There are 6 key qualities for great facilitation:
- Starting with your core beliefs
- Maintaining neutrality
- Standing in the storm
- Honoring the wisdom of the group
- Upholding the agile mindset
- Honoring the group’s agenda
According to Marsha Acker, Founder, and CEO of TeamCatapult,
“The job of facilitator is not to become the agile process police that says we have to have a daily standup and every day we have to answer these three questions…Facilitation is all about reading what's happening in a group, [and] tapping into the collective intelligence and wisdom of that group."In this episode, Marsha sits down with Erin and JH to discuss the art and importance of facilitation in group settings, focusing on the 6 key principles of great facilitation she wrote about in her book The Art and Science of Facilitation: How to Lead Effective Collaboration with Agile Teams.
Tune in to hear her approach to facilitation, including methods, the preparation process, and how to build your facilitation skills.
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Highlights:
[00:01:05] Defining facilitation: the art of leading people through a process towards a goal
[00:04:50] Reading the room and speaking the language of others
[00:06:08] Maintaining neutrality as a leader
[00:14:24]Standing in the storm of conflict and handling differences
[00:20:43] Honoring the wisdom of the group
[00:23:25] Enhancing agile processes with intentionality
[00:28:54] Honoring the group’s agenda
[00:33:12] Familiarity versus externality: the pros and cons of different facilitator types
[00:35:57] Guidelines for facilitating workshops
[00:44:56] The importance of navigating invisible team dynamics
Sources mentioned in the episode:
About Our Guest
Marsha Acker, CPF, CPCC, PCC, is the author of Build Your Model for Leading Change: A guided workbook to catalyze clarity and confidence in leading yourself and others, available now. She is the founder and CEO of TeamCatapult, a leadership development firm that equips leaders at all levels to facilitate and lead sustainable behavioral change. She is also the author of The Art and Science of Facilitation: How to Lead Effective Collaboration with Agile Teams and the host of the Defining Moments of Leadership podcast.
