A good facilitator needs to be a good listener

What helps you to seek the good of the other? How do you express your love for others?

Among Claudine “Clau” R. Banilad’s gifts is the ability to facilitate interaction between individuals. She gets people – many of whom are meeting for the first time - to talk and work with each other, learn as a group, and move towards a common goal. She shares how the simple act of listening helps her to do this.

As a person, I’ve always cherished moments that allow me to genuinely listen to people. No matter the topic, even if it’s not interesting, I still feel pure joy in simply making someone feel heard. This is especially true when it comes to children. It pains me to see the shift in their eyes, from the bright spark of excitement to a disappointed look, when they realize nobody is listening. But when they see that someone is listening, that spark transforms into fireworks of joy!

This might be why I enjoy facilitation. Before leading a youth development project, I served as experiential learning facilitator for youth development programs for seven years.

In my work as a facilitator, I’ve met participants of different personalities. Some are very talkative, others take time to speak, others never speak at all. Some participants join because they’re truly interested, while others do it because they are required by their school to join.

As a result, some participants exhibit distracting behavior.  While I find it very challenging, I always make time to listen to these kinds of participants. I talk with them casually during breaks - not necessarily to gain their participation, but to get to know them. It works every single time - by genuinely listening, I am able to see the good in them. I get to understand where they come from, why they are behaving in such a way, and what can convert them from being distractive to being participative.

So, I’ve learned that by allowing myself to genuinely listen to what others have to say, my heart becomes open to seeing the good in them. Indeed, a facilitator must be a good listener.

Who do you need to listen to? What practical things can you   do to become a better listener?

If you want to exchange insights about facilitation, you can reach Clau at Imclaudineretuya@gmail.com