Ask, Not Tell

I have had a few great learning experiences in Feb.   First, I facilitated a one-day planning workshop in Shanghai for the HR team in Mainland China.   Then, I attended a TTT class for a managerial course in Singapore.   Right before the Chinese New Year, I facilitated an offsite meeting in Hong Kong for the HK HR team.

I have learnt a lot from these.   For example, in the Singapore event, I saw my fellow facilitators from different countries in action.   They are very skilled and I learnt a great deal from them!   There are so many things I want to write about.   However, since Feb started, work became very hectic.  Got to find time…..

The first thing I want to reflect on is my ‘journey’ to become more flexible at my facilitation.  In the past 1 to 2 years, I have noticed how rigid I tend to be.  Thorough preparation is a good thing.  But sometimes I get too upset when things are not in place.  Or I can be easily disturbed when the event does not progress as I plan.

I in fact mentioned something on flexibility before in this blog e.g. see my post back to late 2008 – Preparation – the fine balance between ‘task’ and ‘people’

Anyway, back to the Feb events.  I consciously pushed myself to act flexibly.  For example, during the Singapore event, I proposed some last-minute change in my teach-back session.  Since my session was moved to after-lunch, I decided it is better to run the ‘action’ part before the ‘discussion’ part.   It worked well at the end.   And I am glad that I received positive feedback.

And in the HK event, I also made some changes and added new things on spot e.g. the way to collect participants’ feedback.   (It worked OK but I realized that it could be better if I have prepared more.)

I am glad that I am progressing on this ‘flexibility’ journey.   And reflecting on these, I think it is a balance, again.  I should prepare as much as I can.   But then on spot, I should be ready to change, including even abandon the original plan.