There are three lessons I’ve learned over the years of facilitating meetings and developments for groups:

• Plan more than I’ll ever need
• I need less than whatever I planned for
• Scrap the plan and stay in the moment!

Here’s an example of doing all three. Earlier this week I got to design and deliver a full day retreat for a group of about 15 people. The two areas they wanted to focus on for their professional development included Time Management and Change Management. Time Mgmt is an immediate red flag, couple that with a session on Change – and I saw the red flairs shooting up on this one. What else might be going on? After doing a couple consultations – sans leader –  (not by my design) I don’t think I got much closer to the core. 

Fast forward to day of retreat: About 75-minutes into the Time Mgmt session the Can o’ Emotions opened wide. Fear. Fear of job loss. Fear of not being in control. Fear of another year with the same lack of leadership.  Frustrated with people changing and ever-immediate priorities. 

Do I end the session on Time Mgmt on time, or do I stay with it?

I stayed with it.  And stood with it.

I asked others to stand with me.  Asking questions about control – what do you ultimately control? What might you be able to do with the rest? These questions got us into a 20-minute dialog on addressing what was ever present. 

Before we ended, I asked everyone in the group to write down the 2 things they wanted to accomplish in the session after lunch. I collected these to mold my content to fit their needs. I did have an hour for lunch – so anything’s possible. 

Scrap the plan and stay in the moment requires flexibility and confidence. This was something I didn’t have about 4 years ago when I was working with a group of 180 school teachers for an afternoon in-service. Get this. They didn’t know they had to attend until 20-minutes before I was to begin.  Sweet. And it was a sunny Friday in May. 

My focus was more on getting through the agenda than paying attention to what was smacking me in the face. 

Now, I have to say, I welcome the moment. It’s where the magic happens. 

What’s been your most fearless facilitation moment?