There is a mystery to leadership, whether you lead an ongoing team or a one-off group.
This mystery is important because without it, people would be able to predict your actions and imitate them. Retaining the mystique keeps things fresh.
Here are five ways of injecting unpredictability into group work.
1. Learn as you go
Keep your group work fresh by changing the way you do things now and again
The challenges of facilitation are also its joys: knowing that some things will work and others won’t; knowing that each session is a learning experience for you as well as the group; keeping yourself open to possibilities that can surprise as well as disappoint.
• Keep your group work fresh by changing the way you do things now and again
• Take risks with materials and see what happens
• Have confidence in your intuitive side throughout
• Keep an eye out for material from everyday life: the home, the family, your social life
• Be a continuous learner
• Be childlike in your curiosity
• Let your natural style come through
• Enjoy each experience of group work
2. Lighten up
Adding perspective and a touch of lightheartedness to each experience of groupwork can guard against the enemies of facilitation: being too serious, forcing things and trying too hard.
Lightening up does a number of things:
• It reminds you that the role of helper is basically one of common sense and wisdom, not intellectual knowledge
• It helps you to not take yourself too seriously
• It reflects the gentle approach that is the hallmark of facilitation
• It helps you put bad experiences down to experience
• it allows us to accept the value of all types of human behaviour, including clowning around and having fun
"The first thing most people say when they get to Heaven is "why was I so serious?" (Old Red Indian saying)
