Facilitator

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning is probably the most important task of the senior management team, yet many managers express frustration with their past experiences. A well designed, and well facilitated, approach can make all the difference in the world, and a professional facilitator can help you with every step of the process from pre-work to action planning.

Corporate Retreats

A retreat is the perfect opportunity to get away from the all-consuming day-to-day pressures of the office and to focus on the real work of the team. It is a time for you to:

Clarify your corporate vision
Identify the barriers to your growth
Assess your strengths and the competitive environment
Discuss strategy
Make key decisions
Set your priorities
Establish action plans

Meeting Facilitation Services

De Zwarte Consultancy can:

Help you clarify the goals for your session so that they are clear, concise, meaningful and achievable
Develop a proposed agenda for the meeting using the facilitation tools that are best suited to your goals and your situation
Provide a facilitator for the session so that everyone on your team can participate fully
Facilitate the session to keep the group on track
Document the meeting so that key discussions and action plans are captured
Follow up with you after the session to ensure that everything is as it should be

In the past years I have been involved a lot as a facilitator or moderator. The main reasons companies hire a facilitator is that they want to make sure all participants are fully engaged in the process at hand and someone else takes care of the structuring, planning and execution of the meeting.

In that role you are responsible for making sure the meeting that you are invited to facilitate is well prepared, has a clear agenda, is clear on the desired outcome and eventually runs as smoothly as possible.

As a facilitator, contrary to a consultant or trainer, the main purpose is to facilitate the process and not to deliver content.

A facilitator needs to focus on a number of areas:

Customer Intake

Preparartion of the meeting / Selecting the approach and tools

Partcipation of all team members

Dealing with conflict

Dealing with conflict is often quoted as the biggest concern of group facilitators. The emotion involved often makes conflict uncomfortable for all concerned, hence we tend to avoid it. But, conflict is a normal, natural part of human interaction and sooner or later it is part of virtually every group’s experience. When acknowledged and dealt with in a positive manner, conflict can clarify differences, increase the creativity of the group and build a strong team. On the other hand, if left untended, it can be damaging to the productivity and coherence of the group.

If you want some more information on our facilitation services, don't hesitate to email me at info@dezwarte.nl.