Harnessing Energy in Facilitation: A Founder’s Story
The difference between running a meeting and leading transformative sessions often boils down to one often-missed ingredient: energy. Whether you’re guiding a project team, leading a workshop, or facilitating important decisions, how you show up sets the tone for everything that follows. Want to know the secret to unlocking your team’s engagement and commitment? It starts with understanding how much power is within your control, and what happens when you give it away.
How I Learned a Valuable Lesson About Energy
The founder of our company tells this story about how he learned a valuable lesson about energy:
It was 1989, and a partner from Ernst & Young said to me, “Michael, do you realize how much power you give up when you facilitate?”
To say, “I was offended,” would be an understatement. And yet this partner was offering me an amazing gift that it took me four years to unwrap. He was trying to get me to understand what we now call the 3 Es of Energy.
In the video I describe the four-year journey it took for me to unwrap the gift and get the lesson, but here are the Cliff Notes –
High energy does three things. Almost everybody knows about the first, many people know about the second, but very few understand the third.
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High energy ENGAGES the participants. High energy is, more often than not, more interesting to listen to than low energy.
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High energy ENERGIZES the topic. Your energy around the topic stimulates others to be interested in the topic. (“This must be interesting…at least the session leader seems to think so.”)
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High energy ELEVATES the facilitator. High energy projects confidence. It makes it look like you know what you are doing. It projects you as a leader and an authority on whatever the topic is.
But, if high energy projects confidence, what do you think low energy does? And therein lies the lesson that the partner was trying to teach me, a lesson that has served me well for over 30 years.
Check out his video to hear more:
Take Your Project Team Further
Here’s the truth: mastering energy isn’t just a lesson from the past, it’s the key to leading successful, aligned teams today. If you’re ready to transform your influence, drive results, and empower your project groups to reach their highest potential, it’s time to level up your facilitation skills.
Our Facilitation Skills for Project Managers course is built on this foundation. Learn how to engage, energize, and elevate every project meeting, and put these lessons into practical action. Your next great breakthrough starts with how you show up—and the energy you bring. Join us to unlock your full power as a facilitator and project leader.
About the Author
Michael Wilkinson is the trailblazing Founder of Leadership Strategies, renowned as the foremost provider of professional facilitators and facilitation training in the US. As a Certified Master Facilitator and a Certified Professional Facilitator, Michael’s expertise is in high demand as a trainer, facilitator, and keynote speaker. With a track record of leadership in the facilitation industry, including roles as past president of the Southeast Association of Facilitators, creator of the FindaFacilitator.com database, and founding board member of the International Institute of Facilitation, Michael is a leader in the industry. Dive deeper into his wealth of knowledge through his acclaimed books, including The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy, The Secrets of Facilitation, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and CLICK: The Virtual Meetings Book.
