Top 10 Reasons You Need a Facilitator

Let’s face it, with all of the uncertainty in our world right now, organizations across the board are cutting back, tightening up, and slimming down.  With all that change and transition, now more than ever leadership teams need to be highly efficient and effective. 

But sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, to know where you want to go, how to begin, and who can help you get there.   The role of the facilitator is to lead the team through an experience that will help assess the group dynamics, identify goals and objectives, and then make recommendations based on these goals and objectives.  

Still not sure you need help? 

If any of these 10 reasons strike a chord, you’d probably benefit from a professional facilitator’s services:

1. You need a strategic planning session to decide where your company, organization or department is going in the next 6, 12, 18 or 60 months            
2. You want effective meetings but don’t have the time or the talent to make them happen
3. You want to expand your services and would like to consider all possibilities before narrowing the list down
4. You need some critical decisions to be made in a timely manner
5. Your team or organization needs to stop talking about acting and just do it
6. You need to reach consensus on a major issue and also want buy-in for the decision
7. You have many agendas in the room that get in the way of making decisions for the team or the greater good
8. You wish you could get some totally new solution to a problem or could approach a challenge in a fresh and innovative way
9. You need to strengthen the team and their ability to work together
10. 10.  You need to have closure on an issue to move forward on another one

A professional facilitator who is familiar with your industry, your situation, and your goals can literally save you thousands of dollars and years of ramp-up time. 

---

Taking the Fall

I woke up this morning and suddenly, overnight, Fall has arrived here in Colorado.  Cool, crisp mornings with the leaves starting to fade and float to the ground.  How could this be?  It comes so soon!  I’m not ready to say good bye to summer.  Of course it really didn’t come overnight, as Fall has been working on getting here all summer.  It just feels like it.

 Our personal “falls” seem to come overnight, too, don’t they?  We gain 5 pounds, feel disconnected from our partner, get a little depressed–all seemingly overnight–and when we wake up we wonder what has happened.   Of course, change is always an accumulation of behaviors, experiences, and perceptions we practice over time; we just don’t always pay attention to it.

 The ease of such changes ’slipping under the radar’ is why I aspire to a balanced life of ongoing self-care.   I know (and have tested it many times): when I don’t practice yoga, get 8-9 hours of sleep, eat in a healthy way, drink enough water and surround myself with loving and supportive people, I take a “fall” one way or another.    When I choose to work toward feeling and living my best physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, I set myself up for  my greatest good, no matter what the season.

 What kind of “fall” are you working toward?

You Can’t Work Harder Than Your Clients

As I start my second month of Life Coaching at the Wellness Treatment Center, I am reminded of a very important concept: You can’t work any harder than your clients are willing to. 

As a life coach, my role is to help these clients set realistic weekly goals and identify specific action steps they need to follow through on to accomplish their goals. I offer ideas, skills, and tools for them to utilize in areas of their lives that are not currently working, but ultimately it is up to them to take action.

They get to decide how much they are really willing to change and how hard they are really willing to work. It is my job to provide information and support, and then let it go. This is sometimes easier said than done, as I can see all the potential and possibilities, if they would only follow through and…

Whether you are dealing with mental health clients or your spouse, in addiction or changing eating habits, it is valuable to remember that everyone is on their own path, and we can’t work any harder than they are willing to work. Because when we do, it only leads to more frustration and burnout on our end, and by the way, they don’t get any better either.