We're at the halfway mark of a series of Leadership Development Workshops that S has put together. While I'm absolutely familiar with the tiers of a leadership program, I lend neither help nor expertise to this workshop. That is entirely on S. I'm the notetaker and am simply... assisting.
This week, we completed the third set of the series. The two-day workshop ran smoothly without much hiccups. The participants were interested and engaged. Behind the scenes was all of S's hard work. I didn't even help her do up the deck of slides.
I'm picky about facilitators I work with because everyone has a different approach and manner to a workshop, and I have preferences, depending on the clients and their intended audience as well. I generally don't tell facilitators why I picked them or not, because I'm mindful of their feelings. It’s unnecessary to have to overthink. What I'm looking for, is someone who doesn't come across as snooty, patronizing or middling. I don’t want them to do juvenile or silly activities. The facilitator’s tone of voice and cadence of language are most important to me. Some facilitators are just great, and some simply suck.
When I watched S lead the workshop, the image of her as my friend dissipated. In place, she had put on a facilitator's hat. It was a pleasure watching S do her job so beautifully. Each workshop takes a lot out of her. It isn't just about the content. It's the interaction with the participants and how genuine she is.
When the workshop was successfully completed, we breathed a sigh of relief. Hurrah. We adjourned to The Elephant Room for some excellent cocktails. Since we were hungry, we also had an early dinner. The bar serves up some really decent reinterpreted Indian food. The lamb shank and shredded Kerala beef were excellent, and we were hoping for a portion of carbs to go along with them, but the kitchen doesn't offer basmati rice or naan.
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