By Dave Opsahl, Managing Member Sagemark LLC 

Dave Opsahl

As new chair of the Facilitator Committee and six-year Opportunity Knocks member, I can testify that facilitators are without question the lifeblood and most important success factor in Opportunity Knocks. With the recent increase in new members, there has also been a rise in new facilitators, either to support new groups, or to fill openings in existing teams. One of the goals of Opportunity Knocks leadership is to ensure that each team has two facilitators, and this accounts for a majority of the added facilitators. One of the questions that new facilitators ask frequently is what makes a good facilitator?

With that in mind, I would like to suggest what I believe are the three most important skills a facilitator new or experienced should aspire to develop and, in the words of the late Steven Covey, continuously strive to sharpen the saw.

Listening

As facilitators we need to be able to listen with objectivity and empathy  a mix that is sometimes difficult to achieve. Too much empathy and we can not say something that might need to be said; too much objectivity and we lose the human element of a situation or a problem. Opportunity Knocks members are business people, but have families and relationships outside of their work, and too often those get neglected.

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