Board meetings can be long, frustrating affairs where nothing gets accomplished. Board members can be very talented in many areas, yet when it comes to working together on achieving their company’s goals, they can’t work together effectively.

Facilitation involves a neutral third party (a facilitator) helping groups of people work on solutions to a problem or to work collaboratively towards an agreement without the facilitator getting directly involved in the discussion or the problem. It is a collaborative process where the facilitator seeks to assist a group of individuals or other parties to participate in constructive discussions about a number of issues or problems they need to resolve.

Facilitation can be used for different purposes, including:

helping groups reach a consensus on disputed issues.
providing procedural assistance to enable participants to communicate more effectively and to move towards mutually beneficial agreements.
promote a collaborative process to help parties discuss issues, identify and achieve goals and complete tasks in a mutually-satisfactory manner.
helping groups restore and maximize their ability to work together by skillfully producing strong participation, uncovering all perspectives (including less popular views), and guiding group members through problem-solving techniques which can be used for both present and future issues.
helping groups to stay focused on working toward their common goals by following agreed-upon ground rules.
empowering groups to take complete ownership of their agreed upon solutions or desired outcomes.
helping groups with strategic planning, by encouraging full participation, focusing discussions and planning sessions on desired outcomes, and generating creative ideas.

The facilitator can help people achieve successful outcomes by:

remaining impartial to the issues being discussed,
remaining neutral and focusing on the processes and procedures of dispute resolution and decision-making,
avoiding making substantive ideas,
having no decision-making authority, and
focusing the group on working together in an open, productive and respectful manner.

Kevin Kelly works with Board members to achieve their goals with effective facilitation techniques.

To find out how Kelly Law can help you through facilitation, contact us today.

Group Facilitation