This week on Superpowers School podcast, I sat down with Emily Gardner — trainer, speaker, and author of The Path of the Guide — to unpack what facilitation really means in 2025 and beyond.
What I love about Emily’s perspective is that she doesn’t treat facilitation like a job title.
She treats it like a mindset — a way of working that anyone, at any level, in any industry, can adopt.
“Facilitation isn’t something reserved for workshops and whiteboards,” she said.
“It’s something we do every time we guide a conversation, bring clarity to a room, or help people collaborate better.”
The problem?
We’ve buried this skill under corporate jargon.
We’ve assumed it belongs to “other people” — the official facilitators.
But you’re probably already doing it.
And now’s the perfect time to get intentional about it.
AI is Coming for Knowledge Work — Not the Relationships
Here’s where this conversation really hit home.
You can automate code.
You can outsource content.
You can even get ChatGPT to generate a workshop agenda.
But you can’t automate trust (yet).
You can’t replicate psychological safety (yet).
You can’t teach a bot how to read the energy of a room and gently steer the conversation to something meaningful (yet).
“Facilitation is about holding space,” Emily says.
“It’s about helping people navigate complexity. It’s relational, not robotic.”
And in an age where AI is absorbing more and more of our cognitive tasks, facilitation is a deeply human skill that technology can’t replace (yet).
Practical Tips You Can Use Right Now
Facilitation doesn’t have to mean leading workshops.
Here are two subtle but powerful things you can do in your next meeting:
1. Create psychological safety
Just say this at the start:
“All ideas are welcome — even the half-baked ones. We’re here to explore, not to judge.”
That one line can shift the energy of the whole room.
2. Balance airtime
Use the chat feature in a remote setting. Do a quick “go around” where everyone gets 30 seconds.
Introverts get to speak. Dominators pause and listen.
Suddenly, you’ve got real collaboration.
It doesn’t need to be complicated.
Facilitation is about creating moments of intention in environments that usually run on autopilot.
Rethinking the Icebreaker
Emily’s golden rule?
“Don’t call it an icebreaker.”
The word itself makes people squirm.
Instead, she suggests breaking an opening activity into one of three types:
Mindset-relevant: Shift the thinking by challenge everything we know about something we’re familiar with (e.g. "A restaurant – what if it were a place for offering health tips?")
Environment-relevant: Tap into culture (e.g. "What’s one song you’ve got on repeat right now?")
Topic-relevant: Anchor to the session (e.g. "What brand are you most loyal to – and why?")
These are just a few ways to invite people in. To say:
“You belong here. You’ve got something to offer.”
The Most Powerful Question You Can Ask
Before your next meeting, ask yourself:
Where are we starting from, and where do we want to get to?
That simple “from → to” mindset creates a transformation.
It brings focus. It brings purpose.
And it subtly nudges the group from “discussion” to “progress.”
If you want to go deeper on how you can start to build a facilitator’s mindset then check out Emily’s awesome book, The Path of the Guide.
“Facilitation isn’t about leading the room. It’s about lighting the path.” — Emily Gardner
Guest: Emily Gardner
Emily is a trainer, facilitator and speaker specialising in innovation and facilitation skills. Her passion is empowering people from all career stages and backgrounds to create more productive and inclusive workplaces that solve problems faster and launch better products. Across her career, Emily has equipped over 1000 innovators and 250 facilitators.
Her work has taken her across the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds, from small charities such as Reason Digital to global foundations and industry heavyweights like Generali.
Her previous work, creating and leading training business the Ninety Academy, was awarded Silver at the Learning Awards for Learning Provider of the Year 2024.
With her background in financial services innovation - developing propositions and growing the innovation program for a well-loved UK PLC - she brings empathy and nuance to the challenges of implementing new approaches in traditional organisations.
Website: https://www.emilyfacilitates.com/
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