Building resilience and capability: Shaping the future of Morgan Sindall Construction

The role of the facilitator

Rather than instruct participants on the ways in which they should think and act, the role of Cranfield’s faculty in the Senior Business Leaders Programme – as with much of CED’s work with Morgan Sindall – was that of facilitator. Strategy expert Doc McKerr explains: “When it comes to strategy, leadership, marketing – whatever the topic may be – there are fundamental principles that can be applied in different places. “As faculty, we put in the work to get to know a business, but we can never understand it and its industry fully. If we did claim to, we would find that people sat back and waited for us to tell them what they needed to do; the dynamic would shift. “We believe people and businesses gain far more benefit from us acting as facilitators. We learn enough to be able to ask the right questions, to join the dots, to get them thinking, and to be able to challenge someone on what they’re saying if necessary. “I’ve got 20-odd years of experience in business and leadership. In the room with me, there are 20 Morgan Sindall colleagues, and if they all have 20 years’ experience that’s 400 years. My job is to harness all that knowledge and experience in the room, piece it together, add in my 20 years, reshape it, repackage it and help them discover what it means for them. “There’s a time and place for expert help – but the when, where and how is crucial.”

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