A Good Facilitator

Jane, the International Customer Service Coordinator, has to lead her first meeting during the project to develop a new product for the company's biggest customer. She is rather nervous because her first impromptu meeting with her team didn't go too well. Jane now has to prepare for her next meeting with her team.

Facilitation is the “knack” of leading effective team meetings (Wong, 2007). Jane must use meeting processes (which are often overlooked) to enable her team to reach well-timed agreements through effective discussions and behavior.

The five (5) techniques Jane should employ to ensure her meeting is effective and motivating is to work one process at a time, use process checks, learn to park issues and know how to open and narrow thinking and break team stalemate.

1. Work one process at a time. Jane should facilitate a planning process with a common approach through easy to follow basic steps. She must have a plan for what is to be accomplished that involves resources to rise above any potential hurdles. While meetings can become challenging, our textbook instructs that working one process at a time should thrive by using the following steps: prepare a plan for the meeting, request agenda items, analyze the needs for the meeting, and develop clear objectives, implementation and summary of results when the meeting has concluded.

2. Use process checks. As the meeting facilitator, Jane should work toward dividing the meeting into phases. If the meeting is going to be brief, then one phase would be adequate for the participants. If the meeting is going to be extensive, then two phases is achievable. As an example, the first phase should consist of planning and preparation and the second phase can be reserved for covering the trouble-free planning steps.

3. Learn to park issues. Jane should know how to