It has a significant place…that of conductor, servant leader, and guiding light, as well as intervener and counselor.
Facilitation in group and individual settings has produced startlingly impactful results in situations where one might have thought the breakdowns in communication or relationships or leadership behaviors would have brought the organization onto its knees. In fact, figuratively, often that has already happened.
Don’t choose just any facilitator. It takes rare insight, creativity, reflecting in action, quickness, patience and tolerance, faith, and confidence to take a group (or individuals) through an emotionally challenging place where hurt and fear have likely already set in and related defensiveness, anger, disappointment, and other difficult emotions have filled the room and situation. Good facilitation can pull this apart strand by strand until participants feel safe to speak up, cared about, and willing to enter into an unfolding discussion about what is wrong in the meeting, company, the department, or between groups of people or between individuals. Left unchecked, these problems can keep people from working together effectively and compromise the quality of work life significantly. Addressed, these issues can impact process improvement efforts significantly in a positive way.
Don’t assume the problems will go away by themselves! They often only get worse and pit people against each other, inhibit otherwise productive and enjoyable meetings, and make the emotional environment sometimes so painful that no one wants to participate anymore in the original objectives.
Just look for that rare and great facilitator. They are not ordinary people. They have unusual courage, honesty, and insight; highly developed communication skills, and a very good sense of humor. They will make you laugh, they will take you places mentally and emotionally in relation to the work situation, that you never thought possible. They will help to change the outcomes to a better situation. You will often find the experience to be amazing and inspiring. Give it a chance if you or your group is in trouble!