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Most of us attend a lot of meetings. In fact, a recent Microsoft report showed that average Teams users experienced a 252% increase in their weekly meetings since February of 2020.
Some of these sessions may not be necessary, but for those that do have a clear purpose, it’s important to plan, facilitate, and close out the session effectively.
When I plan a meeting, I determine my objective and identify the purpose of the session. Is it to generate ideas, prioritize or analyze something, or make a decision? Once I know the objective, I can choose the proper tool to facilitate the objective and create my agenda.
When you open a session effectively, it sets your attendees up for success. In my experience, a session without ground rules can go off-track quickly. Set the ground rules or ask the group to help you create them depending on how much time you have. Everyone will appreciate these parameters throughout the session.
When you facilitate a meeting, you’ll want to communicate effectively, document everything, and manage the group dynamics. Many skills come into play here, from clarifying and paraphrasing input to managing challenging behaviors. Your facilitation skills will be vital to enhance participation and efficiency.
Based on the purpose of your session, the right facilitation tool will increase the effectiveness of the session. Plan the tool ahead of time. For example, if our team needs to identify problems in a new process, I know our purpose is to generate ideas. I would plan to use a flow chart to allow the team to map out the process and identify the gaps.
If the team needs to analyze viewpoints, Force Field Analysis is a tool that works well.
It can be challenging for a group to work together to make a decision. However, if you use the right facilitation tool, it can go more smoothly. For example, if you need to involve all team members, you might use weighted voting.
Once you’ve met your objective, it’s time to close out the meeting. Make sure you document the decisions and know who is responsible for any action items and follow-up. You may also want to do an evaluation of the meeting. This can help you reflect on the experience and plan for your next meeting.
Additional Resource: Why You Need to Be More Intentional When Planning Your Sessions [Video]
If you’d like to be more intentional about the sessions you lead, join us in our workshop, Facilitation Skills. You’ll have the opportunity to practice facilitating sessions and walk away with a toolkit featuring 45 proven techniques for accomplishing the objective of your sessions.