me token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion,

Leaders and managers report that they spend a significant amount of time in meetings which are poorly run and do not produce meaningful results. It doesn’t take many of these ineffective meetings to derail internal processes, stagnate decision making, and frustrate employees and managers. The best way to avoid this pitfall is to structure meetings using some proven facilitation techniques that will keep the team focused, constructive, and on track.

What is meeting facilitation?

Meeting facilitation takes place when a neutral person (the meeting facilitator) assists an organization in conducting productive and efficient meetings involving multiple parties, participants, and/or complex issues. Thus, a good meeting facilitator will make sure that a positive and proactive tone and agenda are set, the participants are prepared prior to the start of the meeting, there is a balanced level of engagement from everyone attending, and action items are clearly defined and owned prior to adjourning.

When should a professional meeting facilitator be used?

A meeting facilitator is most beneficial when teams need to tackle high-stakes, complex, or important issues, or when participants may be difficult to control.

However, when the group’s leader assumes the role of facilitator in these meetings, trouble can follow. It is virtually impossible for the leader to be neutral on content issues, which is a prime requisite for an effective facilitator. When group leaders facilitate their own meetings, they often cross the line into control and advocacy for their point(s) of view. In turn, this will shut down participation from others. Drifting from the agenda, lack of balanced participation, and running overtime are additional problems that can plague these meetings. Separating the leader and facilitator roles will help ensure that at least one person is focused on group process issues, managing the agenda, and keeping people involved.

A professional meeting facilitator can help members of a group get to know each other, learn to cooperate, and work issues together in real time. Having a skilled facilitator run a meeting will also help direct the energy and thoughts of the members to the task at hand so they can move forward in difficult or stagnant times. Such meetings might include retreats, brainstorming exercises, strategic planning and problem-solving sessions.

Why is meeting facilitation important?

Meeting facilitation has become a more important communication skill in recent times. Many organizations have restructured in an attempt to involve more employees in the operations and decision-making of the company, and thus organizations are relying more heavily on the input of individual employees in a wide variety of decisions. By the same token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion,

x issues. Thus, a good meeting facilitator will make sure that a positive and proactive tone and agenda are set, the participants are prepared prior to the start of the meeting, there is a balanced level of engagement from everyone attending, and action items are clearly defined and owned prior to adjourning.

When should a professional meeting facilitator be used?

A meeting facilitator is most beneficial when teams need to tackle high-stakes, complex, or important issues, or when participants may be difficult to control.

However, when the group’s leader assumes the role of facilitator in these meetings, trouble can follow. It is virtually impossible for the leader to be neutral on content issues, which is a prime requisite for an effective facilitator. When group leaders facilitate their own meetings, they often cross the line into control and advocacy for their point(s) of view. In turn, this will shut down participation from others. Drifting from the agenda, lack of balanced participation, and running overtime are additional problems that can plague these meetings. Separating the leader and facilitator roles will help ensure that at least one person is focused on group process issues, managing the agenda, and keeping people involved.

A professional meeting facilitator can help members of a group get to know each other, learn to cooperate, and work issues together in real time. Having a skilled facilitator run a meeting will also help direct the energy and thoughts of the members to the task at hand so they can move forward in difficult or stagnant times. Such meetings might include retreats, brainstorming exercises, strategic planning and problem-solving sessions.

Why is meeting facilitation important?

Meeting facilitation has become a more important communication skill in recent times. Many organizations have restructured in an attempt to involve more employees in the operations and decision-making of the company, and thus organizations are relying more heavily on the input of individual employees in a wide variety of decisions. By the same token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion,

l on content issues, which is a prime requisite for an effective facilitator. When group leaders facilitate their own meetings, they often cross the line into control and advocacy for their point(s) of view. In turn, this will shut down participation from others. Drifting from the agenda, lack of balanced participation, and running overtime are additional problems that can plague these meetings. Separating the leader and facilitator roles will help ensure that at least one person is focused on group process issues, managing the agenda, and keeping people involved.

A professional meeting facilitator can help members of a group get to know each other, learn to cooperate, and work issues together in real time. Having a skilled facilitator run a meeting will also help direct the energy and thoughts of the members to the task at hand so they can move forward in difficult or stagnant times. Such meetings might include retreats, brainstorming exercises, strategic planning and problem-solving sessions.

Why is meeting facilitation important?

Meeting facilitation has become a more important communication skill in recent times. Many organizations have restructured in an attempt to involve more employees in the operations and decision-making of the company, and thus organizations are relying more heavily on the input of individual employees in a wide variety of decisions. By the same token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion,

in real time. Having a skilled facilitator run a meeting will also help direct the energy and thoughts of the members to the task at hand so they can move forward in difficult or stagnant times. Such meetings might include retreats, brainstorming exercises, strategic planning and problem-solving sessions.

Why is meeting facilitation important?

Meeting facilitation has become a more important communication skill in recent times. Many organizations have restructured in an attempt to involve more employees in the operations and decision-making of the company, and thus organizations are relying more heavily on the input of individual employees in a wide variety of decisions. By the same token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion,

me token, professionals in many areas are increasingly being asked to work as members of cross-functional groups. Effective and engaging facilitation has become a critical and required skill for coordinating the ideas and contributions of diverse sets of people within any company. Facilitators play an essential role in these meetings by encouraging teamwork, driving decisions, and maximizing the overall organizational effectiveness of today’s companies.

The role of the facilitator

In summary, a professional meeting facilitator is an unbiased discussion leader who will guide the meeting and keep it focused. While he or she should be familiar with your market or topic of discussion, they are not content experts and should not be positioned as such. He or she will not make decisions for the group, but will suggest ways that will help the group to move forward. Prior to the meeting, the facilitator will work with team’s leader to develop the agenda, identify goals, determine the most effective decision-making process (e.g. consensus vs. majority vote), and evaluate the success of the meeting.

Facilitators:

* Remind the group of the meeting’s objectives
* Set ground rules for behavior and interaction
* Establish a safe environment in which participants feel comfortable contributing ideas
* Ensure a balanced discussion by helping shy members come forward with contributions and limiting input from members with more overbearing personalities
* Use active-listening techniques and paraphrase contributions to confirm understanding, making sure the group heard them
* Keep track of time
* Record agreements reached
* Track issues and assign action items

Facilitators do not:

* Play the role of a content expert (although they should be familiar with the topic)
* Advocate particular opinions or take sides
* Offer their own opinion or try to persuade others
* Let the group unconsciously shy away from difficult issues

Facilitation in Action:

Improving the PRD process:

Aspect wanted to strengthen the teamwork between product managers and product marketers and help them get to the “next level” of operational effectiveness – specifically in the development and ownership of Product Requirements and Market Requirements Documents. Mike Gospe facilitated a series of meetings and workshops to help the team brainstorm on process improvements and agree on an action plan that mapped to the road map.

Listening to the voice of the customer

Citrix runs several customer focus groups and advisory sessions every year. While using product managers to run the technical sessions, Citrix wanted help to ensure that the business drivers and customer priorities were not overshadowed. Mike Gospe helped Citrix meld an agenda that balanced their business and technical objectives. In addition, he augmented their staff by facilitating a series of customer breakout sessions.

Brainstorming at its best

In preparing for next year’s strategic plan, Tumbleweed asked Mike Gospe to facilitate a brainstorming session with a team comprised of both executives and board members. Through a half-day session, industry trends were identified, synthesized, and prioritized according to a relevance criterion. The insights gathered were a key component in driving the development of Tumbleweed’s 2007 business plan.