5 Things Good Facilitators Have in Common

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One of the most needed skills in the 21st century skill is facilitation, which is critical for leaders, educators, supervisors, parents, you name it.

Just because you know the content well, it doesn’t mean you can facilitate/educate others.

At the beginning of the year (yes, time flies), I had a chance to participate in 7 day training facilitated by more than 10 people. The topics covered are diverse including leadership, communication, remote work, job interview, etc. From there, I came across 5 main key points that were common among great facilitators.

Talk well and to the point

Good example: Good facilitators hook audience by talking well. They are also to the point, and usually talk less. If participants feel like listening to more, that’s the sign.

Bad example: Talking too much, not highlighting the point and not catching audience’s attention are typical example.

Human-centric

Good example: good facilitators ask questions and needs, use active listening, look at everyone (at least participants feel that way), take comments and questions from the audience seriously.

Bad example: they might keep talking, not caring audience, not pausing, not listening, not responding to the comments/questions.

Use different senses

Good example: good facilitators use visual, audio, kinesthetic so that participants can understand the content easily and even have fun. They also use non-verbal communication and silence effectively (silence is power!)

Bad example: one-way communication, too much texts on PPT slides and just reading.

Practice

Good example: Have enough time to practice what participants learned. If time is running, they prioritize practical time than lecture time.

Bad example: Finish the session/talk without letting participants practice

Feedback

Good example: They provide relevant and concrete feedback that fits each person. For example, “you did XXX. If you use more of YYY which is your strength, the result will be ZZZ”

Bad example: No feedback or too generic feedback.

How did you find them? Easier said than done, but I think we can try to apply these not only for facilitation but also for general communication.

The learning of this time

I learned from an intensive training that good facilitators talk well, are human-centric, use different senses and provide practice and feedback time.