Retreat and Meeting Facilitation
Many group meetings can get easily derailed and get caught up in minutiae. Without skilled facilitation, discussions tend to
go off on tangents, too much time is spent on one topic at the expense of another, or group members can get entangled in
personality conflicts. Meetings too often run into overtime and people can leave feeling that their time was wasted. Well-designed and smoothly facilitated meetings result in better thinking, enhanced participation, more creative and robust
solutions to problems, and greater support for decisions.
- Consult with the meeting convener(s) to determine meeting objectives and desired
outcomes.
- Design meeting process to achieve desired outcomes.
- Monitor the agenda and keep time.
- Keep track of any unresolved issues that need to be revisited.
- Moderate discussions, disagreements and conflicts.
- Lead problem-solving or brainstorming sessions.
- Keep participants on topic and avoid unproductive tangents.
- Help define how decisions are to be made.
- Ensure that everyone is heard and included in the process.
- Record action items and open issues for closure at the end of the meeting.