What makes a great Facilitator for RIE’s Business Transformation and Service Design Projects
You may not want to hear this but when it comes to delivering RIE outcomes personality trumps specialist knowledge of the problem under review and debate
Achieving the desired outcomes has nothing to do with a Facilitator’s experience in resolving a specific organisational problem or having detailed knowledge of a process.
This 'familiarity' mindset may well close the Facilitator's mind to possibilities and on top of your RIE audience will see the bias and the agenda.
A Facilitator should be someone who can work with the dynamics of a team to deliver specific results or outcomes. The Facilitator should be able to witness what is happening in the room, know where the discussion should go and steer it in a positive direction, whilst at the same time developing win-win solutions without causing animosity.
Beware of 'over-emphasizing' an in-depth knowledge of the core issues
Too much technical knowledge of the specific work process or organizational situation can hinder any meaningful solution. With organisational knowledge, especially of core processes, the Facilitator can easily gravitate towards a favoured and temporary 'bad aid' rather than develop an expansive longer-term solution.
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Sponsor and Facilitator Relationship
However, a Facilitator must be deeply supportive of their client or sponsor and any 'ambiguities' must be ironed out before any problem solving or typical RIE event takes place.
There must be a ‘psychological contract’ between the Sponsor and the Facilitator re the outcome and the process whereby that is achieved – unless there is an agreement to do otherwise.
Facilitator Traits & Experience
Depending on the role and the level of RIE or other strategic events – its wise to have Facilitators who are:
What you don’t need
What are the Risks when choosing the wrong Facilitator?
To arrange a meeting email philip@philipatkinson.com
Achieving the desired outcomes has nothing to do with a Facilitator’s experience in resolving a specific organisational problem or having detailed knowledge of a process.
This 'familiarity' mindset may well close the Facilitator's mind to possibilities and on top of your RIE audience will see the bias and the agenda.
A Facilitator should be someone who can work with the dynamics of a team to deliver specific results or outcomes. The Facilitator should be able to witness what is happening in the room, know where the discussion should go and steer it in a positive direction, whilst at the same time developing win-win solutions without causing animosity.
Beware of 'over-emphasizing' an in-depth knowledge of the core issues
Too much technical knowledge of the specific work process or organizational situation can hinder any meaningful solution. With organisational knowledge, especially of core processes, the Facilitator can easily gravitate towards a favoured and temporary 'bad aid' rather than develop an expansive longer-term solution.
.
Sponsor and Facilitator Relationship
However, a Facilitator must be deeply supportive of their client or sponsor and any 'ambiguities' must be ironed out before any problem solving or typical RIE event takes place.
There must be a ‘psychological contract’ between the Sponsor and the Facilitator re the outcome and the process whereby that is achieved – unless there is an agreement to do otherwise.
Facilitator Traits & Experience
Depending on the role and the level of RIE or other strategic events – its wise to have Facilitators who are:
- Objective and yet experienced in the role of Facilitation at the level at which they need to operate
- Challenging, assertive and not aggressive
- Confident and gregarious
- Empathetic – to listen to all constituencies and incorporate their thinking into solutions
- Flexible Strategic vs. Operational mindset – have the ability move quickly between these levels
- Resolve conflict and summarize progress
- Behaviourally trained and experienced in working with teams and widely divergent personality types
- Someone you can trust who will 'plan the heck out' of the event
What you don’t need
- Facilitator with in-depth knowledge of the project and a fixed mindset and agenda
- Someone who is relying on their personal spontaneity (luck) rather than a deliberate planned intervention
- Demonstrating popularity and harmony in the wider group rather than being businesslike and outcome focused
- Equally being aggressive or submissive in manner
- Someone who is shy and does not have the capacity to deal with interpersonal conflict resolving conflict is essential
- Poor understanding of Team and personal dynamics
- Inexperienced in Facilitation but has a Lean, HR or related background (assumptions about having the said experience in real life Lean, project management, HR issues and their closure). These people may well run your event but will not deliver the outcome expected.
What are the Risks when choosing the wrong Facilitator?
- Get it right first time, otherwise you discredit the process
- You cannot run the same event again
- You are seen publicly failing to manage the process
To arrange a meeting email philip@philipatkinson.com
