Good coaching and facilitation brings out the best in people. When you facilitate you encourage people to grow. When you lead with command and control, you just get their hands to carry out the task. You don’t even get the best part of their minds, their creativity.

Good facilitation is like the true story of the Buddha statue. In a small country in Asia, some Buddhist priests had an ancient Buddha statue on their monastery property. It was covered with old plaster and caked on mud. One monk decided to wash it off and clean off the poor looking covering. To his astonishment, he uncovered a statue of pure gold. Carefully, all the monks finished the clean up job and polished up the gold to have a beautiful statue adorning their monastery.

Some research uncovered the story behind the statue. Long ago a foreign army was invading the country and approaching the monastery. The monks feared the army would carry off their gold stature. They covered it with plaster and then a mud coating so that it looked worthless. Their trick worked. As their country remained occupied, the monks died off until no one remained who remembered the original condition of the statue.

Facilitation is like uncovering the original gold statue. You look for a person or group’s gold underneath their average or below average behavior. You see their potential. Then you point out their potential to them. If you are sincere and persistent, they will slowly rise to their potential. Often it is not a quick clean-up job, but rather, a long time of chipping off the plaster and mud to uncover their gold.

It helps to have skills in facilitation, which we can teach you, but it is mainly a matter of consistently encouraging people to reach higher. This art of encouraging and inspiring is a key skill for leaders and for some types of professional work.

What sometimes gets in the way is a desire to prove yourself. You want to show everyone how much you know and how useful you are. You naturally want to look smart. Looking smart may get you compliments, but it does little to facilitate others to step up to the challenges. Instead, you need to listen carefully to learn how they see things. Then as much as possible, you support their agendas and approaches.

You can improve your ability to “Coach to Bring Out the Best in People” through our individual and Group Executive Coaching (http://www.EmotionallyIntelligentLeadership.com),
and Self-Study Program (http://www.EagleAlliance.com/services/gec/ssinfo).