How meeting facilitators can overcome their biggest fears
To lead a meeting well, you should know how to handle conflict, confrontation, and challenge.
I recently polled my community to see which aspects of facilitation people feared most. My guess was that the majority of respondents would select “public speaking” as their leading fear factor, but that wasn’t the case.
Now, I know this is a small sample size, but 75% of my respondents were in agreement that unruly or unwilling attendees were what they feared most.
Why is this the case? And what can we do about it?
Are we afraid of conflict? Confrontation? Challenge? If you answered “yes” to any of those, that’s okay. To some degree, it’s probably true for most. In fact, I believe that these three “Cs” are a natural part of engaging with other humans (whether you’re leading a workshop or not). And when it comes to facilitation, odds are that you’ve been called in because the team doesn’t align, agree, or work well together (which means at least one or all of the “Cs” are present).
So, how can facilitators help teams in ways that they can’t help themselves while also navigating fears around unruly and unwilling attendees?
Use structure and process to help keep domineering behaviors in check. I wrote this guide for navigating tough personalities, with tips for how to prepare for a session, and the methods to use along the way.
Have a strategy for handling derailing questions. This recent article will help you take on the big, seemingly road-blocking questions that sometimes come up when your attendees forget about the workshop parameters.
Decenter yourself by shifting from a performance mindset to a curiosity mindset. Check out this post if you need help learning not to internalize the issues that will inevitably arise during a session.
Manage your energy. Whether you’re leading an hourlong workshop or a five-day Design Sprint, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from feeling emotionally drained and completely exhausted.
Don’t be afraid to deviate from your plan. A few of my survey respondents said they feared navigating the unknown and pivoting/changing course in real time. When I lead teams, I always have a clear idea of the outcomes we want to leave the workshop with and I design the session with that in mind, but I never know exactly what’s going to play out. This book from Studio E helped me embrace an exploratory mindset so I can feel more comfortable straying from the path (rather than trying to control every last detail).
The bottom line is this: you can’t make unruly or unwilling attendees disappear, but you can control how you prepare, respond and engage in real time. Doing so will make the workshop experience better for you and your participants.