Lateral Leadership

Leading as a Facilitator Means
Facilitating Self-Efficacy

Autonomy as a key value has been gaining traction since 90s. This value has to do with the fundamental human desire to continually grow and develop as an individual. Autonomy is about empowerment and self-efficacy. Employees no longer want to be cogs in a machine. They want to take an active part in shaping the organizations in which they work, earn their livelihood and form relationships.

At the same time the desire of be individually mentored and coached seems to be increasing. Wanting more autonomy, while at the same time expecting more individual guidance? I time and time again hear executives telling me that wanting both at the same time is wanting to have your cake and eat it too. My not always popular response: This is only true if you look at the situation with an antiquated understanding of organizations and of work.

In the old world of lonely heroes autonomy meant making decisions and overcoming difficulties alone . In the new world it is about meeting challenges and taking on responsibility as a team . Team players not lonely heroes are what companies need to meet the challenges of complex and volatile markets.

Companies need employees that thrive on working in teams. These employees get their drive and inspiration from working collaboratively. They enjoy the mutual support of team work, celebrating shared achievements and continually growing and improving as a team.

Employees that seek this kind of work are not lonely heroes. They want and need the engagement and the mutual support of colleagues and supervisors in order to feel purpose and stay motivated. What they are looking for is a sense of belonging and the satisfaction of mastering challenges as a team effort. In my experience it is this combination of a mutual sense of belonging and drive to collaboratively master challenges that gives rise to the specific energy and spirit of high performance teams.

A species of employees is emerging that is perfectly matched to meet the needs of our current work conditions – that is if leaders manage to provide environments in which this species of employees can thrive. This, however, is anything but trivial.

Leaders as Enablers and Mentors

In a volatile, competitive market a high degree of resilience and agility is required of employees. Responsibilities and roles change with each new project. Unexpected developments continually mean challenges for which there are no standardized solutions. Only if employees have a deep conviction that they have what it takes to deal effectively with these challenges will they remain constructive and cooperative in periods of high stress. Only then do they have what it takes to remain engaged and take on responsibility in critical situations.

Enabling employees means helping them continually improve their professional skills. Enabling them in the role of a facilitator also means encouraging them to continually take on more responsibilities and make their own judgement calls. Instead of providing them with solutions a facilitator uses his experience and expertise to guide his employees in defining their own quality criteria, setting their own priorities and developing their own solutions.

Enabling employees in the role of a facilitator means creating frameworks in which both their need of support, security and orientation and their need for autonomy and participation can be met. In the role of a facilitators leaders are travel companions giving their employees the mentorship and support they need on their journey to more self-efficacy and competence.

Fcous as a Key Leadership Tool

Engaged and motivated employees are an important prerequisite for high performance teams. They alone, however, are not enough. A decisive factor is the degree to a high degree of commitment to project and company goals. Only when individual activities are aligned do the qualities of a high performance team emerge. Assuring this is the task and responsibility the team leader.

In the role of a facilitator team leaders do not fulfill this responsibility by delegating and a command and control leadership style. Instead they use focus as a key leadership tool. Based on their experience and expertise they continually decide what issues and topics need attention.

When is it important to create the time and space to focus the specific concerns and issues of individual team member? When is it important to discuss quality criteria, clarify consequences and discuss problems? When should solutions be the focus of attention? When should project and company goals be the focus of attention?

Bringing issues into the focus of ongoing dialogs in the role of a facilitator does not mean convincing team members of a certain path let alone dictating solutions. Much the opposite. It is about engaging them in finding the solutions and coming to shared agreements about the best path and thereby instilling a sense of shared responsibility.

The Art of Engaging in an Open and Goal-Oriented Dialog

Leading as a facilitator not only means abstaining from management by command and control. It means the willingness and willpower to continually work on forming a strong working relationships. The mutual commitment of strong working relationships is carried by the experience of being involved in an ongoing dialog. The ability to engage ones team and colleagues in an open goal-oriented dialog is key to leading as a facilitator.

During content-related disputes the leader eases into a interested mode of inquiry. With this mindset he transports the expectation that differences in opinion be seen as a resource. In his role as a facilitator he is not eager to sweep aside differences or press through his conviction. At least not initially.

What motivates and drives him is understanding and appreciating. What is new, relevant and interesting about the respective perspectives? How can these views be used to enhance the quality of processes and outcomes or develop innovative ideas and approaches? The art of engaging in a productive dialog is sometimes also about understanding the underlying issues. Why are my employees and colleagues currently so preoccupied with these specific issues? What underlying concerns need to be brought out into the open and addressed?

The tonality of the dialog implies both an invitation and an expectation: To treat dialogs as an opportunity for developing innovative ideas together….rather than engaging in on-on one combat in order to win the argument.

The endless, polarizing debates characteristic of so many teams with the many little egos screaming for attention are gradually replaced by colleagues willing and interested in hearing and understanding each other.

When decisions need to be made leading as a facilitator means finding integrative solutions. The facilitating leader is committed to finding solutions that accommodate all standpoints. For this he is willing when necessary to depart from well-trodden paths and test new approaches. His way of engaging in a dialog is carried by the conviction that there is more than one good answer to every problem. Every decision is seen as a chance at success. It is, however, also seen as a chance to learn from the in part unpredictable outcomes, positive or negative.

Engaging in an open, goal-oriented dialog is a question of mindset. It is, however, also a question of communication techniques and moderation skills.

Conflict Competence -
A Key Leadership Quality

Leading as a facilitator means acknowledging that employees are people and that when people live, play or work together tensions and conflicts will occasionally arise. In his role as a facilitator he has the courage and competence to address tensions and deal with them proactively.

He, however, does not see it as his responsibility to accommodate to all personal needs and desires. In the way he deals with conflicts he is understanding. He, however, shows that it is the responsibility of all team members to work together on finding workable and at times pragmatic solutions. Each and every team member is held accountable not only for delivering high quality results but also for contributing positively to the quality of the working relationships in the team.

Using Agile Tools and Practices

Leading as a facilitator means having the ability to

• engage with each employee individually, mentoring and enabling them
• effectively direct the attention and focus of the team
• facilitate open and goal-oriented dialogs
• deal proactively with emerging conflicts

Leading as a facilitator, however, also requires the ability to let leadership tools do some of the work for you. Letting leadership tools do some of the work for you means knowing how to use agile tool and practices that help teams

• coordinate tasks effectively
• define quality criteria
• evaluate processes and outcomes.

In order to introduce these kinds of tools and practices the leader needs to have a clear understanding of the underlying principals and success factors.

Mutual Respect Requires Transparency

Leading as a facilitator means appreciating the individual competence, skills and capabilities of every employee. And this in turn requires the willingness and will power to assure transparency. Transparency is indispensable for a working environment based on mutual respect and appreciation.

Why? Transparency is a prerequisite for trust, orientation and a sense of security. Transparency is also a prerequisite commitment, a sense of purpose and engagement.

Employees are only able to set priorities and take the initiative in solving problems if they can see these issues in context of the bigger picture. Only if they are given the bigger picture do they feel recognized as thinking, feeling human beings that have a desire to understand and actively shape the world in which they live and work.

Leading as a facilitator means letting go of a hierarchical understanding of leadership in which it is the privilege and responsibility of those "on top" to understand the bigger picture. As a facilitator it is your responsibility to continually help your employees see their individual tasks in context, understand their value and the relevance of their contribution and make their own judgements calls on quality criteria and priorities.

Training Your Leadership Skills

I have developed a leadership workshops specifically for leaders who want to strengthen responsibility, initiative and solution-orientation on team level, establish an agile mindset in their teams, deal effectively with the challenges of a complex and dynamic market environment, master the challenges of the transition to an agile company. Learn more about my Leadership Workshops.