Virtual Facilitation

16Manage the Energy

Figure 16.1

Now you know about being on top and creating engagement. The next step is to focus on the energy. This is somewhat connected to engagement, but deserves its own chapter as it is crucial for a good session. As the facilitator, energy is an important parameter to keep in mind and be able to work with in different ways to suit yourself and your audience. Remember that energy is something that you can influence. You have the ability to turn it up, turn it down and direct it towards the important stuff during your session. Just as with engagement, variation is key.

Too much or too little energy in a meeting can be counterproductive. As the facilitator, you need to make sure that the energy level is just right for the activities you've designed. Do you need creative energy for ideas on implementation of a new strategy? Do you need deep focus for difficult problem-solving? Both these scenarios call for different energy, and as the facilitator it's your job to create the right energy during the session.

This aspect of virtual facilitation is very much about sensing your audience and working with energy. Energy is relatively closely connected to involvement and engagement, but it's subtly different. When we talk about energy we often talk about it on four levels:¹

• Physical energy: How much energy do we have?
• Emotional energy: Are we connected with ...