7 Tools to Assure Goals Are Met When Facilitating Meetings

Running meetings and facilitating conversations is an overlooked superpower.  The cool thing is that this is a superpower that can be taught, trained, coached, and facilitated. I was one of those teachers/trainers/coaches for whom intense training on facilitation allowed me to become more effective in trainings and meetings. I wasn’t even aware of what I was missing until I was trained on the numerous nuanced skills of facilitation. 

It’s incredible how many companies talk about facilitating meetings, yet spend no time, money, or focus on training their members in facilitation excellence. Often, they simply encourage them to make a better agenda to fix the problem. 

Meeting Facilitation is different from coaching, training, and teaching. 

Eleven years of my early career were spent with a master teacher drilling us on what worked and what didn’t work in listening to a group and getting their voices heard in a room. For decades, the program was developed in a theatre education department and honed in high school classrooms. The arts are committed to individuality and authenticity – and high school students are committed to quickly shutting down what is disrespectful or simply doesn’t work.   

The program worked and was a powerful catalyst for both the students in the room and the teaching artists facilitating. Lives changed because voices were shared and heard. Lives changed because there was a dramatic shift from what respect and honoring others looked like versus a polite and nice response or feedback that lacks helpful, honest substance.

There’s a place in our world for nice and polite; for example, if you see someone has spilled on themselves – but you don’t mention it to them.  This is actually more about you not wanting to feel awkward.  That’s when we are in ‘nice and polite mode’ not to mention something. There are plenty of situations where this is the best choice. 

And there’s a place for kind and honoring – that place is in the rooms where decisions must be made, and goals achieved, which are dependent on the whole team being included. Being kind and honoring has more to do with building relationships and connecting with the others. Kind and honoring can feel awkward and has some risk involved.

Lack of Strong Facilitation 

Strong facilitation of honest conversations builds trust and team cohesion. Key to the idea of strong facilitation, is that you must be grounded and flexible, responsive to the moment, and beholding to the goal. 

Here are a few reasons shared with us in our session as to why leaders/facilitators don’t allow for more flexibility: 

  1. One person takes over the meeting if I let them speak 
  2. We get off track and go down rabbit holes. 
  3. I know where we need to go, and it’s better if I drive us there 
  4. We waste too much time getting nowhere 
  5. There are too many strong opinions and I’m worried about what folks will say

These are all viable concerns.  Let’s look at some practical means of addressing and moving through these concerns to strengthen your facilitation.

Practical Results 

Articulate: Real&Clear is on the road again, with hands-on interactive, try-it-on programs.  

The rooms come alive and conversations flow as we discuss what we could be doing differently! Facilitation excellence was the focus for a recent leadership program.

We just spent two full days with a group of leaders hungry for techniques to move beyond an agenda in meetings.

 To begin, we pointed out that facilitation that sticks strictly to an agenda and keeps the group strictly on the path – isn’t facilitation. That is simply an announcement from the leader of the group. And, it’s not a conversation because there’s no input from the group. 

Sticking to an agenda’ kind of meetings could more efficiently be an email that simply states what needs to be shared. If you want to have idea sharing and buy-in from the group, you need the top-notch skills to lead a conversation and facilitate. 

Here are tools and techniques to allow you to get to your agenda goals without constricting the conversation and shutting down ideas. 

Seven Meeting Facilitation Techniques to get you started:

  1. Be seen. Allow yourself to really see others and for them to see you.  We’re taught that it’s impolite or invades people’s personal space, to pay too close attention to them.  And yet you must see the people in the room – really see them — to honor them.  You may not realize how little you notice others. Think about the last room you were in, virtually or in-person, and recall who was there and what they were wearing, feeling, or saying. Often, we say we are not good at observing, but that’s because we’ve been taught not to look too closely.  
  2. Set your goal. Ensure it’s an actual goal, not a tactic. Then ask others about the goal. Many will state “just sharing ideas.” Sharing of ideas is a tactic toward a goal, not a goal itself. The clearer the goal, the easier it is for the group to participate and for the meeting to stay on track.
  3. Use your body. Be fully present and hold space for others.  We often listen with a closed body. In meetings use body movements such as open arms.  This creates an invitation to the team to participate and shows you are willing to accept input.  Notice your body, use it. Choose to remain open.  
  4. Honor with persistence. Hear the voices in the room. People have ideas – and if they’re not sharing them, that’s on us as facilitators.  The facilitator creates the space and energy to say: Yes, we want to hear from you. 
  5. Let some folks be the leading voices. Groups can find comfort and a flow when some voices take the initial lead. Let them lead. Then as the facilitator, make sure additional voices are invited in at some point.
  6. Don’t keep people on alert the whole time. That makes it hard to listen. Give a heads up when you are going to ask folks to share. Don’t leave people in fear that you may call on them unexpectedly. And don’t “not call” on people for fear you’ll catch them off guard. Here is an example of how to set that up.  Hey, I’m coming your way shortly; I want to hear from A, then B, then C.
  7. Some of us are external processors and some are internal processors. Allow extra time for internal processors to think things through before you ask them to share.  On the other end of the spectrum, give external processors a bit of understanding and extra time as they verbally get to their point. 

Excellent facilitation sets the stage in meetings to build trust, rapport and move key initiatives forward. We encourage you to take the time to assess your current facilitation practices to discover where you may need a deepening of skills. Your commitment of time and resources will pay off with a multitude of benefits for your organization or company.

Ready to try it on yourself or with your team? Let’s talk. Check out our Corporate Programs Page.

Hilary Blair is a leadership keynote speaker based out of Denver, CO, and is the co-founder of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She is also a highly regarded, actor, improviser, facilitator, voice-over artist, and voice expert coach.

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