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We’ve all been there—a meeting with no purpose, process, or follow-up!
If you’re not sure WHY you’re holding a meeting, and your attendees don’t know WHAT they’re trying to accomplish, then it becomes a waste of everyone’s time. Let’s follow a process that will ensure your sessions are successful and run smoothly.
As the meeting leader, it’s your job to facilitate the process and accomplish the goal of the meeting. To do this, you’ll need to manage the group’s time effectively, use techniques to help the group be productive, and manage the interpersonal dynamics of the group. With so much to consider, let’s focus on three tips to facilitate a successful session:
Session Objective
Every meeting needs an objective or goal. Remember, no objective means no meeting. By clearly defining the objective, you’ll know what the measurable outcome of your session should be.
A well-written objective should have the following three components: action, outcome, and qualifier. The action is “what” the attendees are expected to do or accomplish. The outcome is what the results of the action will be. The qualifier is anything that sets the boundaries or the parameters of the objective. They usually start with on, for, by, or from.
Here’s an example of a well written session objective: “To create a list of 25 pre-screening questions for the hiring process.” Can you identify the action, outcome, and qualifier?
Facilitation Tools
Facilitation tools are the methods or processes used by a meeting leader to help a group accomplish the meeting objective.
There are three types of facilitation tools:
1. Generate and Organize Ideas – these tools are meant to encourage divergent thinking and new concepts. They can also be used to sort ideas into a manner that makes sense. Examples here are Brainstorming, Color Coding, and T-Chart.
2. Analyze and Prioritize Ideas – these tools are meant to assist the group in evaluating, narrowing down and/or ranking the ideas they have generated. Examples here are Nominal Group Technique, Choose 3/Lose 3, and Dot Voting.
3. Make Decisions – these tools are meant to provide an organized approach to help the group make choices or decisions about the ideas they have generated or solutions they have come up with. Examples here are Consensus Building, Weighted Voting, and Plus/Minus Matrix.
Once you’ve established the purpose of the session, you can then select the appropriate facilitation tool.
Close Session
At the end of every session, attendees must leave with a clear understanding of what was accomplished and what needs to be done after the session.
We recommend providing an End-of-Meeting Report to ensure the appropriate individuals are aware of the attendees’ task assignments. This report should include the action items created as a result of the meeting, the people responsible for each action item, the person who will follow up to ensure each action item has been completed, and the completion date for each action item.
Additional Resource: Lead Your Next Meeting Like a Pro [Video]
If you’re interested in finding out more about the various facilitation tools (there are 45 to choose from!), or how to plan, open, facilitate, and close a meeting, check out our virtual workshop, Facilitation Skills. This hands-on workshop will provide you with a structured process that can be used for both virtual and in-person sessions.
What do you do to lead effective sessions or meetings? Please share your comments as we put an end to unnecessary meetings.