Soumyashree Chatterjee

Managerial Capability Building

Manager as Facilitator

Managers who only direct rarely build a team that can think for itself. This programme builds the facilitation habits that let a manager get better answers out of a team instead of always supplying them.

ClassroomVirtualIndoor experiential

The workplace situations it addresses

  • Meetings that consist of the manager talking and the team listening
  • Problem-solving discussions that stall because no one else contributes
  • Coaching conversations that turn into the manager giving the answer

Intended audience

  • Frontline and middle managers
  • Team leads and supervisors
  • Project leads who run cross-functional discussions

Practical learning outcomes

  • Run a team discussion using open questions rather than instructions
  • Apply a structured method to a team problem-solving session
  • Coach a team member towards their own answer instead of supplying it
  • Recognise when to direct and when to facilitate

Indicative topics

  • Facilitation versus direction
  • Coaching conversation structures
  • Running a structured problem-solving discussion
  • Managing dominant and quiet voices in a group

Learning experience and methods

  • Live-practice facilitation exercises with peer observation
  • Structured coaching role plays
  • Group problem-solving simulations
Typical duration
One or two days
Group size
[CONFIRM: recommended participant range]
Availability
Classroom, Virtual, Indoor experiential
Optional follow-up
[CONFIRM: whether manager reinforcement or follow-up sessions are included in this engagement]

Customisation options

Problem-solving exercises are built around real, anonymised operational challenges the organisation supplies in advance.

What the organisation should provide

  • Two or three real, de-identified operational problems to use in the practice sessions
  • A group of managers at a comparable level

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a generic 'meetings skills' course?
It is built around the organisation's own recurring meeting and coaching situations rather than generic templates, and it is practised live, not just discussed.

Related programmes

Planning a leadership, sales or behavioural learning intervention?

Tell Soumyashree about the audience, business need, location and preferred format. He will respond to discuss the requirement and determine an appropriate starting point.