Facilitation     For me, facilitation focuses on the notion that if we take care of the emotional wellbeing of groups or teams, they will get their business task done more effectively. In most organisations, people are often too busy doing the task to think about how they're relating to each other, or share how they're feeling about themselves and their work.       This has a negative impact not just on how people relate to each other and feel about the team as a whole, but also on their productivity. When I am facilitating, I like to give people the opportunity and safety to express how they're feeling. The result has a hugely positive impact on how they get on with the job and meet the objectives of their team, department or organisation. For example, I worked with a board of three directors over a nine month period to help them achieve their corporate goals. After we'd done some one-to-one coaching, I helped them talk to each other about how they wanted their company to be, what part they individually wanted to play, and what difficulties they had with each other. These were conversations that are sometimes very difficult to have without an external party. The atmosphere can be highly charged when three people are not getting on well together or have frustrations with each other. They may not know how to share their feelings without being destructive. In a situation such as that, the facilitator holds the energy and emotion of the relationships to enable people to say what they need to say. The ultimate corporate aim is to build the team and help people work together more effectively, but there are huge personal and relational benefits, too. Facilitation sometimes means that I chair a meeting so that everyone can participate as equals. In corporate hierarchies, it is the departmental head who usually chairs the meeting. When this happens, they can't offer an opinion without the whole hierarchical weight coming to bear. But if they take off the chairing hat and hand it to a facilitator, everyone can engage with each other on a much more equal basis. Ideally, a facilitated event creates space so that people can be heard.       Click here to view a video interview with Alison. "If I can air my emotional turmoil and be heard, then I can get on with the job..." Video also available in Real Player and Quicktime format.       © Alison Hodge 2011 Tel: 020 8995 5485