Some skills, attitudes and approaches for facilitating meetings.
The facilitator's primary task is to guide the meeting toward the objectives. You do this by:
The facilitator is (ideally) the acknowledged "leader" of the meeting. They are not necessarily the person who is presenting at the meeting or speaking on the topics, although for many meetings the facilitator is also the person doing planning, preparation and presentation.
For some kinds of meetings it may be as simple as having the most senior person in the room as the unspoken facilitator. Many of these facilitation behaviours can be done in a semi-formal capacity by someone with authority, to help a meeting proceed smoothly.
You might also notice people doing this informally.
If the type of meeting needs a scribe. Short, frequent meetings won't need a scribe and the facilitator can jot down notes.
Organise this before the meeting. Don't always choose the same person. If you do have any women in your meeting, remember that women are traditionally delegated the note-taking job, so be careful of that default. Anyone at any level can be a scribe.
The scribe is expected to jot down the decisions and actions of this meeting and not be biased. Share these notes with the participants after the meeting.
Others may also take notes for their own purposes, that is ok.
This doesn't need to be stated at the beginning of every meeting, especially for short quick ones. It's important for the facilitator to keep it in mind, so that they can guide the meeting toward that objective. Some good reasons to share it upfront are:
For a very short and frequent meeting this may be as simple as having a start-time and end-time. For longer meetings put in sufficient blocks of time for each topic, time to summarize sections, and time to collaboratively decide on actions and outcomes. Don't forget to make time for breaks. Leave a few minutes to process any Parking Lot items (see below.)
Stick to the schedule. Meetings far more often run over time because of unnecessary repetition and argument. Having an end time for a topic gives you the power to say "we are out of time for this discussion, let's park it."
Be flexible. Lean on your experience. The schedule is for the participants, not the participants for the schedule.
Most meetings use a default format: "get everyone together and talk about the topic." For most meetings this is fine (with suitable facilitation.) For some meetings you might find that a different or more rigid structure will lead to improved outcomes.
Some questions to ask if you are evaluating your meeting format:
I've used Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats as an alternative, ideating format here; there are of course many more.
Not everyone is bold and ready to speak up. A good facilitator pays attention to all participants and looks to make space for quiet people to speak.
There are a few ways to know when to do this:
Don't hesitate to ask someone who has been saying a lot to hold on for a moment to let a quiet person speak. In a lull you can also say "What do you think x?" to give them a platform.
Don't nag though. Sometimes people are quiet because they genuinely have nothing to say, or they don't feel safe doing so for reasons that can't be addressed in the meeting.
Facilitation is a full-time role. It takes a lot of focus to listen carefully to those talking, while also paying close attention to the body language of every participant while also internally summarizing multiple viewpoints for later reflection. If you're thinking about how to phrase your own opinion or respond to an argument you won't be listening to what the meeting is saying. It is difficult wanting to respond but not saying anything. You are far more effective being a strong facilitator, channelling useful conversations and guiding participants toward the objectives. A clearly biased or involved facilitator reduces trust and safety in the meeting.
You can do a lot to maintain the flow of the meeting by regularly summarizing the points made. Doing this will give participants the opportunity to agree, and to clarify what they have said. This is also a tool for ensuring alignment; participants won't always agree completely, or will sometimes be saying the same thing but with different words, thinking they are not understood. As the facilitator you can summarize what's been said, gain agreement if necessary and move on if the topic has had sufficient discussion.
Knowing when and how to do this is an art in itself. Some tips:
Sometimes participants will bring up something that has previously been discussed / has had tacit agreement / has actions ready to go, in an effort to belabour a point or change the outcome.
Don't entertain this behaviour, instead gently guiding them back to the topic. If it's too much of a sticking point for them then put it in the Parking Lot. You may have to be a little awkward about interrupting them, for the benefit of the meeting.
A participant might end up using the captive audience to give a speech, argue a hobby topic of theirs, or generally try to "take over" the meeting. It's your job as facilitator to gently guide them back to the topic or put it in the Parking Lot.
This can be difficult to challenge. A participant might be unable to explain a point succinctly, instead needing to draw the whole picture they see in their head, which could involve long stories or needless detail. Summarizing a topic, or even getting to the point, is a skill that not all participants will have. A skilled facilitator can help a participant focus in on the topic or the point of their soap-boxing with targeted questions. You might ask:
They may well respond negatively to your questioning, but gently ignore their display of emotion. Your role is to guide the meeting, and that is exactly what you are doing.
You may find participants becoming more heated or frustrated in their disagreement. Displays of emotion are perfectly acceptable, and you don't need to quickly jump in to cut it short or set the tone right.
Some questions to consider in deciding how to respond:
Your priority here is to de-escalate unhealthy conflict and help the conversation move towards the meeting goals. If you decide you need to take action here are some possible actions you might take:
After writing about de-escalating conflict it may seem odd to suggest enabling conflict. Conflict in itself is not negative and disagreement and discussion can lead to better outcomes. If "conflict" is too strong a word here then think of it as "enabling disagreement." Some groups may struggle to open up and engage because they are afraid to be disagreeable.
Some questions to consider if you are sensing this situation:
If you decide you want to enable more disagreement, then try:
The Parking Lot is a space to acknowledge topics that are out of scope of the meeting. The facilitator gets enough agreement that the topic is out of scope, and writes it down in the Parking Lot. This can be a space on the whiteboard or pinboard if you are using either of those.
At the end of the meeting look at each Parking Lot item and ask whether (and how) they need to be turned into an action. This is probably best done as part of the broader Actions analysis.
Often the Parking Lot items don't seem as important as they did in the middle of the meeting. Deal with that with kindness and understanding.
While you probably have scheduled breaks in place, take stock of the energy of the room. If participants look worn out, or an argument is going on too long, consider making some time for a few minutes break. It can be enough to give a stalled discussion a fresh start.
Good luck!
