As a facilitator for more than twenty years, I’ve worked with many professionals. Leaders, managers, executives, project managers, consultants – you name it. More and more, however, I see them using facilitation skills in their day-to-day interactions. Well, we know what facilitation means. It’s the practice of guiding participants through a series of steps to arrive at a result they create, understand, and accept. But, what does it mean to take a “facilitative approach” to solving a problem or making a decision?  How does one – anyone – actually do it?

At Leadership Strategies, we believe there are five key principles for taking a facilitative approach.  These principles stem from the fundamental secret of facilitation.

The Fundamental Secret of Facilitation

You can achieve more effective results when solutions are created, understood , and accepted by the people impacted.

In essence, when you involve the people who are impacted by the decision-making process, you will achieve higher levels of buy-in and commitment.

So, how do you do this? How do you take a facilitative approach in your everyday work? The following principles provide guidelines for doing this:

Sample content from, The Facilitative Leader

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1. Seek Participation, Not Just Input

How often does a decision come down from headquarters that makes absolutely no sense the people in the field? Those ideas can’t possibly work, and everyone knows it – except the leaders.  So, what happens? We waste time and energy implementing something we’ll likely abandon later when the leaders finally figure out it was a bad idea. If they had only asked, the wasted time and resources could have been put to a much more productive use.

Involving those who have to implement a decision can also yield an even better solution. One that takes into account issues and situations that the workers understand, but the leaders may be unaware.

When you seek participation and not just input, you often come to better solutions with much stronger levels of commitment.

2. Ask and Empower; Don’t Command and Control

Often, people don’t involve those impacted because they believe they need to control all aspects of what is done in order to achieve their desired result.

However, individuals who take a facilitative approach understand how to empower others. Their role is defining the what and the why by describing the purpose and the key products.  They know they must give the guidelines and constraints to help ensure that solutions meet the need. They then get out of the way and allow teams to create recommendations that are thoughtful and innovative – but also practical and implementable.

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3. Connect First; Correct Second

Some people are experts at pointing out mistakes others make.  They seem to enjoy demonstrating or feeling a sense of superiority by identifying errors and then showing what others have done wrong.

Individuals who take a facilitative approach understand the importance of connecting with people first and helping them discover their own errors. They actively look for strengths to praise and then use questions to create an environment of self-correction rather than a culture of blame. They recognize the power of being the “guide on the side” rather than the “sage on the stage.” They strive to leave every interaction with the person feeling lifted up rather than put down.

4. Engage Conflict; Address Dysfunction

When you don’t have the tools to effectively manage conflict and dysfunction, you tend to respond with either a “fight or flight” strategy when faced with a challenging situation.  Those who take the flight approach will avoid addressing the issue and will hope it goes away on its own.  Those employing the fight strategy tend to try to overpower the situation by forcing their will without listening to or considering other alternatives.

Individuals skilled in taking a facilitative approach view conflict as a symptom – and understand that better solutions are available. They understand the three reasons people disagree and the strategies for addressing each one. They view dysfunction as a sign to address something important and fully buy in to the dysfunction principle–conscious prevention, early detection, clean resolution–and use appropriate techniques to prevent, detect and resolve dysfunction.

Related: Free Chapter: The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy

5. Use Process to Guide, Not to Stifle

All organizations use processes. For example, organizations use processes for setting direction, product development, hiring, and budgeting. However, in many organizations, the processes are unconscious, unclear, or unreasonable.  In some cases, the organization is over-processed, and the processes get in the way of creativity, flexibility and responsiveness.  In other cases the organization’s lack of documented processes increases conflict, uncertainty and redundancy, as people end up stepping on one another in the name of getting things done.

Individuals who take a facilitative approach recognize the clarity and efficiency that effective processes can provide but also recognize the importance of using processes to guide and not to stifle creativity or initiative. Managing this delicate balance is key to taking a facilitative approach.

These principles outline what it means to take a facilitative approach inside an organization. As more and more people adopt facilitation as a way of operating, we expect to see greater business results through higher levels of buy-in and commitment throughout the organization.