Reflective entry after Coaching session Week 13

Chi Phuong NGUYEN

This week, we met each other in the Terrase Fiesa in the FSA to do the coaching session. We have changed our method of coaching session this week as we decided to work together on the text of “The Personal Disciplines of a Facilitator”. We discussed about the nine disciplines and their meaning according to our understanding. After the discussion, we started to share our experience one after another. Thus, the role of observer was replaced by the coach, and each coachee had two coaches in the same time. I started my story about being a facilitator in one of my projects at school. There was no leader in my team and it came at the moment when we were stuck in the project, not knowing where to begin and how to deal with a huge amount of work. Therefore, I decided to turn my role to be a facilitator. Muriel talked about her worst experience of facilitator in a team project. Without a facilitator, her team had some troubles of paying attention, misdirection, engagement and lack of dynamism. And a lot of meetings consumed the team’s energy, time and efficiency. Noora had another experience of best facilitation in her workshop in the previous job. The consultant who was in charge of the workshop was a true facilitator. He explained clearly, giving instructions, encouraging the members. He was an outsider facilitator.

We provided three approaches to facilitation with our own experience. I and Noora had best experience in facilitation whereas Muriel had the worst one. I had a version of an insider facilitator when Noora had an outsider facilitator. All of us pointed out some of the disciplines of the facilitator such as engagement, detached, caring about the process, objective… And we concluded that an outsider facilitator might have certain advantages more than an insider facilitator. Indeed, the outsider facilitator receives respect from all the members and if he has to be in the role of a bad guy, putting the discipline or giving feedback, he can be in a better position to do that than one of the members of the team. Furthermore, an insider facilitator can move forward the team, lead the team in the same direction but sometimes, objectively in the direction of his approach. Moreover, environment plays an important role to the success of a facilitator too. Relationship among the members and dynamism of the team can contribute to facilitate the work for a facilitator.