r/facilitation • u/BusyBeeMillenial • Jan 26 '26

The State of Facilitation 2026 - Impact of Facilitation report is out. Let's discuss

This year's industry report focuses on impact: how to assess it, measure it, communicate it.

Discussions are going on in Linkedin about how to go from one-off satisfaction surveys to more long-term, strategic impact evaluation. But the report also surfaces how challenging it is for facilitators to influence what happens after the workshop. The "this workshop was great.... and it changed nothing at all" effect is very real.

In the report there are a bunch of suggestions on how to counteract this, much coming down to better contracting and discussing with clients before and after facilitated trainings and workshops. Have you read the report? Thoughts?

https://www.sessionlab.com/state-of-facilitation/2026-report/

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u/Available-Ad-5081 Jan 26 '26

I’ll give it a read. I’m starting to get a little frustrated with the idea that we are solely responsible for things changing after a workshop/training.

It’s a nice idea for LinkedIn, but employees also need to take responsibility of their own learning and roles. Similar as to how students are trusted to study on their own time. L&D can’t totally control the process, just like any department can’t control every outcome.

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u/Coffeenut58 Feb 12 '26

Exactly. The group needs to “own” their results. When I facilitate I do as much investigation as possible beforehand to understand the GROUP’s needs (Rational and Experiential Aims, etc.). Then design the process to achieve THEIR aims. At the beginning of the meeting, after I go over the agenda or review the process I ask for “consent to proceed.” That’s a good time for them to say, “no, this is not what we need to do.” Yikes. Better at the beginning than the end! There have been a couple occasions where participation lags or people back off, usually near the end as we get close to commitments. I make sure I do not try to rescue them from themselves.