Focused Meeting Facilitation

Does this meeting description sound familiar...?

• No one agrees on the goals of the meeting.

• People are consistently complaining about demands on their schedule.

• Someone is pushing a personal agenda to influence meting outcomes.

• Several attendees just sit there and don't contribute anything to the meeting.

• The meeting got started late (again!) and you wind up staying 40 minutes longer than you had planned and scheduled.

• No decisions are made because a key decision maker is not in attendance.

• And now you are not even sure why you are meeting!

Most people agree that meetings are a necessary event. Yet, according to Paul Rice author of Timesource, 74% of executives question the overall effectiveness of the meeting itself. Not only that, but nearly 80% are bothered by participants lack of participation and drifting off subject.

A recent survey of 38,000 executives and office workers in 200 countries conducted for Microsoft Corp. found that respondents spent an average of 5.6 hours per week in meetings. Seventy percent of that time they considered to be unproductive. It's no wonder that the most common productivity pitfalls recently noted are unclear objectives, poor communication and ineffective meetings!

"Large companies can easily lose millions of dollars in productivity by keeping people tied up in meetings unnecessarily. The cost is seldom recognized, however, because it is hidden and spread across many budget lines." -- Dike Drummond, CEO, SuperTeams LLC

Click here to take our brief quiz, "Do your meetings leave you fully satisfied or are you starving for results?" to discover the changes that need to be made to make your meetings more "appetizing".

So how do you get your meetings back on track...?

It's Time to Bring in a Focused Meeting Facilitator!  Having someone versed in steering a meeting to a logical and productive conclusion is a key element in keeping meetings relevant and useful.

A facilitator steers your team to performance by:

1. Providing leadership and structure,

2. Teaching members about group dynamics,

3. Guiding you through energy-draining issues,

4. Providing an outside perspective, and

5. Ensuring that your meeting stays focused for valuable results.

An expert facilitator provides the team with lasting tools and techniques to address interpersonal issues and to achieve goals.

Look for a meeting facilitator with the following qualities:

• The ability to listen closely and understand the uniqueness of your circumstances

• The ability to maintain a neutral and objective perspective

• A genuine interest in your needs

• An optimistic attitude about achieving the results you need

• A collaborative style that seeks the best possible solution

• An appreciation for the value of your time and effort

The success of your meeting is highly dependent on the skill of your chosen meeting facilitator...

...so choose your facilitator wisely!  Select a facilitator with real-world business knowledge and experience. It is not necessary for the facilitator to come from your industry. A skilled facilitator creates the ideal environment for team members (who ARE the experts in the industry!) to unleash and contribute their own brilliance.

Select a facilitator who is able to establish credibility with your team. If the team doesn't believe in the facilitator, they may not believe in the value of the meeting. Be sure to choose someone who has good chemistry with the team.

Select a facilitator with presence. It is essential that your facilitator can get the group back on course when they start to wander.

Select a facilitator who is flexible, who can handle multiple tasks smoothly and who can adapt their personal style to the group and emerging issues.

Select a facilitator with proven experience facilitating high-risk / high-reward meetings.

May we suggest that you select expert facilitator, Susan B. Wilson, MBA, CSP?

Susan Wilson's approach to Meeting Facilitation begins with YOU!

Your situation is unique...

First, Susan LISTENS to understand precisely what your needs are.

Partnering with Susan enables you to develop clarity on the focus of your meeting by determining:

WHAT you want to accomplish and how you'll measure success,
HOW decisions will be made ,
WHO needs to be involved in order for optimal results to be achieved , and
WHERE you are headed by confirming the direction and scope of your meeting.

Second, Susan helps you tap into the "internal genius" of your team by making sure everyone comes to the meeting clear about what must be accomplished and ready to share their best thinking.

Third, Susan provides the process expertise to bring out the best thinking of your team. Because she is an "external" facilitator, Susan is able to maintain an objective perspective without bias with participants. What needs to get talked about, is talked about - constructively, truthfully, and with clarity.

Having Susan in the room ensures that alternative views are considered, insights surface, and understanding is built.

Susan's role is to energize YOU to make your best decision by providing a process that brings out the very best in YOUR thinking. When a decision is made, everyone in the meeting knows it is the best. And, because everyone contributed, there is a greater degree of commitment and follow through. You'll leave the meeting with energy, clarity and momentum to take action.

The true measure of our success is YOUR SUCCESS - you achieve the results you want...FAST!

Discover how Susan Wilson's Focused Meeting Facilitation can help you reach real results - Fast! Click here to schedule a FREE 15 minute phone consultation.

The web is a great place to find information FAST. Because you are on the web looking for meeting help, we're guessing that you would appreciate ideas that you can use FAST. Susan & Deanne's book, Gourmet Meetings on a Microwave Schedule, (featured recently in the New York Times!) contains more than 150 great ideas that you can put to work immediately, saving you time, energy and dollars!

Present But Not Accounted For - Live recording of Susan's 1-hour teleclass with Steve Davis (a Facilitator University Best Seller!)

Please visit our Press Room to read several free articles on running effective, productive, high-reward meetings!