Being a leader can be tough; being an effective leader can be even more challenging, especially if you don’t incorporate some facilitative leadership skills that are known to have the highest impact during these complex, ever-changing, and chaotic times. It is not uncommon to hear that leadership is a complex concept defined as the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of an organization. For many years, being a good leader has involved being able to perform a task with an appropriate level of interpersonal skills, professional knowledge, and operational ability to achieve the assigned goals. Why? Not only are there an enormous number of factors to take into consideration when leading teams, but it is no longer practical for an organization to conduct its operations without some kind of teamwork.
A longitudinal, multi-level study on leaders using facilitative skills, conducted and reported by Greta Mazzetti and Wilmar B. Schaufeli in 2022, found that these facilitative leadership skills are conducive not only to work engagement but also to team effectiveness. So, how do you know if you are a facilitative leader, or what you need to do to become one? Enter the International Institute for Facilitation (INIFAC), Certified Facilitative Leader™ accreditation, and the opportunity for leaders to assess themselves against a rigorous set of criteria.
The facilitative leader holds discussions where everyone feels heard and everyone understands who is responsible and accountable for the actions developed and agreed upon. Using a facilitative leadership approach is proven to create engagement and better results. This is why INIFAC has created the Certified Facilitative Leader™ credential. A credential to address an important need in the field of leadership today.
INIFAC has defined six competencies for leaders to possess to be a Certified Facilitative Leader™
- Presence: Projects confidence in own skills and their ability to lead the team.
- Development: They consciously and deliberately model desired behaviors and coach team members to develop further.
- Communication: Has the ability to relay information skillfully, adapting their style to resonate with others.
- Collaboration: Safeguards the process, facilitates interaction, and patiently deals with the level of frustration.
- Professional Standards and Ethics: Through their behavior, they adhere to a code of conduct that includes legal, ethical, and moral standards appropriate to local laws, customs, and practices.
- Results-Oriented: Taps into the expertise, skills, and talents of their team members, developing a strategy to produce high-quality, measurable results while having a positive impact on satisfaction, engagement, and performance.
The Certified Facilitative Leader™ is focused on helping a team by working to optimize talent and leverage the strengths of everyone to work and mobilize results. They transform talents to make things happen. One could say they are activists within organizations. These leaders assist individuals and teams in becoming more effective. They create a culture of commitment and accountability. They are purpose-driven and work to align the team to their mission. They use interactive dialogue to tap into the talents of each group member and influence the team without micromanaging. Depending on the situation, they lead without control. They serve as the champion for the group by promoting recognition, providing resources, and overcoming obstacles. They encourage the celebration of milestones.
How do you know when your team has a facilitative leader? The leader inspires and motivates people to deliver outstanding performance. They are resilient when breaks in communication channels occur because they have strong collaboration skills and continually search for ways to engage the team to continually learn, adapt, evolve, and improve. A team with a facilitative leader will experience:
- Interdependence. The team works on important issues, and each team member has a stake in the game.
- Risk-taking. Individuals are willing to take risks with full awareness of the existence of accidents and in an unpredictable environment.
- Joint decision-making. All members are involved in decision-making (when appropriate) and agree to participate.
- Equal influence. Each person has the ability and the opportunity to influence the direction under consideration.
- Determination. Each person involved does not settle for just what is doable; instead, each person exceeds everyone’s expectations.
- Appreciation. Everyone is appreciated and respected for the unique and diverse talent they bring to the process.
You can tell when leaders are exhibiting Certified Facilitative Leader™ competencies because you will see them recognizing and leveraging the immense energy and potential that reside in each person’s source of beliefs, values, and motivation. Sadly, these types of inclusive environments remain largely unacknowledged and untapped in most organizations. With knowledge, a willingness, and a focus on using the competencies of the Certified Facilitative Leader™, a team could optimize efficiency, increase high-performance, and create outstanding results.
For more information about Certified Facilitative Leader™ competencies or assessment process, and requirements, visit https://inifac.org/certified-facilitative-leader/
Written by Eileen Dowse, PH.D., CMF and CMLF