The Six Principles of Transformative Learning Experiences

Everything happens within a relationship.

Only authenticity is sustainable.

Listen. Ask. Speak.

Be what you are looking for.

We walk the journey together.

Let the learning emerge.

Principle 1: Everything happens within a relationship

Everything we might want to do and achieve with our participants takes place within a relationship. That relationship is with us, the facilitators, within the participants' existing groups, friendships, and associations, and within their relationship with the project. Without these relationships, nothing will happen and no learning will take place.

These relationships are crucial to the work of a facilitator but they don't happen by themselves. Relationships in facilitation, just like in our everyday lives, have to be built, worked on, and maintained. Participants must feel safe, supported, and seen. They have to trust us, our processes, and our aims and goals. Below are some useful tips for establishing and maintaining relationships with our participants:

Know your audience

Unless we know our participants it will be really hard to build genuine relationships with them. Take the time to find out what you can before you work with them, and when you do come to work with them make sure to go a little deeper and develop your knowledge of who they are.

Use people's names

This is such a simple thing, and so easy to take as obvious or even overlook completely, but using someone's name builds an instant connection with them. There's nothing wrong with using name labels or name stickers. Make sure everyone is clear on your name too - it's worth repeating from time to time for those that forget!

Make use of humour

Building a connection with others happens so much faster when we make use of humour and when we have fun together. Make sure the humour is open to everyone, avoid the temptation to make anyone other than yourself the focus of your jokes, and be inclusive, respectful, and appropriate.

Make other people the focus

As facilitators, we can often feel as though we are the centre of attention but turning that focus onto our participants can help develop an impactful relationship. Asking questions, listening attentively and thoughtfully, and being curious about who people are, what their experiences have been, and what they can bring to things will all help to establish a strong relationship for facilitation.

Principle 2: Only authenticity is sustainable

When we are working as facilitators we might think that the only way to keep people's attention is to be larger-than-life, to be high-energy, exciting, and attention-grabbing. This might get people's attention but it is a very difficult approach to sustain. Being anything other than who we really are takes a lot more effort and energy than being our authentic selves.

When we are trying to be someone other than who we really are it can make it harder to form meaningful relationships as people will see through the image we are trying to present. It will mean that people are likely to hold back or not be comfortable being themselves either, and it can mean that we aren't able to be in the moment because we are caught up in thinking about who we are trying to pretend to be.

Only authenticity is sustainable. It is only by being our authentic selves that we can form real connections with others, that we can relax and exist in the moment, and that we can maintain the energy and effort needed to do the work we need to do.

It can be vulnerable to be yourself, though. This is why trust, a safe, supportive environment, and a good working relationship with our team and with our participants are so valuable. When we have those, we can really be who are.

There are some important things to keep in mind that will help us be our most authentic selves:

Establish your core values - these will help guide you, ground you, and support you in being your most authentic self as a facilitator.
Act with integrity - hold to your values, act with honesty, courage, and consistency, and be open to admitting mistakes and accepting feedback.
Speak your truth - speak honestly and openly about yourself and your work, be willing to support others, and speak up for yourself.
Act with kindness - giving kindness and compassion, always thinking of others empathetically, and recognising how little we know of others and their lives.

Principle 3: Listen. Ask. Speak

As facilitators, the assumption is often that we are the ones with all the knowledge, wisdom, and expertise and that our participants are there to get this from us. We know, of course, that this isn't the case. Perhaps we know more about some topics than the participants but this doesn't matter - it's their experience, their learning journey, that is the point. Remembering that we aren't there as experts but as guides can remind us that we should move out of the way and let the learning happen.

A useful model to help us do this is: Listen. Ask. Speak.

Most of what we do as facilitators should be listening, watching, or observing - this can mean listening to discussions, listening to responses to questions or prompts, watching activities, and observing work or engagements. This is important because when we are listening, watching, or observing it means our participants are the ones speaking, doing, or trying.

Next, we should be asking - this can be asking questions, providing prompts, or giving stimuli. Anything that encourages action, activity, or responses from our participants. This is when we are catalysts for learning.

Finally, we should be speaking - giving instructions, providing information, and explaining ideas. This should be the least of what we do.

The important thing to remember is that the person doing the work is the person doing the learning.

That work might be discussing, playing, making, thinking etc. Whatever it happens to be, it is that person that is learning so we want to make sure that person is the participant whenever possible.

Principle 4: Be what you are looking for

If we were to write a list describing our perfect participant it might look a little like this:

Curious
Excited
Engaged
Thoughtful
Responsive
Respectful

We could probably add many more adjectives to this list as well! If we are lucky, some of our participants will be like this - most will show some of these qualities but probably not all. What is important, though, is that we show them. Whatever we want our participants to be, we must be.

There are a few reasons why this is so important. Firstly, there is an idea of honesty and equality - if we want our participants to behave and engage in a certain way then it is only fair that we do too.

Along with this is an important but often overlooked technique of facilitation. The more we are something the more our participants will be that thing. The more curious we are, the more curious they will be, and the more respectful we are, the more respectful they will be. This doesn't work perfectly but it is a very valuable way of helping the groups we work with to show the kinds of behaviours we feel are important.

The stronger we broadcast these behaviours ourselves, the clearer the message is and the more likely it is to be picked up by participants.

As a facilitator, we set the mood, tone, and approach of the whole course and the whole group so we must ensure that we are doing what we can to display the behaviours we hope to see in our participants. This is one of the things that makes facilitating so intensive and demanding but it is also one of the best guarantees of success. Every time we are respectful, thoughtful, or curious, we are showing our participants how to be that thing too, and we're signalling that this is a good and appropriate way to be.

Being someone to emulate or model behaviour on is very demanding and sets a high standard for us as facilitators. We won't always get it right, and we will make mistakes - we're human, and that's fine. But keeping this principle in mind and doing what we can to embody the behaviours, attitudes, and mindsets we feel are important can help bring others on board with the work we are trying to do and the way we are trying to do it.

Principle 5: Walk the journey together

A facilitator is very different from a teacher, even though we might think of them in a similar way. A teacher is often the source of knowledge or information whereas a facilitator is not. Unlike a teacher, a facilitator is there to go on a journey with the participants and is responsible for guiding and supporting them rather than for providing knowledge and information.

This difference often means that the experience a facilitator helps to develop and support is much less linear. It might be very different each time and for each set of participants, it might lead to different kinds of outcomes and results, and it might have different degrees of success. Understanding this and letting go of the idea that every time must be the same for every participant is crucial if we're to be at our best as facilitators.

If we use the metaphor of a journey there may be a general destination to which we are heading every time, but the route we take is going to change with every group.

This organic approach can be a source of stress as a facilitator - how do we make sure that things progress, that learning takes place, and that we arrive at the right destination if each journey is different every time? There are some tips and techniques we can use to help handle this uncertainty.

Manage your milestones - whilst parts of the journey can be free and flexible we can still have milestones along the way. Particular activities we need to do, particular learning outcomes we have to ensure take place, and even particular timings we have to make sure we hit. Establish what your milestones are and how and when you'll get there and then the journey in between can find its own way.

Keep your options open - Your participants will likely not know the full plan of your session which means that you can make changes, choices, and adjustments as you go and they will be none the wiser. A useful tool is having a small number of activities you could do at a certain point and then choosing at the moment based on the time you have available, how your group is responding, and who your participants are.

Find a balance - There is always a careful balance to be found between being open, responsive, and flexible with your participants, and making sure your course runs smoothly and effectively. It's important not to put everything on rails and dictate where things go, but that doesn't mean you need to turn everything over to your participants either. Sometimes this requires us to be open and transparent with our participants about what we are trying to do, how we are trying to do it, and why things are following the path they are.

Principle 6: Let the learning emerge

If every learning journey is different then what is learnt along the way will be different as well. There will likely be lots of learning in common with each of our groups of participants, but there will also be much that is unique to them. This is emergent learning - the stuff we can't and shouldn't predict, the stuff that surprises us, the stuff that we respond to in the moment.

One of the reasons why it is so important for us to be open to the journey as it unfolds is that emergent learning can often be some of the most valuable and if we have a firm plan in mind for our participants then none of this can appear. There are some important ways that we can help this emergent learning to develop in our facilitation:

Collaboration - working with others, and helping others work together, not only brings new ideas to the table, but also gives new opportunities for those ideas to connect, combine, and create. Ensuring we work collaboratively, and in a way that lets ideas find each other helps new learning emerge.

Uncertainty and ambiguity - when the answers are clear and certain it is hard for new learning to emerge, but when things are uncertain, ambiguous, and complex there is space for learning to take place. Helping participants navigate this uncertainty by giving context, support, and ways of working is an important role of the facilitator.

Reflection - a lot of the learning that will come from our facilitation will appear after we've done the activity, played the game, or had the discussion. Giving participants the chance to think, reflect, share, and interpret what they have done and the experiences they have had gives an important space for valuable learning to emerge.

Being a bridge

Mastery of anything takes time, effort, and dedication - and facilitation is no different. Working to improve, reflecting on our practice, and taking our work seriously (but not ourselves!) all work towards building that mastery.

As facilitators, we don't have to worry about the pressure of being the expert, knowing all the answers, or getting things wrong. We're guides on a journey, walking the same path as our participants, finding new learning opportunities, and helping build collaborative, shared experiences.

If we remember to be human beings we have nothing to worry about - we are all experts at that.

At its core, all facilitation is about helping people move from where they are when they join us to where they need to be - as facilitators we act as that bridge.

For this process to unfold in a way that has lasting impact we need to focus on building empathy, establishing trust, designing supportive processes, and exploring with a spirit of curiosity and adventure. If we can bring these things to our facilitation we will always have success, whatever form that success takes.