A Missed Opportunity: The Pitfalls of Poorly Run Workshops
Picture this: A team gathers in a meeting room for a Win Strategy Workshop. The session, scheduled last minute, lacks clear objectives. Participants arrive distracted, more focused on their emails than the task at hand. The facilitator jumps straight into a generic slide deck, walking through past lessons without real engagement. Discussions meander, dominated by loud voices with phrases such as “it’s always been done this way”, “that competitor bought the job” or “let’s not overcomplicate things” while quieter but valuable perspectives go unheard.
By the end, there is no concrete action plan—just vague agreements and a sense of having ticked a box. The team leaves unmotivated and unconvinced that anything discussed will lead to a competitive advantage. This scenario is all too common. Workshops intended to foster creative, disruptive thinking and build team cohesion often become routine exercises that fail to deliver transformative outcomes.
In many of the businesses we have worked with, the root cause is not the process or the toolkit—it’s the lack of facilitation skills that can bring strategy to life. Effective facilitation creates an environment where teams think disruptively, eliminate cognitive biases, and bond as a competitive unit. Let’s explore what facilitation is and how to elevate its impact across all aspects of capture.
The Role of a Facilitator and What Good Looks Like
A facilitator is not just a meeting chair but a catalyst for structured, productive discussions that lead to tangible outcomes. Effective facilitation ensures that workshops are engaging, inclusive, and outcome-driven. A good facilitator:
- Creates an environment where all participants feel heard and valued.
- Guides discussions without dictating outcomes, allowing for divergent thinking before converging on key decisions.
- Ensures the session remains focused, balancing creativity with a drive for tangible results.
- Manages group dynamics, ensuring that dominant voices do not overshadow others.
- Encourages constructive challenge to avoid groupthink and drive innovation.
- Dictates the pace of the workshop, allowing ideas room to breathe while maintaining forward momentum.
- Responds to emerging themes and ideas by adjusting the workshop structure to maximise output.
When done well, a facilitated workshop produces:
- Clear Outcomes – Defined actions, responsibilities, and next steps.
- Engaged Participants – A team that feels involved and committed to the plan.
- Creative and Competitive Insights – Ideas that challenge conventional thinking and differentiate the organisation.
- Accelerated Team Cohesion – Team members who bond as a competitive unit, motivated to achieve shared objectives.
With this foundation in mind, let’s explore how structured approaches like Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model can enhance facilitation effectiveness.
A Layered Approach to Facilitation
David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model [Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.] provides a useful framework for structuring workshops that drive competitive differentiation. It emphasises that effective facilitation follows a cycle of:
- Concrete Experience – Engaging in activities that surface real-world challenges and opportunities.
- Reflective Observation – Encouraging participants to share perspectives and insights.
- Abstract Conceptualisation – Developing strategies based on discussion and insight.
- Active Experimentation – Applying and refining strategies through role-playing, scenario planning, and execution planning.
An effective facilitator moves seamlessly through these stages, ensuring that the workshop is more than just a discussion of facts—it is a transformative process that enhances both the strategy and the team executing it.
Overcoming Cognitive Biases to Enable Creative and Disruptive Thinking
Cognitive biases are a key challenge in any workshop focused on competitive differentiation. Some of the most common biases that affect decision-making include:
| Cognitive Bias | Impact on Competitiveness | How a Good Facilitator Overcomes It |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation Bias | Reinforces existing strategies even when new data suggests alternatives. | Challenges assumptions by introducing diverse perspectives and objective data. |
| Groupthink | Stifles innovation and prevents critical evaluation of alternatives. | Encourages structured debate and dissenting viewpoints to stress-test strategies. |
| Anchoring Bias | Leads to underestimating competitor strategies by focusing on initial assumptions. | Introduces fresh market intelligence and competitive analysis to reset perspectives. |
| Status Quo Bias | Reduces willingness to embrace novel, riskier strategies. | Frames disruptive ideas as opportunities rather than threats, promoting change. |
| Sunk Cost Fallacy | Causes persistence with failing strategies due to past investments. | Reframes decision-making based on future potential rather than past expenditure. |
| Optimism Bias | Leads to overconfident strategies that neglect risks. | Ensures risk assessment and mitigation planning is embedded in discussions. |
| Availability Heuristic | Skews decisions toward past experiences rather than current market intelligence. | Introduces real-time data and external insights to broaden awareness. |
| Competitor Neglect | Creates blind spots in positioning and differentiation. | Uses structured competitor analysis exercises to ensure external focus. |
A skilled facilitator helps participants recognise and counteract these biases by structuring the discussion to challenge assumptions, introducing competitive insights, and encouraging divergent thinking before converging on a strategy.
The Role of Trust, Psychological Safety, and Creativity
Workshops designed to enhance competitive differentiation are not just about developing strategies but also an opportunity to accelerate team cohesion. Drawing on Patrick Lencioni’s model of team dysfunction, facilitators should aim to:
- Establish Trust – Encourage vulnerability, where participants feel safe admitting gaps in knowledge or concerns.
- Encourage Healthy Conflict – Debate should be seen as productive rather than adversarial, with team members challenging each other’s ideas in pursuit of the best solution.
- Drive Commitment—By engaging the team in open discussions, they are more likely to buy into and execute the strategy effectively.
- Create Accountability – Participants should leave with a clear understanding of their roles in executing the strategy.
- Focus on Results—The workshop should always focus on actions that lead to a competitive advantage, not just theoretical improvements.
The Mindset and Qualities of High-Performing Facilitators
A great facilitator brings more than subject matter expertise—they shape the environment, guide discussions, and maximise the group’s potential. High-performing facilitators demonstrate:
- Curiosity – Asking the right questions to unlock deeper insights.
- Emotional Intelligence – Reading the room and adapting the approach accordingly.
- Resilience – Handling conflict and resistance without derailing the session.
- Adaptability – Adjusting the process dynamically to ensure engagement and focus.
- Creativity – Encouraging disruptive thinking and novel approaches.
- Authority Without Dominance – Creating structure without dictating outcomes.
How to Become a Better Facilitator
Becoming a skilled facilitator requires preparation, practice, and self-awareness. Here are key areas to focus on:
- Preparation and Cognitive Storyboarding—Plan your workshop using cognitive storyboarding to guide participants through a logical flow and ensure that each activity and discussion contributes to the desired outcomes.
- Bringing Disparate Personalities Together – Design the workshop to bring together diverse personality types, creating an environment where every participant feels valued and engaged.
- Managing State and Addressing Bias—Learn to manage the group’s emotional and cognitive state, spotting and calling out cognitive biases that may limit creativity and decision-making.
- Using Data Ahead of Opinions – Emphasise objective data over opinions to ensure discussions are grounded in facts.
- Practising Behavioural Flexibility – Understand your behavioural preferences using tools like Lumina or other advanced psychometrics, and adapt your approach to suit different individuals and group dynamics.
- Learning from Experts – Enhance your skills by assisting or observing skilled facilitators and presenters in person and through platforms like YouTube and TED Talks.
- Hire a Coach – Organisations like Enable can coach you in these skills and help you develop your facilitation techniques.
Conclusion
A well-facilitated workshop is more than an intellectual or box-ticking exercise—it is a strategic advantage. By navigating cognitive biases, fostering creative and disruptive thinking, and accelerating team cohesion, facilitators enable teams to develop differentiated strategies that outperform the competition. Organisations that invest in skilled facilitation across all aspects of capture will improve their competitive positioning and strengthen their culture of innovation and collaboration.
Why Enable’s Workshops Deliver Maximum Impact
At Enable, our workshops are impactful by design. Every session is carefully structured to maximise creativity, eliminate cognitive biases, and accelerate team cohesion—ensuring that teams leave with actionable strategies that differentiate them from the competition. Our master facilitators bring decades of experience, blending proven methodologies with real-time adaptability to keep workshops engaging, productive, and results-driven.
We don’t just run workshops—we create transformative experiences that unlock competitive advantage. Whether it’s developing a win strategy, enhancing stakeholder engagement, or stress-testing a proposal, our facilitation ensures that your team thinks disruptively, acts decisively, and works cohesively.
Contact Enable today if you want to accelerate your team’s performance and gain a competitive edge. Let us show you how impactful facilitation can help you win faster, smarter, and more often.