The current Industrial and commercial climate has catalyzed a shift in the managerial  environment. This shift is mapped below :
                                              MANAGEMENT SHIFT MAP

                 From                                                                            To
     Management by control                                           Management by commitment
     Competitive Edge :
     Finance & manufacturing                                      (I) All competencies and competencies                                                                capabilities
                                                                                          (ii) Knowledge base of the
                                                                                       organization
    People  :
                  (I)  Safe - keeping                                        (I) Risk - taking
                  (ii) Dependence  on the                               ( ii) Inter-dependence with the
                        Organization                                            organization
                  (iii) Toe - the - line  attitude                        (iii) Independent thinkers

    Focus  :
                   (I)   Technology                  (I)  Technology
                   (ii)   Finance                       (ii)  Process
                   (iii) Values
                   (iv) Skills

   This shift has triggered the increasing importance of facilitating skills in the skill inventory of leaders.

CASE IN POINT  :        A  DIVERSIFIED INDIAN COMPANY
       A facilitative leader of a Regional sales office left the organization. He was replaced by a leader with a predominantly instructional style of functioning .
Impact on the team  :
        (1)   With in two  months of the new leader joining , all the team members had availed of the leaves accrued to them over the past 1 ½  years , which had not been taken earlier.
        (2)    More than 50% of the Team members were actively searching for a job - change.

FACILITATION SKILLS  :
          Facilitation skills may be interpreted as skills that enable and trigger high performance in work groups . The facilitation skills   experiential cases are given below :
        Since the team members have different backgrounds and motivations , it is quite natural for them to be focussing on differing  priorities.
        The leader has to consciously trigger a shared perception of the  goal , working process , resources & norms. This creates team synergy.

   Experiential case  :  In one of my outbound training programmes with a diversified Indian Company , a team was asked to achieve a specific objective in competition with other teams.
             The team leader failed to align the team to the team's strategy with respect to the goal , process , resources & norms in the strategizing session.
   Observed impact  :
a. The leader was not aware of the functioning and whereabouts of some team members.
b. Two team members , basing their actions on differing priorities , placed themselves in positions detrimental to the team's effectiveness.
c. The energy levels in the team were low to start with and subsequently kept on declining in the face of no visible results.

2.    TRIGGERING SKILLS  :   Over a period of time , a team develops a dominant way of perceiving and reacting to problems. Though this helps in case of repetitive problems , however in situations which demand new thinking , dominant mental patterns  can become major blocks to team's creative problem solving.

      Experiential case  :   In the regional sales office of  Bush Boake Allen ( BBA)  in the evening at 6 'o'clock it was found that material ( flavor) which was to be supplied to one of their major customers had not reached . This was resulting in the client's shutting down of operations.
      Reactions  :
   a.  Where is the product : it was found that the truck carrying the order was stuck somewhere in the south.
   b.  The concerned area sales manager called up their warehouse but found that the required flavor was out - of - stock.
          When appraised of the situation , the regional sales manager enabled solution finding through the following triggers :
   Trigger 1  :   Where  would this flavor be available ?
      Answer  :   Dealer

   Trigger 2  :    'Ring up' the nearest dealer and find out if the flavor is available ?
                 On finding the product available at one of the dealers , the dealer was asked to deliver it to the relevant customer.

3.   VALUE EXTRACTION  :   Value extraction refers to the skill of extracting the value from differing  perspectives , prevalent in a team. Most of the time , these differing perspectives are shot down by team members because of the prevalence of dominant perspectives. If the leader consciously visibilizes the value in a differing perspective and integrates it with the final adopted solution , the impact is as follows :
    a.  The solution improves.
    b.  The person , who gives the differing perspective becomes aligned with the team and is motivated to contribute  further.

        On the other hand, if the idea had been summarily rejected , the contributing team member may have become a detractor.

    Experiential case  :  In the packing sector of a manufacturing unit, the productivity was low because the packers used to start reading the paper packing of the  product.
      In a problem solving sessions , one team participant said "If you want them to stop reading the paper , why don't you poke their eyes out".
     The leader could  have responded in different ways :
    a.  He can say , "Please be serious"
                           or
    b.  On extracting the value from this outrageous perspective and using it as a stepping stone the leader triggered "How do we ensure that the packers don't read the paper"
          The following solutions were propounded :
    a.  Hire blind
    b.  Hire illiterates
    c.  Use other language newspapers

   On analysis these solutions were found to be viable.

  4.   INVOLVING SKILLS  :     The leader's skills of involving the team members during meetings and problem solving sessions , has a clear impact on the alignment and initiative levels within the team.

          One process of involving is given below :

    Think -----------------> Share -------------->  Present

  Think  :  Individual thinking time
  Share   :  Sharing with sub - team members
  Present : Presentation to the entire problem solving group
           The involving process is backed up by triggers for shifting perception.

 Experiential case  :    A multinational FMCG company's (name withheld) "Annual sales and marketing conference"
 

  Focus  :    Two sessions

          Session 1                                                                Session 2
  1.  Dominant style :
               facilitative                                                          Instructive

2.   Skills used :
       a. Involving skills                                                  Questioning
      b. Triggering skills                                              Presentation
       c.  Aligning skills

3.   Observable impact  :
       a. Total participation                                          Information appreciation
           b. High initiative levels                                  Involvement of 20 - 25 % of the
                                                                                       participants
           c. Valuable output                                            50 % of the participants were
                                                                                        slouching in their seats
           d. High problem comprehension and         Low comprehension levels
                                                                                     solution thinking
         In the first session , , Participation , Comprehension and Solution Thinking was very high , whereas in the second session only 20 - 25 % of the group showed signs of involvement and 50 % were slouching in their seats. The Leader in the first session had a facilitative style , while one in the second session had an instructive style. Facilitation Skills may prove to be an invaluable asset.