The tenth chapter of Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation, downloadable here as an individual resource. We recommend it as assigned reading, a starting place for a conversation about emotions, or in a facilitator-in-training training.
Use it however best suits your needs.
From the chapter:
The benefit of taking the emotional road in facilitation is that, if it is done well, it can lead to integrated, persistent learning. We remember emotions, and emotional experiences anchor memories for us, even while we forget some of the details. The experience of being personally affected by something in the moment, compared to just thinking about it hypothetically, plants deep roots, which, if nurtured, can grow into powerful learning.
The risk is that you’ll get lost in the woods and not see a clear way out. This is the reason why a lot of us avoid exploring the emotional road in our facilitation, and this chapter will give you some tools that we hope will muster your courage. First, we’ll discuss how to invite emotions in, then how to recognize when they’re present, and finally what to do to make the most of them.
To read on click the download link above.