The Importance of Being Earnest

Our job as group facilitators is to take fun seriously. We tell our clients that we are there to facilitate teambuilding, communication, collaboration, and group cohesion; buzzwords that garner nods of approval. But ultimately our role is to accomplish two things: “permission granting” and “facilitate fun”.

Facilitating teambuilding is something that cannot be phoned in. There is a toxic adage that says, “fake it ’til you make it” which is something that wouldn’t last two seconds in the teambuilding world.

Permission Granting

Create a safe space for people to play. When you create a playground you allow socially awkward, anxious, fearful, shy, introverted individuals a chance to be themselves around a group of their peers. Because we all know that awkward, anxious, fearful, and shy individuals do not behave that way on their own, nor are these defining qualities of their characters. These are behaviours that people adopt in order to fit into their environment. But when someone who often presents as quite shy, is empowered to contribute you might be shocked to discover that not only do that have insightful ideas but are also hilarious.

Permission granting is permission giving. When you give permission to take off the mask of social coping techniques then you give permission for people’s best qualities to shine. After all, anti-social behaviour is a protection of the parts of people they value in themselves the most. Games, and effective facilitation speak to this by saying:

“Ok, for the next two hours I give you permission to be silly, try something new, and push yourself out of your comfort zone”,

and when you do this that’s when the magic happens.

The facilitator takes responsibility. As a facilitator of a “team building” exercise you take on the responsibility for silliness. This allows everyone participating to behave in ways that might otherwise garner gossip around the staff room. As a facilitator you give people an easy out to say to themselves, “well, I wouldn’t normally do this but I have to do it to win the game”, before jumping up and down barking like a dog. In the realms of teambuilding games embarrassment is an act of courage. If you can facilitate this in an event then congratulations, you have gone a long way toward “teambuilding”. Which brings us to the trans-formative power of having fun.

Facilitate Fun

Once you’ve given permission to have fun, then you have to let them do it. You’ve done the work in creating a space where people feel permission to let down their social and professional barriers now you need to reward them for it.

Intrinsic Rewards VS Extrinsic Rewards. What feels better? Winning, or winning a prize? Winning is an intrinsic reward, the players self validate their success and are provided with an internal sense of satisfaction. It can feel very pleasing to know that you were a part of a team who was able to get the fastest time, or achieve the highest points. In effective teambuilding events the only way to achieve these outcomes is through communication and collaboration, so you feel more in touch with your team mates too. Extrinsic rewards are the perks. You might win a medal, a gift voucher, free drinks, or maybe just a handshake from CEO but all of these provide a sense of value in what they bring to the winner.

Intrinsic rewards are a powerful, Extrinsic rewards are valuable. You want your team to win intrinsic rewards. As a facilitator this can be a confusing thing to witness from the outside. You might see a large group share an in joke that cracks up the room yet leaves you mystified. When generating digital content you might think it is of low quality and sure to garner a negative review but then the team couldn’t be happier. Intrinsic rewards are shared group feelings that help create a bonded dynamic within that group. You want to make sure that your teambuilding events are intrinsically rewarding first. And extrinsically rewarding second.

A trophy looks good. If you group facilitation event managed to make everyone laugh, bonded groups, and had the whole room working together as a team but lacked an extrinsic reward then you might find yourself on the negative end of a bad review. Extrinsic rewards are about showcasing value as a company. You, as the event provider, are rewarding the client with a trophy. This says “our product has value, here is your prize from us”. As you are the permission giver and facilitator of fun then you also stand in as the authority. The trophy you give the winning team at the end says “you are worthy, in our eyes”. This further validates the value of showing courage during the event.

The Wrap Up

Grant permission and facilitate fun, but only do it if you want to. Because you, as the facilitator, are standing in as the value creator, contributor, and authority then you must believe in your own product. No one is going to feel safe to push their own limits and move outside of their comfort zone if they can sense even a modicum of insincerity from you. You must be willing to be the example, so you must also be willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone and give yourself permission, and most importantly, create your own fun in front of a group for them to believe that they can to.

In order to be an effective, earnest, group facilitator you must give yourself permission to have fun so that others can too.