Facilitating for success

Every day about 25 million meetings take place in corporate North America; half that time is wasted.

Researcher Steven Rogelberg surveyed employees and found that professionals spend 5.6 hours a day in meetings. We can all relate to the feeling of gloom the surveyed employees expressed when sitting in unproductive meetings with piles of work waiting on their desks.

I have a game I play in one of my workshops where we look at the cost of holding a series of meetings over the course of a year. It’s quite shocking to realize your organization has just dropped $30,000 for last year’s departmental meetings.

The reasons for failed meetings are well documented, they include:
• No meeting objective
• Agenda incomplete and not sent out prior to the meeting
• Lack of clarity on roles
• Meeting does not start on time
• The agenda is not followed
• Conflict is not managed
• The meeting does not move toward resolving an issue/s
• Actions and deadlines are not assigned.

All of the above are valid. However, in addition to solid meeting management I’d like to suggest that we also need good facilitation skills for effective meetings. Let me explain.

We tend to work very much in isolation; often people come together from different parts of the organization to complete individual pieces of the pie. When we meet, it’s to get the big picture and to make decisions to move the process forward. However, given our cultural inclination to avoid confrontation and crucial conversations, we tend to revisit the same issues and our meetings become exercises in frustration.

Meeting management is defined as the process of planning, monitoring and coordinating all components of a meeting. Facilitation, on the other hand, is leadership by consent. Facilitating a meeting is different from leading a monthly organizational meeting using parliamentary procedure. The facilitator is a neutral guide who takes an active role in guiding the process.

When you become a facilitator, you share responsibility with the group members for progressing toward the goals. As facilitator you act as a guide, drawing out wisdom in the room as you move the participants forward in a particular direction.
Recently I had the pleasure of facilitating a series of management meetings with a very specific purpose. Initially I was participating very actively, by the last session my presence was superfluous and the group was self managing.

This is the process I use for facilitation. I hope you find it useful.

Stage 1 – Prior to the meeting
• Clarify purpose and objective of meeting.
• Develop an understanding of the issues
• Explore any previous sessions – reviewing strengths and weakness of those sessions
• Look at potential conflicts between participants
• Confirm expectations for you as facilitator
• Develop and send out the agenda
• Prepare materials and logistics for the meeting
• Agree on process / methodology of the meeting
• Confirm roles and responsibilities
• Establish group norms and rules for meetings

Stage 2 – During the meeting
• Begin the meeting and establish the meeting objective
• Keep everyone on track with the agenda
• Challenge thinking
• Help the group create lists of important points
• Summarize the issues from time to time
• Share ideas when they can help the meeting progress
• Provide handouts when needed to clarify the main points
• Raise questions to bring out different viewpoints
• Guide discussion
• Restate ideas when the person presenting them is not clear
• Provides constructive criticism when, for example, a person or people attempt to dominate the meeting
• Take notes
• Conclude the meeting.

Stage 3 – After the meeting up
• Report back in a fashion that ensures the process will move forward
• Follow up with people who committed to actions in the meeting.

Nicky Fried is the principal of Nicky Fried Consulting Inc. She helps organizations to translate strategy and change so that employees understand where the organization is going and how they support it through their daily actions. Learn more about us at www.nickyfried.com or read her blog at www.nickyfried.blogspot.com .