Four Design and Facilitation Learnings

Last year, I wanted to take my PD design and facilitation skills to the next level. I felt a little stale. 

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Unrelated to this desire, I enrolled in a couple of courses that had nothing to do with PD. I didn’t realize that I’d learn so much about facilitation in them. 

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Here are a few of my big takeaways: 

• I need to regularly be a learner to polish my facilitation skills. There’s nothing like sitting in the student seat to remember what it’s like. I had one class in which the teacher was terrible (he taught me so much about what not to do) and another in which the teacher was brilliant (she reminded me what to do). 
• Creating a psychologically safe space takes more time than I think it will. Always. 
• Get to the good stuff quickly. The long intros and theory are much less interesting than the “show-me-how” components.  
• Less is more, less is more, less is more. Resist the temptation to saturate learners because you think that’s what they want or because you think it shows your value. 

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When was the last time you learned from a brilliant teacher? Someone who taught by embodying and demonstrating the strategies you wanted to learn? 

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Keep learning:

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2. Struggling with disengaged learners? Check out this blog post.
3. Experiencing a funk while facilitating? Listen to 10 Strategies to Shift a Mood
4. Step up your facilitation game by attending the Artful Design and Facilitation workshop