How to Explain Facilitation to Your Mom?

Is it only me, or do you also struggle to explain to your mom what it is that you're doing when you say you're a facilitator? Well, try the example of a dinner party. When you're inviting guests to a dinner party, you don't expect them to bring their own food. But this is exactly what many managers actually do when they invite their team members to a meeting. Instead, we are very sure that those we invite, we really want to have around the table. We also know about potential allergies. We think of a special menu and we buy the ingredients to prepare before the guests arrive. We have prepared the food so that we don't have to spend all the time in the kitchen and we don't get this weird time in between. We also make sure that the guests actually get along or have to add something to each other and can enjoy the time they spend together, maybe even take away something. And afterwards, we sent them a message thanking them for being there and trying to follow up to make this experience a meaningful moment for everyone.