How can you grow personally and professionally in a facilitation session?

1 Identify your goals and expectations

Before you join or design a facilitation session, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and what you expect from the process. This will help you to focus your attention, prepare your materials, and communicate your needs. You can use a SMART framework to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for yourself and for the session. You can also share your expectations with the facilitator or the participants, so that they can support you and give you feedback.

2 Engage actively and respectfully

One of the most important ways to grow in a facilitation session is to engage actively and respectfully with the topic, the facilitator, and the other participants. This means that you should listen attentively, ask questions, share your opinions, offer suggestions, and contribute to the group dynamics. You should also respect the rules, the agenda, the roles, and the diversity of the session. By engaging actively and respectfully, you will enhance your learning, your creativity, and your relationships.

3 Seek and offer feedback

Feedback is essential for learning and improvement. In a facilitation session, you can seek and offer feedback in various ways, such as asking for clarification, giving constructive criticism, acknowledging strengths, expressing appreciation, and suggesting actions. You should seek feedback that is specific, timely, relevant, and actionable, and offer feedback that is honest, respectful, helpful, and supportive. You should also be open to receiving feedback, and use it to reflect on your performance and behavior.

4 Experiment and learn from mistakes

Facilitation sessions are great opportunities to experiment with new ideas, methods, techniques, and tools. You can try out different approaches, test your assumptions, challenge your beliefs, and explore your potential. You can also learn from your mistakes, and use them as opportunities to grow. You should not be afraid to fail, but rather embrace failure as a part of the learning process. You should also celebrate your successes, and recognize your achievements.

5 Apply and transfer your learning

The final way to grow in a facilitation session is to apply and transfer your learning to your personal and professional contexts. You should not leave the session without taking some action steps or making some commitments to yourself and to others. You should also reflect on how you can use what you learned in the session to improve your skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in your work, your life, and your relationships. You should also share your learning with others, and inspire them to grow as well.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?