Facilitation is more than workshops
When people realize a meeting isn’t working, they often say: “Let’s make it a workshop!”
Have you ever been in one of those? The meeting gets renamed, the chairs are moved around, someone brings sticky notes… and somehow it’s still the same old meeting in disguise because it is still running on autopilot.
👉 Tell me about it in the comments — we’ve all been there.
What a Workshop Actually Is
A workshop is a type of meeting designed to achieve a specific outcome through active participation.
It’s meant to be interactive, spark creativity, and help people generate solutions together.
Workshops look attractive in pictures — playful, fun, colorful — with everyone contributing. (Meaning: it’s not one or two people talking at the rest of the group while everyone else reads emails. 😅)
But — and this is key — a workshop doesn’t automatically mean that it is facilitated.
Facilitation on the other hand is a way of running any meeting.
Let´s clarify that difference by running through an example together.
What Happens in an Unfacilitated Workshop
Before the meeting:
The team says, “We want to be more creative — let’s have a workshop.”
Someone googles some fun activities, builds a rough agenda, and sends a calendar invite.
During the meeting:
You follow the agenda loosely.
People share ideas — some land, others drift.
Energy spikes and dips.
By the end, everyone had fun but is also slightly unsure if anything concrete was accomplished or decided.
After the meeting:
A quick “Thanks everyone!” email goes out.
The good intentions fade.
Sounds familiar? 🤔
What Happens in a Facilitated Workshop
Before the meeting:
A customization call happens between the facilitator and the team lead to clarify the exact goal.
The facilitator then designs a customized process that reverse engineers the outcome— selecting activities, pacing, and structure to lead the group there. The activities are playful but also deeply purposeful and fit into a strategy for the entire event. ( i.e not just random fun)
The final agenda is shared so everyone arrives prepared and aligned.
✨ Magic moment #1 : A skilled facilitator knows which activities create the right energy, emotion, and behavior in a group. Designing a meeting strategically — choosing the right sequence and structure — is more than half the battle. ✨
During the meeting:
On the day, the facilitator arrives early, sets the space, and ensures everything is ready — materials, room flow, energy.
Once the session begins, the facilitator guides the group through each step:
Reflecting dynamics
Asking clarifying questions
Surfacing tensions or blind spots
Keeping momentum toward the goal
If the plan isn’t landing, the facilitator adapts — switching order, reframing, or redesigning in real time.
✨ Magic moment #2 : A good facilitator reads the room in real time. They sense the topics, tone, notice who’s speaking (and who isn’t), feel the energy shift — and adjust the process live to guide the group toward clarity and flow. ✨
After the meeting:
The facilitator captures and reflects the outcomes — key insights, decisions, next steps — and sends a concise summary to close the loop.
Facilitation is not just for workshops
An unfacilitated workshop depends on luck, personality, and good intentions. It leaves people drained and uncertain.
A facilitated workshop depends on structure, clarity, and design. It leaves people aligned, energized, and clear on what’s next.
This difference applies to all meetings because facilitation is not meeting-specific. It covers the full spectrum of group conversations, from playful ideation to difficult leadership discussions.
Facilitated meetings don´t always look shiny or fun (like a workshop) because facilitation adapts to your requirements. Sometimes good facilitation is actually about making things seamless.
Whatever you want your next meeting to be, we can help you get there. Just book a discovery call below to know more or check out our offers.
