Your Facilitator

John J. Hagedorn

Director, Master Facilitator
Better Training Solutions S/B

150+

30+

Years of experience

Happy clients

John J. Hagedorn is a corporate trainer, facilitator, and consultant specializing in the development of high-performance teams. For more than 30 years in Malaysia and across the Asia-Pacific region, he has worked with managers, team leaders, and professionals to improve the way people communicate, collaborate, make decisions, and perform together.

During those years, John became increasingly interested in a deceptively simple question: Why do some groups of highly capable people develop into effective teams while others do not? His work has given him the opportunity to observe thousands of people working together in training rooms, workshops, management programs, facilitated meetings, and team interventions across different organizations, industries, professions, and cultures.

That experience has shaped his approach to Facilitating High-Performance Teams -- a practical methodology that helps team leaders and project managers recognize how teams develop, undend what a group needs at different stages of that development, and adjust their leadership accordingly. Rather than trying to create teamwork for people, John teaches leaders how to facilitate the conditions in which teams can develop more quickly, take greater ownership, and ultimately perform with less dependence on the leader.

John has delivered professional development programs in 20 countries to more than 25,000 participants. His corporate clients have included Citibank, Siemens, Standard Chartered Bank, Petronas, Motorola Technologies, Thai Airways International, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, and B. Braun, among many other international and Malaysian organizations. His earlier client history demonstrates an unusually broad exposure to teams working in financial services, technology, manufacturing, aviation, energy, healthcare, and professional services.

John’s approach to team development also draws on his parallel career as a professional facilitator and certified drum circle facilitator trainer. Working with groups through rhythm taught him something that conventional management training often overlooks: a facilitator does not need to control a group to influence its performance. The skill lies in observing what is happening, recognizing what the group needs, intervening appropriately, and knowing when to get out of the way.

A writer as well as a trainer, John has published professional articles, training materials, and long-running newspaper columns on business communication. He is currently bringing more than three decades of observation, experimentation, and facilitation together in his forthcoming book, Facilitating High-Performance Teams.

John has lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur since 1986.