CALD Women’s Caucus Chair Hones Skills on Facilitation

“Facilitation is the leadership skill of our time.”

This is the rallying call of the Anew School of Facilitation, and rightly so.  In this day and age of unparalleled complexity and uncertainty, leaders find themselves in situations when they have to navigate conflict and challenges, build connections and cultivate relations, and inspire diverse groups of people to act with purpose.

All these entail skills in facilitation, even if some leaders would not immediately consider themselves as “facilitators.”  Afterall, to facilitate essentially means “to make things easy”, and all leaders, in one way or another, are expected to make things easy in the face of varying, even competing, beliefs, ideologies and interests.

It is for this reason that CALD Women’s Caucus Chairperson Jaslyn Go travelled to London, England to be part of Cohort 10 of The Anew School of Facilitation on 14-16 May 2025.  The three-day intensive program is a “deep-dive experience into the world of facilitation and gathering design.” On the first day, what people need to connect, gather and learn well in 2025 was discussed, as well as the requisites for creating spaces for learning, innovation and connection at any setting or context. The second day looked into the essentials to gathering well, particularly how uncovering the real purpose and outcomes of gatherings support facilitators in truly meeting the needs of stakeholders.  Finally, the last day dealt with how hidden moods and emotions impact relationships and group interactions and how to manage them. It also touched on the elements of designing and executing impactful gatherings, as well as the most common challenges that facilitators encounter.

“My participation in the Anew School of Facilitation made me look at facilitation in an entirely new light”, said Go. “Prior to joining this program, I view facilitation as having control of the discussion or the conversation — but now, I know that facilitation is about creating the right environment where people trust each other so they can speak freely, build meaningful connections and act with purpose.”  Go added: “The program encouraged me to be more introspective about who I am as a facilitator and as a leader, and how this impacts my capability to bring people together, to make them feel safe, and to inspire them to take collective action.”

“We want to position facilitation as a leadership skill” said Marike Groenewald, founder of the Anew School of Facilitation. “Facilitation is not just for facilitators.”