 Anyone can become a great facilitator if they have the right tools, practices, and skills in place. In this video, you're going to learn the eight essential skills that every facilitator needs to have. But first off, to make sure we're on the same page, let's cover who a facilitator actually is and what makes a good one. A good facilitator's goal is to encourage the team to think critically, arrive at solutions, ask vital questions, and arrive to outcomes, not to solve the team challenges for them. A skilled facilitator can eliminate the friction of the teamwork by providing a process for the team to follow and thereby allowing the team to arrive at the conclusion much, much faster. As you watch the video, we're super curious to hear from you what is your biggest challenge when it comes to facilitation. What do you struggle with the most? Leave the comment in the comment box below if you want us to address this in our future videos. Starting with facilitation skill number one, which is most important to master, which is be the guide, not the hero. We say it often on all of our social channels, and we honestly can say it often enough because this is the fallacy number one when it comes to facilitating. Remember, you don't need to show off how good you are. You are there to lead the group to their best outcomes. What acceptance mindset will do to your work is that it will allow you to become a more active listener. This will allow you to learn how to pose just the right questions, and it will generally just take off a lot of weight off your shoulders because you won't need to come up with the best idea or the best solution. Remember, you are there to uncover the group's best ideas, not to overpower them with your own skill. Number two is time management. I've already mentioned that it's crucial that the facilitator knows how to move the group along and keep the momentum. But what's also important is that you have the skill of planning out your workshop day so that it's not overwhelming to you or to the participants. Something that we noticed at Agent Smart back when we were starting out with workshops is that, yeah, we cramped the day pretty full with all sorts of exercises and activities, but what ended up happening is the participants were overwhelmed, we were overwhelmed, we ended up going over time and the workshop was just messy. Especially if you're a freelance workshopper, it's easy to fall into the fallacy where you feel like you have to work the exact amount of hours that you were hired for and you have to prove to the company that hired you that you work, let's say eight or 10 or 12, however many hours. But the thing is your work does not end with the workshop. You have the preparation phase, you have the handover phase, and that counts as well. So to make it generally more enjoyable for the team and yourself, don't cram your day with too many exercises. Less is really more in this case. Skill number three that you need to have down is being able to shortcut circular discussions. Now, circular discussions are one of the main reasons that the conventional meetings are such a drag to be in. You know the situation, one person starts talking and you can never just interrupt and they keep on talking, it's actually not even connected to the subject of a meeting that you're in. Now, it's your job as a facilitator in a room to nip those circular discussions in the bud to allow the group to move along faster. And here's exactly how you can do that. You can use a parking lot. So what a parking lot is, is a physical space somewhere in the room, be it a whiteboard or a blank wall or just a space on your desk where you will park all of the ideas that are just not relevant to the current discussion. So if you notice someone getting off topic, you can gently interrupt them and say, hey, it's a great idea, but it's outside of the scope of the challenge we're currently working on. Can you jot this down in a post-it and we'll come back to it later. What this will do is it will allow people to feel hurt and they will be more willing to let go of their ideas and move on. There's just one caveat to this strategy. You have to come back to the things that you parked in the parking lot, because if you don't, your participants won't trust you the next time you will try to do it. Or you could also use the note and vote method. And this comes in handy if the discussion is relevant to the scope of your workshop. If you notice the participants go off topic, gently stop the discussion and let them know that now is a perfect time to do note and vote. And this is how you do it. Simply set a timer for a few minutes and then give the participants some sticky notes, like this, and ask them to silently note down their ideas on the sticky note. After the time is up, ask them to stick up the sticky notes on a wall and then give them some voting dots and ask them to vote on the dots. And just like that, you have a decision that was made the majority without the circular discussion and you can move on happily. Another thing you can do to avoid discussions spiraling out of control is to just start writing. And this sounds super simple, but it's also super effective. So just grab a marker and as people are discussing, start jotting things down on a whiteboard or on a flip chart, wherever. And the reason this works so well is because it's easier for people to disagree with ideas than to flesh out fresh ideas themselves. Now the fourth facilitation skill that you really have to get down is the ability to keep the energy levels consistently high in a workshop. Energy is a key component in facilitation, making sure that your participants are activated and engaged and switched on really ensures that they bring their A game to the workshop. Put yourself in the shoes of your participants. They will be in a workshop in a completely new setting, doing collaborative work the way they've never done it before, taking in a lot of information. It is really hard to stay engaged for the whole duration of the workshop. So it's your job as a facilitator to take care of that. And this is how you can do it. Go for a 10 minute walk. Now this sounds super simple, but it's super effective to get people's heads clear and get them into the right headspace one more time. You cannot really control this in a remote workshop, but you can encourage your participants to go on a walk when you have a break and sometimes the right call to action is all it takes. Another great energy booster is just a simple high five after you've finished an exercise. This might sound super simple, but try it out and you'll see how excited for disciplines will get. This will also give them the feeling of accomplishment after they completed a milestone or an exercise. Another way to keep energy levels consistent is to do a little energizer exercise. Now they're similar to icebreakers. They're not directly related to the content of your workshop. They just allow people to break out of the activity they normally do in a workshop and break the pattern. One example would be something that we use at AGM Smart, which is called touch blue. And the way you do it is you simply tell your participants to find something blue in their surroundings and touch it. I would touch the sticky notes. For example, the last person to find the blue object selects the next attribute and you can keep the exercise rolling until you feel that the whole group is energized and ready to dive right back in into the workshop exercises. Another energizer we're left to use in AGM Smart workshops is Fun Fact. And it's exactly what it sounds like. You ask the participants to write a Fun Fact about themselves on a post-it, whether in person or remote setting doesn't matter. And then you stick the post-its up and you let the participants guess which fact belongs to whom. Now it's a fun and quick and easy activity and usually gets the room laughing and gets the energy up again. Skill number five is effectively curbing team politics and group sync. Now team politics and group sync are also one of the main reasons why collaboration can feel messy and not productive and just generally not enjoyable. It doesn't matter which size of the team you have. It doesn't matter whether you're in a startup or in a corporate or an NGO. Team politics are always there. That's just human nature. So instead of hoping they don't spark up, just learn the ways to curb them and to take control of them. Our two favorite tools that allow us to do this quite easily is the known and vote method which we already discussed and the together alone method. So what together alone means is that the team is collaborating on the same challenge in real time, whether they're in the same physical space together or working on the same digital whiteboard together, but they aren't discussing the exercise as they complete them. So for example, if you were to run a brainstorm exercise, you would set the timer to let's say 10 or 15 minutes, let the people jot their ideas down on a sticky note without communicating or talking to each other and later present them one by one. What that allows you to do is forego all of the circular discussions, people being afraid to speak up, people being afraid to propose ideas that might differ from the ideas of their seniors. And it really allows everyone to have an equal voice in the discussion. Crucial skill number six is knowing how to deal with troublemakers. Frankly, it's not a question of if you will meet a troublemaker in your workshop. It's a question of when there will always be a person that is a little bit skeptical about the workshop, about the method of working, maybe about the challenge itself. And you need to know how to deal with them because all it takes is just one person who's skeptic or causing trouble in a workshop to completely derail it. The good thing is, you can completely turn the troublemakers energy around if you have the right tools. And often troublemakers end up being your biggest fans. Here's how you turn their energy around. One way to deal with troublemakers is to give them tasks. Now this might seem a little bit counterintuitive, but the worst thing you can do with a troublemaker is ignore them because this will make them feel like they're not getting heard, like the workshop is the waste of their time, and this will not make them like you more trust us. So what you want to do if you spot a troublemaker in a workshop is to say something like, hey, would you mind helping me out with jotting their ideas down on the post-its? Or, hey, would you mind helping me with ordering lunch, for example? Give them easy tasks that will keep them occupied and that will make them feel part of the workshop. This will make them your ally, not your opponent. Another way you can deal with troublemakers is by asking probing questions. So for example, let's say someone is asking you really tricky questions that you know don't have any substance except for undermining you or the workshop. What do you do? Well, a great way to deal with that is to ask probing questions like, what do you mean by that? Or could you tell me where you're coming from? Or are you thinking of a specific situation? So the main idea behind these questions is to really get down to the root cause of why they're asking these questions. And this will help you because, first of all, it buys you think time to think while they're answering about how you can respond. But second of all, in the process of answering these probing questions, the troublemaker might actually answer their own question. Women. Now, another way you can deal with troublemakers is by using the parking lot method that we already mentioned in the previous sections, because when people cannot let go of the subject and they keep on talking about the same thing, it means it's important to them. And the worst thing you can do is just tell them straight out that it's not important and you won't be talking about this. This will just make the troublemaker feel even more unheard and even less part of a workshop. So instead jot their idea down on a post-it note, place it in the parking lot and come back to it later after the workshop's done. And the final nuclear option, which you shouldn't really be using unless you've tried everything we mentioned previously, is to take the troublemaker aside and have a little chat with them and say to them, Hey, I'm seeing that you have a little bit of trouble in the workshop. Is there something I can help you with? Or how can I make this workshop more enjoyable for you? Now, the key here is to really listen. Don't be passive-aggressive or smirky. Really try to get down at the bottom of what bothers them. Rarely will someone try to sabotage a workshop just because they feel like it. A lot of times there's an actual reason behind it and it will serve you good to learn that reason. If that doesn't work, ask them to leave the workshop. But a side note, in all of our years of facilitating here at Agent Smart, we have never actually had to resort to the leaving option and implementing all of the tips that we mentioned before. Save the workshop and really turn the troublemaker's energy around. Skill number seven is the ability to give clear instructions. Sounds simple, yet you'd be surprised how much trouble people have with explaining concepts clearly. The thing is, you probably know how all of the exercises in your workshop work, why you need to do them, how you need to do them, and what will be the outcome. But your participants don't. And a lot of times when you explain a concept that's familiar to you, you fall prey to the curse of knowledge. Because you know how certain things are done, you'll leave out crucial details and your participants don't fully get what you mean. And let me tell you, nothing takes the wind out of your sails, quite like having three, four, five, 10 people interrupt you mid-sentence and ask you questions about the exercise and how to complete it. But there's an easy way to avoid this. For example, you can use the what, why, how framework. So start by introducing the exercise, and then tell the group the reason behind doing the exercise, what will be the ultimate outcome, why bother in the first place, and then proceed to tell them step by step and as much detail as needed, what they will need to do to complete the exercise. And explain how you would do the exercise. So for how might we, you would jot down HMW at the top of your post-it, and as you listen to your teammates describe their challenges and problems, reframe them on your post-it. For instance, someone says, it takes me a long time to get to work in the morning. You could rephrase it as, how might we improve the morning commute to work. And just like that, you've covered all of the bases, explained the exercises and your participants are crystal clear on what they need to do next. Skill number eight is being ready to adapt. Now, this is one of the most crucial skills of a facilitator because a workshop is really unpredictable. Regardless of whether you run a remote workshop or an in-person workshop, there are always things that can go wrong. There are always things that you cannot foresee. That also means that you need to be able to go with the flow and keep your cool, even if things don't go your way. Now, you really thought we were going to leave you with eight skills, huh? Well, we have a bonus skill for you and a skill that's becoming increasingly more important in the current landscape. Now, can you guess what it is? And if you can, write it in the comment box below. I'm actually curious what you think it is. But of course, remote facilitation. Remote work isn't a hypothetical future of work anymore. It's here. It's here to stay. More and more companies vow to go fuller remote. More and more companies book remote workshops. So if you want to be a really excellent facilitator, you have got to learn how to effectively facilitate remotely. Now, onto the things that you've probably wondered to yourself, what if you don't take all of those boxes just yet? Are you forever doomed to stay in the facilitation mediocrity? No, facilitation, just like any other skill, can be trained and improved and honed. And there are three simple ways you can improve your facilitation skills starting right now. Number one, sick opportunities to facilitate. Practice makes perfect and facilitation is no exception. So however uncomfortable you might feel, this is honestly the only way you're ever going to get better at it. So volunteer to facilitate your next meeting or volunteer to kick off a project or to facilitate a strategy session. And even though it might feel uncomfortable in the beginning, this will really allow you to get better at facilitating. Number two, double down on your strengths. So what is the one thing you're really good at? Is it activating the group? Is it bringing the energy in? Is it making people comfortable so they're comfortable to share their ideas? Or is it time management and planning? Whatever your strengths may be, concentrate on that instead of pouring over the weaknesses or the lacks you have. And number three, be proactive about your learning. Now, the fact that you're watching this video already proves that you are, but don't stop just there. Learn as much as you can about facilitation and don't be afraid to work on your skills. And if you want to dive even deeper than this video, we have a free facilitation guidebook that is going to teach you even more ways to become great at facilitation. The link is in the description box below. If you have more questions about facilitation, facilitation skills and how you could improve them, make sure to drop them in the comments below. We get a lot of our content ideas from reading your comments. So if you want us to address some of your worries, comment. Don't forget. Do it right now. I'll wait. Did you do it? Okay. Thanks. And there you have it. Those are the skills you really need to nail down if you want to become an excellent facilitator. Implement them one by one and we can guarantee that you will be acing the facilitation game in no time. That's it from us. I'll see you in the next video. Bye.