If you are facilitating a group that has been meeting for a while, you may have some group members who are continuing to be engaged and enthusiastic about the work while other group members have lost interest and moved on to other priorities. You may have achieved some tremendous successes and are trying to figure […]
Facilitation: Group that has been meeting for a while Read More »
Facilitating a newly formed group has unique challenges and opportunities that need to be considered. In a newly formed group, you need to consider that the group members may not know one another and may have very different perspectives on the topic or purpose of the group. It’s really important to assess and build relationships
Facilitation: A newly formed group Read More »
How many of you have been in a meeting where you made lots of plans and action items but no one ever followed up? Or perhaps you are part of an ongoing meeting where each week you keep bringing up new items and never really follow-up on what happened in the last meeting? As you
Facilitator: The importance of follow-up Read More »
We have all been part of meetings where everyone is looking at their phone or computer or they are zoning out seeming completely disinterested in what is happening. As a facilitator, this can be completely discouraging! One of the most important tasks for facilitators is increasing engagement during a meeting; however, our meeting participants can
Facilitator: Increasing Engagement Read More »
Whether you are facilitating a small group discussion or a large group meeting, there are always power dynamics. Some of them are more obvious and come through titles or degrees while others are less obvious and come from personalities and past experiences. As a facilitator, our job is to figure out a way to bring
Facilitator: Navigating power dynamics Read More »
Think about the last meeting you facilitated. Then think about the last meeting you attended as a participant. What was your energy like as a facilitator? As a meeting participant? Did you leave the meetings feeling energized and ready to take action or completely drained and exhausted? As facilitators, we cannot underestimate the importance of
Facilitator: Our energy matters Read More »
As a facilitator, you never know what may be happening in the lives of the people who are participating in your team or coalition meeting. They may be feeling completely overwhelmed, may have just found out about a promotion or they may have just been told their budget was cut again. One of the important
Facilitator: How do you bring out the best in others? Read More »
When leading teams and partnerships, we are often called upon to facilitate conversations, meetings and plans. Traditionally, facilitators are seen as “neutral” to the group. When we are an external facilitator, it’s often easy to claim the “neutrality” role; however, what is our role when we are part of the staff or leadership and we
Facilitator: What is my role? Read More »
For the past seven weeks, we’ve been talking about several aspects of Emotional Intelligence. I haven’t always mentioned the specific words “Emotional Intelligence” in these posts because I wanted to be sure we were focused on practical application rather than theoretical concepts. This week we are putting it all together AND I have a free
Putting it all together: Emotional Intelligence and Partnership Building Read More »
Similar to all of the other “Emotional Intelligence” related topics we have been discussing, there is a potential “dark side” to interacting positively as well. We need to be careful that our attempts at interacting positively don’t end up becoming veiled forms of manipulation. Join me this week as I highlight 3 signs that our
When interacting positively with others becomes manipulation Read More »