10 Simple Strategies for Sparking Breakthroughs in Your Live Sessions
10 Simple Strategies for Sparking Breakthroughs in Your Live Sessions
It's easier than you think.
As facilitators, teachers, and trainers we can’t create a breakthrough for our learners.
But we can create the conditions for a breakthrough to happen.
A breakthrough can be described in a number of ways:
👉A new insight.
👉A profound realization.
👉An aha! moment.
👉A moment of clarity.
👉A ground-breaking discovery.
👉A deeper understanding of a situation.
👉Finding a new solution to an ongoing challenge.
Life is full of breakthroughs.
Big and small. And we have them more often than we realize.
Breakthroughs can be life-changing because they often come with a new solution or new course of action.
But when we don’t open space in groups to the possibility of a breakthrough, we miss opportunities for creative ideas, innovation, and deeper learning.
Here are 10 facilitation strategies that can spark breakthroughs for your group members.
1/ Help open people’s minds. Breakthroughs happen when we are receptive to new thoughts and ideas.
Tip: Give a prompt question in chat “Something that has surprised you recently.”
2/ Create a positive atmosphere. Insights happen when we feel happy rather than anxious.
Tip: Start with a fun warm-up activity that builds connection and joy.
3/ Challenge participants to focus on the here and now. New insights come to us when we are not constantly distracted.
Tip: Create a group agreement to “be present”.
4/ Make it OK to fail. Breakthroughs happen when we experiment with new ideas in a judgment-free zone because it exposes us to more solutions.
Tip: Start with low-risk activities and gradually increase the risk.
5/ Give participants quiet time for internal reflection. This gives the mind time to wander, which primes us for aha! moments.
Tip: Do a guided visualization followed by a timed freewriting exercise.
6/ Engage the body. When you warm up the body you increase receptivity and capacity for breakthrough moments.
Tip: Include stretching and/or movement in the warm-up activities.
7/ Create a supportive space for making sense of experiences. You can help gently nudge learners to rethink old assumptions, create new mindsets, and open new pathways for action.
Tip: Build in time for reflection and sharing of experiences after activities.
8/ Ask powerful questions. Asking open-ended questions like ones that start with“what” and “how” questions helps your learners challenge assumptions and mindsets.
Tip: Ask questions like “what would happen if…?” and “what stops you from…?”.
9/ Deep dive individual challenges with the group. Witnessing other people having breakthroughs can spark our own breakthroughs to happen.
Tip: Use techniques like a “hot seat” to explore one learner’s challenges in depth.
10/ Accompany your learners. Facilitating breakthroughs requires you to be emotionally present and responsive to your group members.
Tip: Check in regularly, be curious, and hold space for your group.
Hi, I’m Gwyn.👋 I am a Facilitator and Experience Designer based in Barcelona, Spain. I’m on a mission to help you design & lead engaging live online sessions that get better results for your groups. I run a 5-week live online cohort-based course called Breakthrough Facilitation. I write a weekly newsletter called The Quest with actionable insights and tips for leading live online sessions. And I offer 1:1 coaching and custom training programs. Visit www.gwynwansbrough.com to learn more.
Subscribe to The Quest 👉 here.