Hire unbiased outsider for your next meeting
What is a facilitator and how can you spot one?
It might sound weird to hire someone in your next meeting who is unbiased and knows nothing, or to an extreme minimum, about your company or the field you’re in. In this blogpost I will explain how such a contradiction can leverage your productivity and much more in your company.
How it usually goes
Imagine you have to make a really important decision in your company. What happens? You organize a meeting with hopefully only people who are experts in the field and will contribute to the meeting.
After that the discussion starts.
Person A starts talking about how important the problem is and shares their point of view on the matter.
Person B starts talking.
Then person C starts, D interrupts, E has something to add what person B said and 30 minutes later someone disagrees with what person A had to say.
Person C forgot what person A said so person A reiterates their point of view.
And then we make a decision.
Based on what actually? We make decisions based on our capacity of remembering what’s being said. And what we remember does not align with only facts, but there are experiences thrown into the cocktail: perception, mood, stress, and many other things.
One of many recurring problems in a meeting:
No clear outcome
Meeting length
Lack of clarity or purpose
Too many meetings
Lack of employee participation
Off-topic discussions
Late start and end times
Ignored meeting agenda
How can hiring someone external help?
The strength in hiring someone who doesn’t know anything about the matter and is unbiased lies:
This person is objective about the topic
Takes action when a discussion is looping without outcome
When the outsider asks extra information it can
Turn out the problem lies deeper or elsewhere
Help other participants understand better what the problem is
Help other participants align on for example a certain process
What can a facilitator help with?
I’ll introduce you to the definition of a facilitator:
Something or someone that makes a process easier or faster.
A person involved in the organization or management of a project or event. Something or someone that incites action or activity.
One who negotiates between parties seeking mutual agreement
A facilitator makes a process easier or faster
I probably don’t have to draw you a picture of what outcome this has.
When a process is easier or faster » it saves time » it saves money
Imagine what you can do with the free time you’ve been given or with the extra money you’ve been able to save.
Incites action or activity
When running a business it is more important to take action, to make decisions than to ponder over ‘should we do it or not’.
Taking action » getting started » adapt, grow or sell
Not making decisions costs you money.
It's true in business and in life that if you move slowly, you lose. And if you think second place isn't bad, remember that second place finishers get forgotten pretty soon. So if you don't learn to make real decisions in real-time, someone else will take your business and run with it, leaving you behind and forgotten. source
And there are more actions a facilitator can help with:
How can you spot a facilitator in the wild?
They seem to be a pretty rare species. Especially in Belgium a lot of people have never heard of the job. Here are some fun, totally non-scientific elements on how you can spot a facilitator in its habitat:
They are stationary geeks: their love for sticky notes, different sets of markers, voting dots and stickers is uncontrollably.
They usually have some form of timer with them. It’s extremely important to keep an eye on the time so that meetings don’t run out.
They love engaging with people and ask questions like how and why a lot.
They like doing icebreakers and make sure that people feel comfortable in the group: both introverts and extroverts, managers and non-managers.
They can be pretty outgoing but a lot of great facilitators are introverts.
They love guiding people towards a certain goal and cheer them on when they found the solution to their problem.
Playfullness is something I personally like to add. In the right time it is important to have a laugh.
I am a facilitator. Feel free to mail me at hello@sunnyguideup.com
https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/why-indecision-is-costing-you-money-time-and-opportunity/340376
https://fellow.app/blog/meetings/meeting-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them/
I’ve been in too many meetings like you describe here Katrien. This is the norm.
I recently talk to a potential client and the person said "it is hard to find good facilitators".
Newsletter idea for you: How do you judge whether you found a good facilitator once you find one? After all, anybody can call him-/herself a facilitator.