A Facilitator is a person who makes something easier for others to understand or do. Facilitators also help to make things happen on behalf of others, in circumstances where they have no interest in the outcome. Facilitators should therefore be apolitical, with no personal interest in the outcomes of the meeting.
Meeting facilitation requires the facilitator to manage meeting dynamics, and perhaps logistics, so the parties to the meeting can focus on content, rather than process. With this in mind, meetings often benefit from having the usual Chair replaced by an expert facilitator for purposes of running the meeting, for 2 reasons: (1) an expert facilitator will be more experienced and skilled at running meetings than most, but certainly not all, Chairs and (2) with the facilitator in control of the meeting the Chair is better able to focus and participate fully on the subject matter of the meeting, rather than being distracted by process considerations and feeling under pressure to lead the discussion. The facilitator can present issues and withdraw from the discussion, which may encourage others to speak up.
Facilitation is an advanced negotiation skill. Meeting facilitation involves bringing structured processes, meeting skills, rules and discipline into meetings to help them run better, and be more productive. Introducing an external facilitator into meetings that don’t usually run smoothly due to competition, conflict or lack of respect between participants can produce quantum changes in process quality, very quickly.
Professional meeting facilitation is especially useful for complex and difficult negotiations and conversations. Participants tend to remain more focussed and civil when a stranger is in the room.
We use a standard format and support package in meetings we facilitate. They’re designed to suit general meetings and family business board and council meetings, in particular.
Our standard meeting facilitation approach has 3 main components and we provide training to familiarise participants with these items, and to develop custom wordings for individual groups, in advance of important meetings or processes (eg: strategy or succession plans). They are:
- Meeting Processes and Procedures.
- Draft Code of Conduct for Meetings.
- Problem Solving and Decision Making Processes, including voting rules.
Facilitators model good meeting management skills, which encourages skills transfer and professional development in some participants.
Another aspect of professional meeting facilitation is that the facilitator usually has access to tried and tested templates for agendas, minutes and action plans, as well as surveys, questionnaires, briefing papers and other support materials for workshops.
If you need meeting facilitation services, for meetings or workshops, please call, or contact: The Solutionist Group.