Leader as Facilitator: How to inspire, engage and get work done

The days of leaders telling their people what to do are gone. But what has taken its place? 

How do leaders get buy-in, build engagement and gain their teams' collective input and participation? 

The answer is as simple - and as complex - as 'facilitation'. 

Whenever you get the team together - think group meetings or conversations, planning sessions, daily stand-ups or huddles, anytime you're working together - the leader playing the role of a facilitator is focused on making progress easy. 

Facilitation means 'ease' ... to make it easier. 

The leader as facilitator is an approach and style that ticks all the boxes of 

• building engagement
• staying on track
• achieving outcomes 
• encouraging participation... 

no matter the work to be done. 

As workplaces become more culturally and generationally diverse, leaders need more to be enablers, drivers, catalysts... and facilitators.  Make no mistake: this is not a soft, fluffy, or woo-woo skill. Facilitation can be highly influential, collaborative, and productive.