Facilitation
Pursue Excellence

Enhance the facilitation of your team meetings

18/03/11 20:58
Effective facilitation focuses team members on 3 goals:
  1. Achieving the targeted results.
  2. Abiding by meeting guidelines.
  3. Achieving team purpose.

Want to enhance team meeting facilitation? If so, do the following 3 things: 
  1. Select 1 or more goals from the list below that you want to make progress on.
  2. Identify options for taking action.
  3. Determine which actions you will take.

Here's the list of goals and options for taking action:
Goal 1: The facilitation focuses our team on achieving the targeted results:
  1. Use an agenda that identifies the targeted SMART results.
  2. Send out the agenda and other meeting materials ahead of time.
  3. At the meeting, review the targeted results. Invite meeting participants to focus on achieving the targeted results.
  4. Invite someone to serve as the timekeeper. The timekeeper lets the group know how much time is left for a given task.
  5. Invite someone to serve as a recorder. The recorder writes out discussion notes on a whiteboard or big piece of paper.
  6. Keep people engaged. Ask questions. Use small group discussion and frequent breaks.
  7. When discussing meeting materials, encourage participants to ask questions after reading the materials.
  8. Use a whiteboard, LCD projector, or overhead projector to show changes being made to a proposal.
  9. Intervene when there are sidebar conversations and personal attacks, when the discussion is getting off topic, and when participants are not keeping to the schedule.
  10. Have participants assess meeting effectiveness in terms of achieving the targeted results.
  11. Other: _____
 
Goal 2: The facilitation focuses our team on abiding by the meeting guidelines:
  1. As a group, review the team’s meeting guidelines. Invite meeting participants to abide by the guidelines.
  2. Establish a humorous way to signal that a meeting guideline is not being adhered to.
  3. Have participants assess meeting effectiveness in terms of abiding by meeting guidelines.
  4. Other: _____
 
Goal 3: The facilitation focuses our team on achieving the team purpose:
  1. Include agenda items that are aligned with the team purpose statement.
  2. As a group, review the team purpose statement. Invite meeting participants to use the meeting to achieve the team’s purpose.
  3. Ask those responsible for a given agenda item to explain how it helps the team achieve its purpose.
  4. Have participants assess meeting effectiveness in terms of achieving the team purpose.
  5. Other: ___
 
Help your team target mission achievement. Enhance the facilitation of your team meetings. Today.