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Why People Come to Us…
Deciding About A Facilitation Services Our clients come to us to discuss facilitation services for several reasons. In most cases, an individual or a small
team has been given the responsibility for a meeting, task force, or group assignment and they simply need help with organizing a productive work and meeting process that accomplishes the mission, takes the small and
large group processes into account, and makes the best use of everyone's time. Our clients look to us to offer various kinds of process designs and the results of our experience in using them to tailor an agenda
or agenda series to their needs.In some cases, people are concerned about the presence of differing ideas or perspectives and find it useful and more comfortable to have a neutral party manage things. In other
cases, the people with the responsibility for the group's work need to be able to participate and don't want to be burdened with the added responsibility of managing sessions, time, participation, etc. and don't have
the time to prepare the kind of reports that are needed to document activity, assign action items, and brief others. When we asked our clients why they come to us for facilitation services, we got a variety of
responses:
- "We can count on good, critical thinking about our agendas... you've done this hundreds of times and we haven't."
- "It's just a relief to have you worry about the meeting moment to moment instead of me."
- "We knew about one strategic planning process… you showed us three others and we worked out one that made sense for us."
- "There's something about having an outsider present when things get touchy… people behave better and when they have trouble getting their ideas across, you help them."
- "We do love to drill down to the details, that is, when we're not busy solving other peoples' problems… you keep us on task with a smile."
- "With a facilitator in the room, everyone's ideas are equal, and that's important."
- "We'd never get those reports or action item lists done in time to make a difference."
- "If you weren't there managing the agenda, […] would just run on and on like always and suck the energy right out of the room."
Here are a few questions that may help you decide if you need help with facilitation and what kind of help you might need:
- Does the group have a new task to perform? Does everyone agree why, how and when it should be done? Does the group have all the knowledge, facts, or other information needed to fulfill the purpose
immediately at hand? Will the task recur or will it require a series of sessions over time? Will interim tasks or action items be required?
- Who is involved or invited? How many people will be involved? Do they represent different backgrounds or expertise, organizations, or positions? Are the people invited at roughly the same
organizational level or rank? Have they worked together before? If so, was the experience a good and productive one?
- Is it necessary that people exchange views in the session? Is it necessary for them to come to at least a working agreement about anything? Will people see themselves as representatives of particular
or competing positions? Are disagreements likely?
- Is there a deadline or time pressure for the group to produce results? Will the results be briefed up or reviewed by higher authorities? Is fact-finding necessary? What is the nature of the
change(s) the group will consider? How far-reaching will the results of the group's work be?
If you found yourself answering yes more often than not, you may want to consider discussing how facilitation services can help. Contact us. |
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