Process meets impact
- Jan 13
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 10
Welcome to the Facilitate It blog! (January 2026)
If you’re interested in facilitation, process design, capacity building and learning, you’re in the right place. Our passion is exploring and sharing insights, resources and support in these areas.
Why are some meetings, work events and processes so engaging and successful, and some are so tedious and disappointing?
Different people have different answers to that question, unique to each experience.
WHAT WORKS? In people's own words (From one 5-day event, 45 people)
What people like the MOST
· A well-designed process, perfectly executed - facilitation
· Positive, committed participants – honesty and transparency
· The objectives were achieved – exchange of good practices
· Substantive input, excellent networking option, process clarification and update
· Mutual learning and realization of strengths, weaknesses and challenges
· Participants debated openly on key approaches for better collaboration
· Brainstorming is good to bring our new ideas and solutions
· Facilitator managed a diverse group of participants with respect – all voices heard
· I liked the last session on recommendations and how to collaborate
What people like the LEAST
· Lack of organization, due to lack of needed planning time
· Lack of focus in exchanges and repeat of questions already covered
· Focus on process more than substance and outcome
· Open discussions – some people in small groups dominate
· Too long, too many unhelpful issues – maybe necessary but felt too long
· Different layers of objectives: only the most realistic were met
· We can improve the methodology
· I hoped for more concrete recommendations and stronger plan of action on the way forward
Priorities for FOLLOW UP
· Implement the recommendations! Deliver on the commitments!
· The large gap on the ground needs constant monitoring and support as well as new thinking
· We need more dialogues with more colleagues
· The territorial issues continue – need more engagement to define division of labour
Process RECOMMENDATIONS
· More preparation ahead of time in terms of problem analysis with us
· Set a more ambitious agenda
· Get agreement on the facilitation team during preparations – no agreement here
· Get stronger recommendations
· Keep the group focused right to the end for strong recommendations and action
Insights from Experience - Expertise, Methodology
Insights distilled from experience and participants' feedback in more than 400 events reinforce concepts and theory on learning, organizational development, leadership and change management.
Our vision for the discipline and practice of facilitation is that everyone with a role in event organization and process management is able to bring their best to the collective and often complex challenges in achieving strong results. This includes participants.
Facilitate It has consolidated insights from experience interwoven with theory into the model of a facilitation spiral, with an integrated and proven supporting methodology.
No one-size fits all - a flexible methodology to adapt to you and what the context brings
As a practice, facilitation is as personal as it is professional. The person you are brings a whole package of personal and professional characteristics. Do you listen well, project confidence, stay calm, speak clearly, care about time, welcome diverse views?
Often, the personal intersects with the political. A fine-tuned sense of self and awareness of others are invaluable in the facilitator's toolkit.
How your team members, peers or colleagues see you carries another set of influencing factors. Do you have the gravitas to be taken seriously by your team-mates or peers? Do they see you as an ally or a critic? If you're a more junior person or recent hire, you may have to develop ways to demonstrate your credibility.
If a group has a history of interactions, that history also "comes with the group" and influences the present. If you're an internal facilitator, that history may lead to perceptions of bias. If you're external, you may only have a limited backstory and will need to nimbly read non-verbal clues.
How your workplace is managed brings still another set. How are decisions made? If you have insider knowledge of pain points and needs for change in a specific context, what scope exists for you to be a catalyst for needed change?
The personal and professional nature of facilitation, and its intersectional and cross-cutting nature, are part of what make it so challenging to define, capture and teach. The essence of facilitation changes to match each combination of factors in every unique process or event.
If each is unique, what's the point of a methodology?
While each process is unique, most resemble and replicate other similar experiences. Some things can reliably be predicted. For example, packing too many presentations into a session with inadequate time for participants to engage is a sure ticket to a frustrating experience as well as negative evaluation ratings and feedback. A planning weakness becomes a facilitation challenge.
The spiral as a guiding framework for dynamic, productive engagements is proven across diverse groups and contexts. Some aspects are more relevant or important in some situations than others. Facilitators are encouraged to adapt spiral elements to their own approach, use the framework with confidence, and draw on methodology supports as and when needed.
Who we are and what we bring
After five decades of experience as facilitators, educators, advisors, counsellors and process architects, we are dedicated to helping and supporting other people design and facilitate high-impact meetings and events, positive change and effective learning processes.
No matter your level in an organization, you can contribute to strengthening your work processes for better team morale and results. We'd love to support you.
No matter the level of a person's facilitation expertise and experience, something new to learn presents itself in each engagement. We'd be honoured to help you strengthen rigorous learning and knowledge management in your facilitation, and support groups of people to manage their own processes and events to the highest possible standards.
Key learning of different types can emerge from a process or event. Sometimes, key learning is about:
how to support a group to perform to its highest capacity - methodology, what worked and didn't work (Disciplines: adult education, leadership development, change management)
the magical thinking of organizers and participants - reality check on what's possible in a proposed change process (Disciplines: organizational development, communication, change management, leadership)
the variable capacity and blockage points to achieving a change and results, in a team - the changes required for a team to safely address and strengthen its capacity and satisfaction (Disciplines: clinical counselling and team wellness; systems, procedures and governance; capacity development, leadership)
oneself - absorbing lessons from being challenged by the unexpected, including internally (Disciplines: knowledge management, clinical counselling, facilitation practice.)
Facilitate It lead consultant and associates specialize in different types of processes, including those noted in the above examples: adult learning, organizational, team and personal development, leadership and capacity development. What will be of most value to you may be from the Facilitate It associate with the most directly relevant expertise and experience. See profiles on the About page of the Facilitate It website.
How we can help you
guidance on process design and facilitation
feedback on a draft agenda or session plans
strategic planning or evaluation support
facilitation coaching and capacity building for you and your team
strategic and practical help with change management
problem-solving on process pain points
tips to reduce process blindness
We tailor services with a sustained focus on purpose. We aim for positive experiences that deliver the results you set as priorities.
What we at Facilitate It believe
We believe that:
facilitation is a discipline, a body of work, and a practice, expertise that strengthens over a lifetime
everyone can facilitate, and even experienced facilitators can improve their practice
some facilitation or process management competence is a core work and life skill, across sectors and fields, particularly where these intersect with skills of influence
facilitation as a discipline and practice requires a strong methodology
effective facilitation, leadership, and learning all revolve around one core and contribute to one purpose, with a myriad of forms: change
in the same way that everyone can facilitate, and learn to do it well, everyone can lead and support change, from whatever position they hold: as the adaptive leadership model frames it, true leadership is about change
for successful, sustainable change, the discipline of facilitation requires systematic attention to a full linked results chain, from design to close: purpose, impact, outcomes, objectives and outputs: these terms have distinct meanings and are not synonyms.
Facilitate It's signature facilitation spiral and supporting methodology are developed from our beliefs combined with our experience and professional expertise.
Explore our Insights
Visit our website (FacilitateIt.ca) to learn more about us, our approach and detailed service offers.
The INSIGHTS page organizes posts into four main categories:
Facilitation Spiral Methodology
Shadow Facilitation
Facilitation Practice
Facilitation Leadership
The next introductory blog post introduces the facilitation spiral methodology. (Link.) The facilitation spiral is further explained in a related article and expanded in separate handbooks and manuals. Contact us if you're interested.
Two examples of practical posts addressing key facilitation challenges are on management of time (link) and space (link) in effective processes.
Shadow facilitation explores some process management tensions and challenges that typically don't appear in Terms of Reference or job descriptions for facilitators.
Be in Touch, Stay in Touch
Facilitate It blogs are published monthly. We’ll continue to share insights distilled from real-world challenges, solutions and lessons. Check back!
Contact us if you are struggling now with real-world pressure and pain points on which you can use some support. We provide hands-on collaboration to planning a critical event, or strengthening your team's capacity to manage it's own meetings better. We're committed to the co-creation of solutions to meet your unique needs. (Contact us.)
We believe in the power of collaboration and the value of diverse perspectives. If you have an insight or tool to share on our core topics, please contact us about a possible guest post.
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