There are currently only around 400 Certified Professional Facilitators (CPF’s) in the world. I was pretty excited to achieve my certification in December 2020, and here’s why it matters.

Facilitation is a pretty unregulated industry. Anyone can market themselves as a Facilitator and it can be difficult to know the calibre of the person you are working with until it’s too late. The Certified Professional Facilitator assessment is a quality mark that recognises six core competencies a facilitator needs to help you meet your brief:

  • Create Collaborative Client Relationships
  • Plan Appropriate Group Processes
  • Create and Sustain a Participatory Environment
  • Guide Group to Appropriate and Useful Outcomes
  • Build and Maintain Professional Knowledge
  • Model Positive Professional Attitude

 

Take it from me, it’s a rigorous process! An in-depth peer review of my experience, knowledge, skills and facilitation practice, left no stone unturned in determining my suitability for the award. Throw into the mix that the whole assessment moved online mid-way through, and you’ll see why I’m really chuffed to be the first person in Europe to be digitally Certified in Facilitation.

As well as being a quality mark, the process also provides useful insight. I gained perspective on the great bits of my practice – the ability to connect with others and guide groups with clarity, and the places where there is space to grow – a need to give participants more time to explore. It’s a valuable endorsement for the steps I had planned for my CPD.

 

Should you hire me because I’m a Certified Professional Facilitator?

Absolutely not!

You might really dislike me and how I do things. Being a CPF means you can be confident I will design and implement a process with your needs at its core, and that I take my professional development seriously. However, for a project to run well we’ve both got to feel like we can work together to reach the outcomes you need. If this kind of ethos works for you, then let’s have a chat and see if we like each other (and if we do then, yes, you should probably hire me)!