7 Advantages of Hiring a Facilitator

I was doing some work with a team of incredibly smart professionals who were struggling to achieve their goals. After months of making little progress together, they invited me to guide their collaborative process. 

You have lots of passion for your work, which can bring up many varied and deeply held views of what work should look like. You might feel stuck on how to use your individual strengths for collective success. 

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to hire help, here are 7 advantages of hiring a facilitator that you’ll want to consider:

1. You can level the playing field

Every leader likes to think of themselves as approachable and open to feedback and many are, but it’s important to recognize that a power dynamic exists. You’ll get real and honest engagement from your team when you level the playing field. A facilitator will help your team set hierarchy to the side and create the conditions for everyone to contribute without judgement of self or others.

2. You can free up headspace

As a leader you have a lot of experience your team can benefit from, but it’s tough to maximize participation in the group process and share your expertise at the same time. A facilitator is a process expert. As a neutral third party they’ll maximize collaboration with attention to productivity, so that you can free up your headspace to participate with your team, build trust and share your expertise.

3. You can build the capacity of the team to navigate conflict 

Most of us don’t like conflict, but we know that high performing teams need to be able ‘to conflict’ effectively. A facilitator can address challenging group dynamics in a way that respects the dignity of each person. They’ll help the team move from stuck positions to common interests and build the capacity of the team to have difficult discussions on their own too.

4. You can introduce engaging tools that maximize collaboration 

You’ve got work to do and it probably doesn’t involve a lot of time to learn new collaboration tools. Facilitators have a lot of tools and they know which ones are right for your team. Whether you work in-person, remote or hybrid, they’ll customize an approach that leverages tools to seamlessly enhance teamwork. You’ll pick up repeatable new skills without the steep learning curve.

5. You can prompt new discovery

There is a lot of benefit to deep familiarity with your work and team, but it can also cause blind spots. A facilitator can ask good questions, point out trends and help to make observations that are perhaps just sitting right under your nose. Their outsider perspective can help to prompt new insights and discoveries that help your team take things to the next level.  

6. You can maximize your productivity

When we go to the effort to bring people together it’s respectful and fiscally responsible to make sure that meeting is a good use of everyone’s time. A facilitator helps to put every minute to good use. They’ll keep the group out of the weeds and continue to move forward. Every activity and discussion is designed to drive towards the desired outcomes, so you can leave the meeting with clarity on what’s been achieved and what comes next.

7. You can strengthen your team

Team-building activities are great and they have their place, but let’s not miss out on the opportunity to build the team during regular project work. While digging into work projects with the guidance of a facilitator, team members learn new collaboration techniques by osmosis. This experience sets a new standard working together—a higher standard that’s repeatable.

You don’t have to do it alone. A facilitator can help everyone on the team make the most of their time and collaborative efforts. This allows everyone to participate in the decision-making process, rather than having one person take charge or make all the decisions for everyone else. As a result, people feel more engaged in the process and more invested in the outcome.

If this sounds like something that might be interesting to explore, let’s start with a conversation optimalaffect.ca/contact.