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Expect More Out Of Meetings: Professional Facilitators Can

Keep Your Meetings Focused And Productive


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, 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.
Mike Gospe is an Associate Partner of Marketing Operations
Partners, http://www.mopartners.com, and one of the founding members of the
KickStart Alliance, [http://www.kickstartall.com], a team of senior marketing
and sales leaders who help companies of all sizes develop and execute a variety
of marketing and sales programs.
What sets Mike apart from other facilitators is his 20 years of executive
marketing leadership with companies like HP and Sun. His approach is
pragmatic, built on a real life-in-the-trenches understanding of marketing and
sales teams. Mike draws on his experience of what works and what doesnt work
to create a session that is just right for you. Mikes leadership and facilitation
services have been put to use at Aspect, BEA, Citrix, Genesys, HP, Informatica,
NetIQ, Sun, and Tumbleweed. He holds a BSEE and an MBA from Santa Clara
University.

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