âhumiliatingâ is big word to use here⌠kinda think if you donât think it needs to be perfect, then itâs likely not gonna feel that way⌠(but maybe thatâs point the article is making though : D )
Thank you for sharing this Emily @emme! Itâs perfect timing since the upcoming Ambassador meeting is about facilitation.
I agree with @JayElf that âhumiliatingâ is such a strong choice of words here. I like to think of facilitation as a practice, where you grow your self-confidence to support people interacting or learning in a moment in time.
From overhearing friendsâ conversations about their first time leading an ice breaker or other seemingly awkward social formats, I would consider using âembarrassedâ or âcourageousâ to describe some of those feelings. Facilitating is not something that comes easily to many people.
In facilitating the Ambassador meetings and the online activity workshops, I currently think about how to engage people in genuine connections and trust. But when I first started, it was a strange experience of âwow, people are actually quiet and listening to what Iâm sayingâ and âam I saying the right thing?â and âthis is kinda scary.â Over time, seeing the results of how I infuse different values, Iâve grown more confident that the way I plan and run those workshops and meetings (orchestrate might be a good word here), people will be inspired, will connect, and have a great time. Because it has happened many times. Mostly Iâm really grateful for having an incredible and kind audience of library professionals.
Thank you for sharing! I think many of us (if not all of us) can relate to the feelings expressed in this article. We should all give ourselves more grace when it comes to building our facilitation skills, because we encourage the people in our programming to learn from their failures - why shouldnât we do the same? I love the âhappy little accidentsâ school of thought that Bob Ross had. All we can do if we mess up or misspeak is roll with it, and either correct it or try something different. 