From a discussion and blog comments back and forth with friend and TeamBuilding colleague Anne Thornley Brown of Executive Oasis, then to a Girl Scout program, I volunteered some time with for friend Tracy Diina…It got me thinking about Team Building & Leadership how to make an impact;

Making teams and leaders better, through improved team processes and individual effectiveness. Resulting in increased productivity and people who love the work they do.

Facilitating team development programs can be tough. People don’t love team building, and a percentage will hate anything you do. What matters is did you deliver, facilitate whatever you call it – the expected results.

Being involved in experiential training and development for almost 20 years now, I am still learning to make teams and leaders better. Plus, it’s still a mystery.

Thinking about this, I realized.

I quickly find what they enjoy doing with teams and individuals and do more of that.

When I find they don’t enjoy what we are doing I stop, and do something else. That is facilitation.

Resistance to the activity, facilitator, theories, application, etc.… is going to arise during your work. How you, as the facilitator, handle that is what you are paid for. Generally, you can respond in 1 of 3 ways.

• Resistance – you choose to fight the team and people and do what you think is best. Sticking to the agenda and program design.
• Knocked Down – you just fold and become a limp noodle, choosing to allow the resistance to take control of you and your facilitation.
• Find what works – you are able to listen and learn from the resistance. Listen because the resistance is an indicator; Learn from the feedback to ask questions and understand how the resistance is useful and a part of being human.

I prefer to find what works… Resistance is healthy and expected when leading any team.