From Content to Application: Lessons in Effective Facilitation

About fifteen years ago, we went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to certify to deliver Franklin Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Franklin Covey is a publicly traded company founded by Dr. Stephen Covey over forty years ago. Franklin Covey route to market is through direct offices (offices managed by Franklin Covey Corporate directly) and international partners – the indirect route – through partners like us. Our firm is CEMM, and we are the exclusive licensees for selected countries in East and West Africa. In this context, we went to South Africa to learn how to operate a Franklin Covey international partner office.

The Journey Begins

The onboarding process included learning the business operations and how to facilitate content. For a new licensee, our first content was the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. A content, best-selling author, Jim Collins, called “the operating system for personal and interpersonal effectiveness”. According to Jim Collins, management guru and author of “Good To Great”, among others, “Covey created a standard operating system—the “Windows”—for personal effectiveness, and he made it easy to use. He was an excellent writer, a master of short stories and conceptual wordplay. I will never forget the story in Chapter 1 about the man on the subway who could not control his screaming kids (and the point it makes), nor will I ever forget the lighthouse, the wrong jungle, or the analogy of the golden eggs. Some of his conceptual wrapping paper worked exceptionally well, being both descriptive of a concept and, at the same time, prescriptive in its application.”

Learning from the Master

Learning to deliver this standard operating system led us to Johannesburg. Led by Sangita Skilling, a master facilitator, we knew the content and experienced the principles of adult learning embodied and modelled for us. It was a remarkable experience. I came away with a strong focus on the content and committed to knowing and applying the content as well as embedding the content in how we set and operated our office in Kampala. That was over fifteen years ago, and over five thousand lives were touched through direct delivery and use of our online learning management systems.

As I reflect on my journey as a facilitator, I have learned a number of things about effective classroom delivery.

Five Key Lessons in Effective Facilitation

Through years of facilitating workshops across Africa, I've identified five critical insights that distinguish effective content delivery from merely presenting information.

1. Value is in the Eye of the Participant

First, the value of the content is based on the value that the participants ascribe to it. I recall a colleague who told a team of senior leaders from one of Uganda’s premier hotels, “You all need seven habits!”. That may be the case; however, seven habits, like any other “serum” (to borrow from the words of John Whitman, Chairman and one-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Franklin Covey), are effective when applied to a specific ailment. In other words, diagnosis before prescription. The only exception to this is if you are consulting with an oracle, who depends on the oracle for diagnosis. While our experience shows that some clients may not be thoroughly familiar with the content, they have a sense of what they would like to achieve, and that is a great place to start.

2. Experience Matters as Much as Expertise

Second, while content expertise is required, the facilitator's experience with the subject matter is just as necessary. According to Professor of Adult Learning and critical theorist, Stephen Brookfield, “First of all, I want those organizing the workshop or leading the session to be experienced practitioners who understand the dilemmas, pressures, and problems that I face. I’ll take them seriously if I feel I will learn something useful from them that will help me do my work better. I want the institute leaders to have been around the block a few times because this will help them suggest some routes through the typical classroom dilemmas, pressures, and problems I face. I‘ve usually given up valuable time to be at this workshop, so convince me early on that you have something important I need to know about, and I’m hooked.”

3. Skillful Process Design is Essential

Third, the skill of the Facilitator to use a multiplicity of processes that will enable reflection on concrete experiences, use of real situations, develop mindful awareness, and encourage critical awareness about one’s context. The key is to serve participants in a way that facilitates learning. The content provides a skeleton that will house the experiences of the participant and Facilitator, and sometimes our experiences may not fit the bone structure. For example, it is tough, as we found out in a session in Bujumbura, Burundi, that the idea that we are product of our choices and decisions (a principle from Habit one, in the seven habits), did not go well with a group of European staff of a non-governmental organization working with vulnerable women and children in severely distressed conditions. I did not have the skill to create activities that could have demonstrated this principle, instead of “telling”.

4. Question Your Assumptions

Fourth, my assumptions about participants are not always accurate. For example, I assumed earlier that adults are inherently resourceful and can solve their problems with limited prescription from the Facilitator. According to Stephen Brookfield, lecturing is an effective way to provide foundational grounding in the unfamiliar subject area, and lecturing can open up exciting new intellectual territory, clarify complex concepts, and challenge students to rethink familiar assumptions and consider alternative viewpoints. This is a point I missed in a session I facilitated at our local Church in Kampala on Facilitator Enhancement. At that session, I spent most of the time getting the Facilitators to develop their own curriculum for the enhancement process without first lecturing on the why, what, how, and when of Enhancement. I recall one of the participants who courageously said, “When are we going to get the meat?”.

5. Love as the Foundation of Learning

As we master content, process, and technique, a deeper principle underlies all effective facilitation. This insight transcends cultural and philosophical boundaries, appearing in ancient wisdom and modern educational theory.

The Apostle Paul, writing in First Corinthians 13, reminds us that we can speak eloquently, possess excellent knowledge, and even have faith that moves mountains, but "without love, we have nothing." Drawing from Paul's description, effective facilitators cultivate an environment that is patient and kind, free from envy and boastfulness, humble rather than proud, honoring to others rather than self-seeking.

This same principle echoes through the work of Paulo Freire, the influential Brazilian educator and philosopher. Freire declared that "education is an act of love, and thus an act of courage." He emphasized that love in education isn't "soft or sweet," but rather "affirmative love"—love that accepts learners while pushing them to grow, making educators "more and more responsible" for their students' development.

Both perspectives converge on a crucial truth: love for participants—genuine care for their growth and development—must be the foundation of our practice. This isn't about sentimentality, but about creating psychological safety, demonstrating genuine interest in participants' success, and maintaining faith in their capacity to grow and change.

Freire's insight that love requires courage resonates deeply with my facilitation experience. It takes courage to challenge participants' assumptions, to create activities that might initially feel uncomfortable, and to maintain high expectations while providing unwavering support. Love in facilitation means being willing to serve participants' long-term growth even when it requires difficult conversations or challenging processes.

A learning environment built on love creates fertile ground where the seeds of learning can truly take root. Content knowledge and facilitation techniques are important tools, but they come and go. What remains is the love we bring to the learning experience—love that provides the safety, belonging, and trust necessary for meaningful growth. This growth isn't merely about accumulating knowledge but about developing the capacity to navigate the complexity of modern life with wisdom and confidence.

Conclusion

Effective facilitation is both an art and a science, but ultimately, it's an act of love, as ancient wisdom and modern pedagogy affirm. It requires deep content knowledge, practical experience, adaptive skills, and the humility to continuously examine our assumptions about learning and learners. Most importantly, it demands genuine care for the people we serve.

The journey from Johannesburg taught me that excellent facilitation happens when we serve as bridges between powerful content and meaningful application in participants' lives. But the bridge itself must be built on a foundation of love that creates trust, safety, and the courage to grow. Whether expressed through Paul's patient kindness or Freire's affirmative commitment, this love transforms education from mere information transfer into genuine human development.

After fifteen years and hundreds of interactions, I continue to learn. Each workshop offers new insights into the delicate balance between structure and flexibility, teaching and facilitating, and content and application. The most rewarding moments come when participants don't just understand the principles—they transform their approach to challenges in their personal and professional lives.

This is the accurate measure of effective facilitation: not just the transfer of knowledge, but the transformation of practice, rooted in an environment where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to become their best selves. Ultimately, we facilitate learning and liberation—the freedom to grow beyond our current limitations and embrace our fullest potential.