Why facilitate a strategic management meeting?
Tools for the facilitation of a meeting Facilitation? I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years… but times have changed and it’s only now that people are becoming more comfortable with this word. Last summer, a former colleague (an ex-boss to be precise) called me to ask whether I knew a facilitator. Women always shy away from these opportunities since they don’t think they’re good enough, but after speaking to a couple of people to see whether they could do it, the feedback I was given was “why don’t you do it?”
A tool that is more than 20 years old which is experiencing a revival
It’s been over 20 years - almost 25 - that I’ve known about this means of managing meetings, at various levels and with different purposes. I worked in consultancy firms at an international level - mainly with organisations that have an Anglo-Saxon approach - so it was quite normal to sit around a table with people who had different objectives, to create consent or engage people to get them to express their thoughts or to finetune an idea.
I learnt about facilitation through courses (especially in England) and in practice (my early experiences were also in foreign countries). This involved facilitating meetings with people who were not completely on the same page – e.g. people working for the same company with different and slightly contrasting objectives and distinct levels of priority. A frequent example would be IT and marketing departments.
Some definitions are useful for establishing a common language
A facilitator is someone who is involved in a facilitation activity. He/she helps a group of people understand their shared objectives and helps them plan how to reach these; in this way, the facilitator remains “neutral”, which means that he/she does not have a specific position in the discussion. Some facilitation tools will try to help the group reach a consensus on any existing problems or problems that emerge in a meeting to ensure there is a solid basis for future actions.
There are different definitions for a facilitator:
An individual that enables groups and organisations to work more effectively, cooperate and obtain synergies. The facilitator is a ‘neutral part of the contents’ that, without taking part or expressing or arguing a point of view during the meeting, can argue for what is right and for open and understandable procedures for performing the group’s work.
– Doyle
A person who contributes to the structure and process of interactions so that groups are able to function effectively and take high-level decisions. A helper whose objective is that of supporting others in pursuing their objectives.
– Bens
The job of a facilitator is to help everyone think or operate more efficiently. To do this, the facilitator encourages full participation, promotes mutual understanding and cultivates shared responsibility. To support everyone to think better, a facilitator enables members of the group to look for inclusive solutions and develop sustainable contracts.
– Kaner
A Facilitator is a neutral leader who forms a group of people in a collaborative team, which supports consent and uses a series of processes to enable the group to perform its duty. The Facilitator is responsible for this process.
– Rush
A leader of meetings or workshops who creates an environment where every participant has the opportunity to collaborate, innovate and excel.
– Metz
A neutral leader that facilitates a process, for example a session leader. The term Facilitator partially derives from the French facilter ‘facilitate’. Both derive from stem of Latin facilis ‘easy to do’ and the verb facere ‘to do’. It retains a connotation of ease while the derivation means closer to ability or power - it combines the meanings of enabling and power that are aligned with Tuckman and similar group behavioural models.
An example of its application: a strategic Board Management Meeting
Here is the experience I would like to share with you: it involves a consulting firm that has been in the market for decades and is a leader in the pharmaceutical market.
Like most companies, this company has experienced and is experiencing testing times, so aside from being useful in terms of defining programmes, a meeting of its shareholders can be especially important for restoring the common “feeling” and consent over where the company should be heading, and how to get there.
It was therefore a good idea for the majority shareholder to use an external facilitator to support the team in a work session organised outside their offices in a pleasant lakeside location. A couple of days in a Congress Centre which allowed some room for pleasant moments of relaxation and lunches/dinners …
Organising the facilitation was demanding and required working alongside the majority shareholder to understand the strategic and organisational context and organise the meeting agenda, messages and techniques.
While some messages relating to objectives, recent results and organisational events (an unsuccessful sale) were provided by the main shareholder, the facilitator’s role was that of ensuring that the minority shareholders in attendance provided a positive and responsible contribution.
Some practical feedback
Some aspects you should consider for organising a facilitation that appears “natural”, but is actually the result of experience and preparation:
- Choose a location outside offices, where participants keep their phones and PCs switched off: the day-to-day world has to be kept outside as people’s hearts and minds must be fully engaged with the meeting
- Get the sponsorship or blessing of the main shareholder Have a well-thought-out agenda that you share with the company, that should include moments of reflection/inspiration, and concrete moments for planning actions and assigning the respective responsibilities.
- Everyone works together but each person should then be given one or two specific responsibilities.
- Be firm and polite, a blend that is not easy to find in Italians who tend to be too “soft” or a Cerberus who disrupts the working climate.
- Some moments of reflection can be successful, especially if they are not to “wishy-washy“ and rooted in good management practices.
- Have (a) clear and shared objective/s. In this case the aim was to reignite the enthusiasm and responsibility of shareholders in terms of the future of the company to unite them all behind the majority shareholder for the forthcoming AGM.
How do it go?
The meeting went well and everyone involved was satisfied and participated proactively.
But … I don’t really know because a single organisational event is not sufficient even if it is designed and carried out in the best possible manner. Even adults with experience and a shareholding in a company need some support to put into practice certain concepts that are presented in theoretical terms during a facilitation.
It would therefore be advisable to follow this up with a coaching process. Ideally, this will be different for each individual and will focus on the behaviour that needs to be reinforced.
