My Long and Unexpected Career Journey to Becoming a Well-paid Pro Facilitator
Hey Facilitators, I know many of you are just starting out in the field - I thought it might be interesting for you if I shared my journey to becoming a full-time facilitator.
Of course - your journey can be much faster than mine!
2010: I finish my studies in Italy, internship in Germany, and start a full-time Management Consulting job in Prague.
2011: In my first year as an analyst in Management Consulting, I have no clue what I’m doing. But I’m doing it every day till the late hours of the evening. So it must be worth the time.
2012: I’m getting the hang of what I’m supposed to do. I’m becoming the Master of PowerPoint and the Wizard of Excel. I also join this strange club called “Toastmasters” and conclude that public speaking could be a cute little hobby.
2013: During my days, I learn how to swim with the corporate sharks. During my nights, I entertain people with my speeches about my teenage dating life and piña colada.
2014: Promotion in Management Consulting. My salary doubles. Nice. But also a feeling that what I truly love is being in front of people and teaching them stuff. That I do in Toastmasters. In my free time. For free.
2015: After overdoing it a little at work (E.g. working 32 hours straight without sleep, ending up not having the strength to click a mouse), I quit Management Consulting and join MSDm for a more relaxed job. With more “free time,” I start winning some public speaking contests.
2016: I decide to become “famous” in Toastmasters. I do PR stunts such as adding Pulp Fiction slides to trainings about creativity and making people sing Britney Spears songs in my trainings.
2017: In MSD (the company I work for), I propose to our local L&D: “You don’t need to pay the external trainers. I can do the trainings for free. And better.” The local L&D have doubts, but they give me a chance.
2018: The reviews of my trainings in MSD get EXTREMELY positive. Now I get to do a LOT more trainings. The only problem is: It doesn’t seem like something I could make a career in.
2019: I hear there is a “Design Thinking Team” in MSD. They do “workshops” for the top management. I ask them if I could join them. They tell me: “Look, you’re not a hipster.”
2020: Covid hits. I become a hipster. AND I learn how to run online workshops in Mural. I am allowed to work with the Design Thinking Team.
2021: I join the Design Thinking Team - and now I do workshops full-time. In December I do something life-changing (as a Facilitator) - I join AJ&Smart’s Workshopper Master program.
2022: Thanks to experience at work & skills and frameworks learned in Workshopper Master, I establish myself as an expert on Facilitation in my company. I become a people manager, leading 2 junior facilitator colleagues. Requests for external work start pouring in.
2023: The opportunities to run workshops and trainings skyrocket. I’m thinking of ways to help my colleagues build up their facilitation skills faster. Organizing internal events & facilitation training. More requests for external work pour in.
It's been a ride so far - and I’m enjoying it
Thank you for being part of it!
29
29 comments
Lukas Liebich
4
My Long and Unexpected Career Journey to Becoming a Well-paid Pro Facilitator
Public group
The community for Facilitators, or those interested in becoming a Facilitator, to get together and share insights, resources, and advice!
Leaderboard (30-day)
powered by