The Front Lines of Facilitation

Long before leading stakeholders in an organization would gather around a conference table to identify future goals and determine the actions necessary to achieve them, strategic planning took place in a setting far removed from the boardroom: the battlefield.

Originating from the Greek word strathgia (defined as the art of generalship), strategy was the province of military leaders from the days of ancient Greece through the end of World War II, when military terms and concepts first infiltrated the business world. In a recent article for “Stanford Social Innovation Review,” Dana O’Donovan and Noah Rimland Flower note the similar assumptions shaping the art of war and the art of mid-century executive management:

• The past could typically be counted on to predict the future.
• Quality data was limited and hard to obtain.
• With unreliable lines of communication, “[s]mall numbers of clear directives were a tactical imperative,” regardless of whether the recipients of these orders were soldiers or employees.

Today, however, business conditions demand a more dynamic approach to strategic planning. Christopher G. Padgett, PCC, and principal for Growth Revolution Inc., offers a 21st-century definition for this critical management activity: “Strategic planning is a competency and process that enables an organization to convene, envision a future and prioritize resources.” Its value to an organization can’t be overstated. “Given the rapidly changing markets that most businesses operate in today, it plays an increasingly important role in the success of an organization. It enables leaders within organizations to rise above the clutter and noise of day-to-day operations and envision what’s next.”

Often, an organization’s leadership needs help to rise above the clutter and noise. This is where a strategic planning facilitator can be invaluable, lending support and structure to the planning conversation. With the appropriate training and experience, professional coaches are well-positioned to offer this service and to reap the benefits of an additional income stream, a widened client base and the increased likelihood of being contracted to provide multiple services to a single client.

For some coaches, including Christopher, strategic planning facilitation is a centerpiece of their practice. “I created Growth Revolution in 2010 … because I saw a need in the market for high-quality leadership coaching and facilitation services in organizations,” he explains. “Growth Revolution’s mission is to help leaders envision, ignite and achieve growth … [and] strategic planning facilitation is at the core of what we do.”

Depending on the number of stakeholders involved, the group dynamic and the overall condition of the organization (Christopher says the best candidates for strategic planning include “organizations that are ‘stuck’”), strategic planning can devolve into a process that’s circuitous and ultimately fruitless; it might even turn contentious. A skilled facilitator can help smooth the path of communication so participants can focus on formulating a vision and action plan. “Mature leaders can be particularly effective [facilitators] if they’ve successfully worked with diverse groups of people and are comfortable helping a group working through conflicting agendas, making the necessary and tough sacrifices, and coming to a shared vision that moves an organization forward,” Christopher says.

In addition to promoting more productive communication, strategic planning facilitators might also be called upon to elicit greater creativity from process participants. Mary Jo Asmus, PCC, and founder and president of Aspire Collaborative Services LLC, says she made an effort to promote “playfulness” when she began facilitating strategic planning sessions over a decade ago as an additional income stream for her burgeoning executive coaching and consulting business. She believes her training as a coach gave her an edge here. “Coaches can have fun with it,” she says. “I even brought artwork into the process, having everyone create drawings to help think through their vision.”

Christopher identifies several behavioral competencies and strengths that he perceives to be central to the practice of facilitation. “Excellent organizational skills, a personable and calm demeanor, the ability to command a group when necessary, the ability to clearly articulate expectations, and the ability to work with a highly diverse group of Type A people are some of the skills you need to be able to develop and ultimately master,” he says.

Mary Jo and Christopher agree that coaching and facilitation are premised on complementary—and at times even synergistic—skill sets. “You can use coaching skills to facilitate,” Mary Jo explains. “It’s really about facilitating a conversation, and that’s what coaches do well.” However, both coaches also believe that their success as facilitators was based on their corporate experience: Christopher spent 12 years directing a corporate function within a Fortune 500 company, and Mary Jo is a former Fortune 100 executive. “I’m not sure that someone without a business background could facilitate a strategic plan,” Mary Jo admits.

Like coaching, strategic planning facilitation is an unregulated profession; as such, there are no explicit educational requirements for prospective facilitators. However, Christopher points to a plethora of education and certification options. His own certification is in Compression Planning, “a system that is based upon the storyboarding model originally developed for the Walt Disney Company.” Even with the diverse educational programs available, Christopher says that experience is the best teacher. “I’d encourage any coach who is interested in learning more to identify and offer to assist a mentor and be open to developing your skills as an apprentice. … You can [also] cut your teeth by volunteering to help a community group or small nonprofit organization.”

In addition to providing additional income, offering facilitation services can boost the bottom line on the coaching side of your business. “We cross-promote our services to clients,” Christopher says. “Coaching clients hire us to assist them with strategic planning and strategic planning clients often hire us to coach the people who are tasked with carrying out the organization’s vision.” Mary Jo points out that the latter approach can be crucial to a strategic plan’s successful implementation. “Nobody likes to go into an organization, work with them, and not get results,” she says. “Organizations [implementing a strategic plan] will benefit from the ongoing intervention of a coach or consultant.”

Although adding strategic planning facilitation to your coaching practice can yield professional and personal rewards, Christopher cautions that this business move isn’t for everyone. “Working with one client as a coach and working with a larger group as a facilitator require [two] different skill sets,” he asserts. “If you’ve become an ICF-credentialed coach, you already have a lot of foundational competencies that can help you become a successful facilitator—but there are more skills needed to successfully facilitate groups.”