May 2010 - The FoCuSeD™ Facilitator eNewsletter (updated July 2022)
A Facilitator is the Ultimate Servant Leader | Gary Rush Facilitation | Gary Rush, IAF CPF | Master
I teach that a Facilitator is the ultimate Servant Leader – leadership that is crucial to forming a group into a team to come together to achieve their objectives. A Servant Leader serves the team.
"Servant leadership is the ability to empower, engage, and enable the whole to work together transcending the sum of the parts".
True, but only when the leader leads applying facilitation skills, skills learned to engage all making them feel that they are part of a greater whole, and that decisions made had their involvement. So how do we move from command-and-control to servant leadership? When setting direction or making a decision begin by empowering the group. Avoid influencing with your views so that the group doesn’t acquiesce to your point of view without voicing their own. Then:
- Engage – Ask the group to present their views. Listen to their views and make it safe for all to contribute. Post their ideas and frequently summarize what they are saying using Active Listening. This is Divergence – gaining all perspectives. Safe Divergence helps build trust.
- Enable – Provide a thought process for understanding. Follow a well-defined thought process that enables reflection, enriching, and challenging ideas. This is Struggle – understanding all perspectives and points of view. Safe Struggle helps build healthy conflict.
- Complete the cycle. After ideas have been discussed and it appears that the group is heading towards alignment or consensus, summarize what you’ve heard. This is Convergence – coming together to find a solution all can support. Convergence enables a group to become a team. Note: You don’t always reach consensus, but you will reach agreement so you can move forward.
Does it work…
- Do we give up control? If you define “control” as my way or else, then you will be dismayed. I view control as accomplishing good work with everyone involved. By engaging everyone, not only do we develop better ideas, but also support and commitment are vastly increased.
- Does it take a long time? I’ve listened to others complain that reaching consensus is more time-consuming than having one person decide and I’ve read books that say the same thing. This is a narrow-minded view. We accomplish far more in a shorter amount of time by using a Servant Leadership style than using a command-and-control A well-thought-out decision with support and commitment requires teamwork and it’s well worth it.
So…
A Servant Leader is far more effective by empowering, engaging, and enabling the group to transcend the sum of the parts. 
A Facilitator ‘IS’ the ultimate Servant Leader…
“Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.” -- H. Ross Perot