Facilitator FAQ

from Able Leader, November 2003

by Steve Kaye

Question: Why would anyone spend money for somebody to facilitate a meeting?

You get results.
Years ago, a group held three full-day meetings trying to resolve a difficult issue. Each of these meetings broke down after hours of painful arguing, bickering, and complaining. Then they hired me. My meeting lasted five hours and produced a list of solutions, ranked in priority of their applicability.

You save time.
A professional facilitator will free you from preparing an agenda, conducting the meeting, and writing minutes. In addition, a facilitator will make optimum use of everyone else's time. Often my meetings take less time than the client expected (based on their experience holding meetings without a facilitator).

You save money.
The most expensive part of a meeting is the labor cost of the participants. Estimate this cost for your last meeting by multiplying the duration of the meeting by the number of participants by their payroll cost. You may be surprised by the result. I have seen groups waste over $50,000 on a single bad meeting.

Shorter meetings cost less. And meetings that end with a useful result provide a positive return on your investment. My meetings are designed to earn a profit for the client.

Question: How does a facilitator add value to a meeting?

A facilitator helps in the following ways:

Process tools.

A facilitator brings an extensive collection of group activities to a meeting. These activities help people make methodical progress toward agreements, decisions, and solutions. They make optimum use of the group's wisdom. They produce results that everyone will support.

Notice that a facilitator does more than preside over a discussion, which by the way, is the least effective, least efficient means of working in a meeting.

I am an expert on process tools. I have written two books and a booklet on Effective Meetings. And my workshops on Effective Meetings have informed people nationwide (my clients include IBM, Unocal, Avery Dennison, Sempra Energy, Dean Foods and many others).

Human dynamics.
A facilitator knows how to establish a working environment that makes it easy for people to exchange ideas, explore possibilities, and be creative.

I also conduct workshops on The Human Side of Communication and Behavior Styles. Both of these topics show modern technologies that help people work together without falling into costly arguments.

Business Knowledge.
A facilitator understands planning. For example, there are two types of goals: those that impress others and those that lead to results. A facilitator knows the difference between the two.

I have published over 180 articles on leadership and business topics. I have worked with a vast array of Fortune 500 companies. And I have 20 years of experience working as an employee for major corporations. I understand business.

Question: Can you facilitate your own meeting?

You can, but there's a catch. If you choose to facilitate your meeting, you will not be able to participate in it.

The reason for this is: facilitation is a full-time job. It requires a high level of concentration to manage the process so that the meeting makes effective use of everyone's time.

In addition, a facilitator works as a neutral servant. If you have a vested interest in the outcome for the meeting, then your facilitation will be tinted by attempts to reach that outcome. In that case, you could end up with results that others refuse to support.

I expect that your ideas are critically important. Thus, you want a facilitator to lead your meeting so that you can contribute to the result.

Lastly, if you plan to hold a meeting so that a group can talk about a decision that you have already made, you can save everyone a great deal of time by canceling the meeting. Just go ahead and act on your decision.

Key Point: Use a facilitator when the meeting is important.

Much success,

Steve Kaye
714-528-1300