Last column was a discussion of the consensus process. I admit I don’t like it because I’ve yet to see it done well, it tends to frustrate and annoy at least as much as Robert’s Rules, and I’m well aware that Robert bugs a lot of people. So today I figured I’d talk about meetings that are done essentially without rules.
Without rules you say! But wouldn’t that put people into terrible disarray. Oh yes. Very. Unless, (you knew there had to be an unless) of course, you have a brilliant facilitator. If you have a great facilitator then you can get away with no, or very few rules.
What does it take to be a great facilitator? Good multi-tasking skills, they have to be able to listen and write at least at the same time; great people skills, must be able to bring opinions out of quiet people and get the noisy ones (like me) to shut up for a minute; and the ability to summarize and paraphrase, you must be able to understand what the others in your group say so the facilitator sometimes serves as a translator. (The ability to read minds is also helpful, but not required.)
A good facilitator can be from within or outside of the organization that is holding the meeting. In my experience using a great facilitator works best with smaller groups (less than 20) but I’ve heard of really spectacular facilitators working in larger groups. This is very much a personality, or individual based thing.
What will a good facilitator do? Make sure everyone in the audience gets a chance to speak, make sure all sides of the issue are heard. They will do their best to make sure that everyone in the room understands what everyone else says. This is a huge advantage of an unbiased, outside facilitator for a contentious issue. If you have a situation where you think that people are a lot closer than seems but people just can’t seem to understand what the other side is saying a facilitator can be a great help.
A good facilitator will have a strong basic knowledge of what the type of organization does and usually meets with someone before hand to figure out what the meeting wants to accomplish.
Normally the facilitator will write things down, electronically or just on the giant board or paper at the front of the room. Having things written down helps everyone to stay on the same page as it were and to move forward so you aren’t repeating the same things over and over. Also it gives you a chance to review what is going on without having to make everyone take extensive notes.
A good facilitator will make the meeting move forward, will keep discussion open as long as need be, will watch to make sure people aren’t getting bored, take a break when one is needed, move on to a new topic, gently control the conversation, and even steer it toward resolution and solutions. A good facilitator can turn a difficult problem into a great solution and it’ll be all your idea. A great facilitator can make people on opposite sides of the coin see that they are on the same coin. And a spectacular facilitator can make all those people walk out of the room feeling good about the final outcome. A spectacular facilitator is a great thing to watch.
The problem with using a good or great facilitator is that they often or always want to be paid, and you can pay them a lot of money. They are also few and far between. This is a good idea when you have a business that needs to resolve a delicate or difficult issue. This is not a good idea for your little community meeting every month (unless you live in a really wealthy community.
The other problem is the bad facilitator. There are many kinds, the ones who let the loud people in the room overwhelm them and take over the meeting, the ones who have their own agenda and over run the meeting, the ones who don’t know when to stop something, the ones who can’t see that the issue isn’t resolved and move on when they should be continuing to dig or listen. Beware the bad facilitator, they’ll charge you just as much and you’d often be better off telling everyone to bring in pillows and the last man standing wins.
So be careful, find a good one, lots of recommendations are really important and if you can, even go watch the person facilitate another meeting. But if you really need to take care of something in a matter where people are feeling good and heard and comfortable with the end result then certainly look into a great facilitator.
