The essence of learning facilitation

7 February 2010 0 By Viv McWaters

We are all facilitators. Some of us embrace facilitation and some of us are happy to leave it to others. It’s basically getting a group to work together. Facilitators are everywhere. On construction sites, in homes, on the internet, in offices. You don’t do the work for others, you get them working together. It might be manual work, it might be creative, it might be ordinary, every-day work, and it might be for something special.

Part of my art as a facilitator is to share what I know with others. To be accessible. To be generous. So when I was asked the other day what the learning outcomes would be for a facilitation training, I answered in a way that even surprised me. And in a way that excites me for this work. And in a way that sits well with me. It’s not about learning more techniques – you can find that in the internet; it’s not about knowing what to do in what situation – that comes from experience; and it’s certainly not about following any pre-determined plan or manual or guidelines or recipe.

Sharing the art of facilitation is to create an enthusiasm and excitement for facilitation, and a desire to continually explore and learn.

This is my challenge. This is my art. This is what we can do together.