How to Promote Engagement & Learning from Each Other

As a facilitator, I always strive for maximum engagement and shared learning among participants (even when I'm the subject matter expert and presenter). How do I promote this. Sometimes, it's as simple as asking one question .

Recently, I was asked to make a presentation to a group of CEOs who had gathered specifically for the purpose of networking and learning and sharing best practices. Over the months since their inception, they had seen a series of presentations on a variety of topics, followed by Q&A—followed by less than satisfied CEO's at the end of the session. The sponsor of this group asked me to try to increase the meeting’s level of interaction , since they were trying to create a place where these executives would feel comfortable sharing and seeking advice from each other.

This request was music to my ears. I am a firm believer that there is already a great deal of knowledge when I enter most rooms where I will make a presentation. As far as I’m concerned, my role is simply to facilitate their recollection of this knowledge and their ability to share it with others in a way that can be heard.

For this particular group, my assumption was true—in spades. The CEOs very much longed to interact with and learn from one another. The title of my discussion was "High Performing Teams Start at the Top" , so I asked them to think for a moment about a leader who had a profound impact on them. Their answers to this question became each CEO’s introduction to the group that morning.

With each story that was told, you could see people becoming more engaged—with each other, with the learning opportunity, with the connections to the issues that they faced at their own organizations—all because each person had allowed others a glimpse into what their unique view of what a leader is . There was so much communication during the introductions, in fact, that I ended up having to make some time adjustments for the rest of the presentation.

At one point, I offered the group a choice— to either break into smaller groups to discuss a series of questions, or to stay together. The response was a resounding demand to stay together. They had bonded so well and learned so much through the memorable stories they had shared that they didn’t want to lose that sense of cohesiveness.

Moreover, the sponsors couldn’t have been happier; this is exactly what they had envisioned when they had formed the group months ago.

What can you do to enable your group or team to learn, bond and grow stronger?