10 Simple Strategies for Sparking Breakthroughs in Your Live Sessions

It's easier than you think.

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

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.