, tried our best to meet the clients’ objectives by working shoulder to

shoulder, even though our energies were almost sapped. I shall and will

never forget those golden moments.

10. Work as a Team

This goes hand-in-hand with point 7. Coming from a background which

places a great deal of responsibility on the individual, meritocracy and

personal achievement (meaning competition), our society in general needs to

emphasise on the simple synergy which guarantee success. We are team-

building specialists but we could also do with teambuilding ourselves.

Personally, I have also learnt a great deal by focusing on what each part of

the team has to specialize in and not to shoulder everything, even if I am the

lead facilitator. I have also learnt a lot in focusing on the strengths of the

person and letting him or her do the part of the entire project. And I am still

learning, since life is an ongoing adventure.

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10 Take an interest in reading

Reading? Where do you find the time, you may ask? An excellent

facilitator first has to know some current affairs so the newspaper ought

to be part of one’s staple diet. Why? We are teambuilding professionals

providing insights to organizations on organizational processes. We are in

fact, professional consultants. Where do these insights come from?

Analysis, observations from journalists and updates enable us to speak

with depth and understanding.

Reading also helps us to build up a repertoire of narratives. Narratives are

powerful tools which are capable of breaking paradigms and providing

catalyst to change and transformation. A narrative, well-told and at the

appropriate moment, provides a great opportunity to shift an

organization’s gear. We have never underestimated the power of the

three construction workers, have we? Which is why we keep on using it.

How do I improve my language? What are the Seven Habits? What kind of

family background did Akio Morita come from? Well, there’s an answer to

every single curious reader, found in the form of a book or a computer

with an internet connection. Further than that, reading as an enjoyment

helps us to grow as a person. There is a book for any enthusiast; there is

a book for any willing reader.

11 Take care of yourself

This seems very self-centred but if we take a look at emergency and non-

emergency procedures, most of the time, one has to take care of himself

or herself before he or she can render assistance to others. In an

emergency on the airplane or ferry, we have to put on lifesaving

equipment before even attempting to save others. In the same vein, we

should take proper rest after programmes and apply sunblock before

going out into the sun, simply because we exhort our participants to do

so. Same theory here. Prepare for the programme, rest well, and the

programme will most likely turn out with better results as our physical

constitution is able to prep well and respond to any unique situation which

arises. This will prevent us from running on an empty tank, which can be

potentially disastrous both for our health and well-being.

Take care of ourselves can also means developing a hobby or a passion.

Start and pursue a hobby. It gives meaning to our growth as a person.

We can most certainly sense the passion when we talk to people who

have hobbies and healthy pursuits in their lives. We may never fully

understand why a person takes up that particular hobby but we certainly

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will identify with the word ‘Passion’ when the person is able to apply the

same amount of it into his or her work. It would not be far-fetched to say

that people who have hobbies and interests and pursue them will be able

to put that same amount onto the work areas.

12 Don't forget your family or your loved ones

It would be an irony if we are teambuilding specialists and yet we cannot

teambuild with people whom we call the ‘inner-circle’ – the ones who

have a special place in our hearts. Take care of this aspect of our lives

and it will provide more meaning to the things which we do at work.

13 A Spiritual Focus

What if we have prepared well for a programme but some unexpected

things happen? So, what then? Do we feel bad about it? Do we have to

carry the consequences one, two days or weeks after the programme?

Well, I think it’s not necessary. There must be a time and place when

after all that has been planned for, said and done, we must step back and

let go. There could be a reason behind it? Having a spiritual anchor in

one’s life enables one to see life as a part of a whole rather than a

moment, and it provides balance to one’s existence.

I hope the pointers will be useful for the facilitator. A facilitator

never stops learning as facilitation is a skill which is honed over

time and experience. All the best to your facilitation journey and

share your insights!