Invest in Leadership Facilitators to Transform Development

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes the workplace, the question on everyone's mind is: Will technology replace the need for human skill and, in the case of leadership development, will learning options no longer require in-person connection?

Quite the opposite, actually. Companies that frequently use instructor-led training are 3.9X more likely to report their development programs have improved leadership capabilities. Put simply, while digital learning has transformed how leaders develop their skills, human connection remains irreplaceable.

This is where leadership facilitators play a crucial role. The right facilitators create impactful learning environments, ensuring development is engaging, relevant, and transformative. But what makes a great leadership facilitator? And how should organizations decide whether to use internal or external facilitators? Ahead, we dig into why there couldn't be a better time to invest in leadership facilitators.

What Is a Leadership Facilitator?

A leadership facilitator is a trained professional responsible for guiding leadership development sessions. Unlike traditional instructors who focus solely on delivering content, facilitators actively engage participants, foster discussion, help leaders develop critical skills, and create an environment where learning is applied in meaningful ways. They do all this while ensuring that training is practical and aligned with organizational goals.

Essential Competencies for Leadership Facilitators

Whether your organization chooses external partners or internal team members, all facilitators must master these four key competencies:

1. Facilitation of Learning

Lead learners through course concepts to accomplish course objectives using appropriate facilitation techniques suited to the audience's characteristics, experiences, and needs.

Facilitators demonstrate this skill by:

• Providing clear directions for learning activities and exercises
• Explaining the purpose of the course content and its components
• Using engaging learning aids
• Presenting a road map of the course or unit
• Making transitions
• Summarizing key learning points
• Explaining the benefits of the course and its content for the company, team members, or the learner

2. Engaging Communication

Convey and seek information and ideas in a way that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message.

Facilitators demonstrate this skill by:

• Holding an audience's attention
• Providing and seeking examples and analogies
• Sharing relevant business/industry, organizational, and personal context
• Using appropriate verbal and nonverbal techniques
• Acting as an advocate for the course and its components

3. Guiding Learners

Provide timely guidance, coaching, and feedback to help learners understand content and strengthen their skills. Keep them moving through course activities in a timely, purposeful way.

Facilitators demonstrate this skill by:

• Providing timely coaching to learners
• Appropriately redirecting learners
• Using process skills, such as checking for understanding and making procedural suggestions, to move things forward
• Managing time effectively

4. Facilitator EQ (Emotional Intelligence)

Establish and sustain trusting relationships by accurately perceiving and everyone’s emotions and behavior, including their own. They should use these insights to effectively manage their response to situations and serve as a positive model.

Facilitators demonstrate this skill by:

• Managing emotional classroom situations
• Maintaining or enhancing learners’ self-esteem
• Listening and responding to learners with empathy
• Encouraging learner involvement

These four competencies enable facilitators to create a safe learning environment, respond to learners’ needs, and promote behavior change.

The Difference Between Internal and External Facilitators

Facilitators have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness and impact of leadership development. An ineffective facilitator who does not create an atmosphere of psychological safety can negatively affect learning, even with the best training models and content.

Conversely, great facilitators can take learning and practice to a much higher level. When planning leadership development initiatives, organizations face a key decision: Who should facilitate live training sessions? There are two primary options—internal facilitators and external facilitators—each with distinct advantages.

Benefits of External Facilitators

External facilitators are an excellent option for HR departments managing multiple initiatives or operating with lean learning and development teams.  Rather than delaying development programs until internal team members can find time to prepare and facilitate, external support offers an immediate solution.

Key benefits of partnering with external leadership facilitators include:

Benefits of Internal Facilitators

If you are exploring internal facilitation, it's essential to consider whether your team members have both the capacity and the necessary capabilities. It may be worthwhile to train HR professionals or managers as facilitators if they have the right skills. Internal facilitation offers a few advantages:

Internal facilitators must be carefully selected and trained to ensure they can create a safe, engaging, and effective learning environment. HR professionals might be able to carve out the time to facilitate the training but lack time to prepare. Managers and business leaders may be familiar with situations that learners face but lack the skill to handle sensitive or uncomfortable discussions in the classroom. Plus, even when leaders are great facilitators, their positional authority might prevent learners from sharing their experiences or exposing weaknesses or lack of confidence.

Facilitation requires a unique blend of expertise, interpersonal abilities, and organizational awareness. In addition to the four competencies in the earlier section, here are more criteria to consider when choosing internal facilitators:

• Organizational Awareness: Does this person know about systems, situations, pressures, and culture inside the organization to identify potential problems and opportunities? Can they perceive the impact and implications of decisions on other parts of the organization?
• Communication: Is this person capable of clearly conveying information and ideas? Can they do so in a way that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message?
• Continuous Learning: Is this person a champion for continuous learning? Do they regularly create and take advantage of learning opportunities?
• Adaptability: Is this person comfortable adjusting to work within new structures, processes, requirements, or cultures? Can they support others using leadership skills to help them maintain effectiveness during significant work changes?
• Motivational Fit: Does this person find it personally satisfying to facilitate others' learning?
• Facilitating Change: Can they facilitate implementing and accepting organizational change?
• Facilitation of Learning: Can this person create an environment that fosters learning? Can they use appropriate interpersonal styles and techniques to facilitate learning and gain commitment?
• Planning and Organizing: Can this person create plans to get work done efficiently?
• Building Strategic Working Relationships: Does this person develop collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals?

The right facilitators create impactful learning environments, ensuring development is engaging, relevant, and transformative.