While a foundational element of facilitation is not bringing all the knowledge to the table, it can be tempting to jump into conversations yourself. In this video Meg shares how she is still learning how to talk less and trust the group more.
Bullets!
- trust the group
- stop talking
- let them have the last word
Check out more of Meg’s social justice facilitation work here.
Transcript
Question: What is a facilitation lesson you’re still learning?
MB: “The first one that comes to mind is stopping talking more often and trusting that the group is going to get there by themselves. It is an enormous it is like one of the defining factors of facilitation, is that you’re not bringing all the knowledge to the table.
And I still find that sometimes I get wrapped up that we are headed in a certain direction or like that we are about to explore a certain topic, that I’m like, “YEAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH!” Um, and then jump in as if I was a participant and I’m like, “AND THIS THING TOO!”
But I can’t as a facilitator do that because people are like, “Oh! You’re right! And that’s the thing. And that’s the thing we were supposed to learn.” And it kind of shuts down conversations sometimes or it shuts down like further exploration because people feel like, “Oh that’s the last word.”
