Why Facilitation?

The topic of communication varies but the objectives are nearly always the same - present, discuss, explore, take decisions, agree & plan actions.

These communication sessions are always important but too often are not delivered as well as they might be. Holding this type of meeting is not a core competence of many organisations; they can be tricky to manage especially if the topic is challenging and their are strong feelings to be dealt with. How often do you leave feeling frustrated and disappointed with the output, angry that the original objective was not addressed or that the agenda was not followed or was hijacked by somebody with their own axe to grind? This is where using external professional facilitation to work with you to plan and fully deliver the agenda can make the difference between results / output that that are at best 'OK' and those that are exactly as required.

A nice definition of facilitation is as follows:

'Facilitation is a process in which groups, with the assistance of a neutral third party (the facilitator), work on problems to be solved, tasks to be accomplished or disputed issues to be resolved. Facilitation may conclude there, or it may continue to assist in developing options, considering alternatives and endeavouring to reach agreements. The facilitator may advise on or determine the process of facilitation to achieve the groups objectives but has no advisory role on the content of the discussion or the agreed outcomes'

http://www.resolvingmatters.com/definitions.html