“Great Scott - that workshop was brilliant!”
Tania Field, Principal Tender Specialist (Sydney)
If the workshop was brilliant, it’s probably because there was a lot of preparation done in advance of the meeting and an excellent facilitator was involved.
There’s an art form and skill in great facilitation, whether it be for a workshop, committee, business or team meeting. I remember some of my more formative moments observing great facilitators in action and thinking as to how I could do it to the same effect.
I’ve particularly enjoyed watching how facilitators can draw the entire room into a problem-solving exercise, doing this in a kind and meaningful way, and watching how they respectfully manage some of the more combative individuals, calmly shifting their energy to be more constructive and thereby releasing the pressure valve in the room.
Great facilitation is hard. In the past 12 months, I’ve hosted multiple strategy, storyboarding and tender progress workshops and committee meetings. The role demands that we, as the facilitator, have a very clear idea of what is needed to ensure success, and to also consider how things might pan out because people are largely unpredictable, and before you know it, the session has been derailed, and we’ve lost control.
I do believe that practice makes perfect to achieve consistent outcomes in holding great meetings. There are also several simple rules you can apply to get you off to a good start, as follows:
Make sure you have an agenda – give people a clear outline of what to expect
Don’t wing it. The team deserves better. I like to think about the cost of running one of these meetings, so I do some mental maths by adding up the salaries of everyone in the room and think about how much money I’m wasting when I’ve failed to prepare for the meeting.
Make sure you have an agenda with some intended workshop objectives and be considerate of how much time should be assigned to each topic. Circulate this at least 48 hours in advance of the session (or earlier, dependent on what you need from the team). The onus is on the team to then review the content and come prepared.
Run the scenarios – how will the session play out?
Having the foresight to consider how a team might take to an activity, and their expected results, will help to be prepared for all eventualities. It also gives you an opportunity to adjust the question/session to get better outcomes.
Run this activity with a peer/colleague so you know you are considering from all perspectives.
Simplify the tasks/information - be conscious of how much you can get through
Just getting a meeting in the diary is half the battle. You then need to consider how much there is to achieve. Then there’s the fear that it will be ages until you can get access to the team again. This means the motivation is there to get through as much as possible in as little time as possible. But the risk in this approach is that you don’t really get to any real depth of analysis or insight.
Consider what is possible in the available time. Ask for more time. Or just prioritise and get the most important thing done. We are all dealing with finite time, so make the best of it. And if you are losing time on the agenda (in real-time), be prepared to cut out some sessions. It’s all about adapting to circumstances.
Have the right people in the room – there’s no point otherwise
This one is simple. There’s no point running a competitor analysis when the people in the room don’t know the competitors. You need to ensure the right people are in the room.
Make sure the agenda and attendees are aligned and that you have agreement from key stakeholders that the participants will turn up.
Stay present and switched on – you are critical to the flow of discussion
A facilitator is required to always be ‘on’.
You also need to understand the subject matter enough and possess the confidence to be curious to pose questions to support exploration and robust discussion. You are essentially on your feet synthesising information at a rapid-fire pace from multiple parties. The skill is turning these comments into meaningful insights and ultimately clear and actionable outcomes.
This one is practice, practice, practice. It is also helpful to keep your role of facilitator front of mind with the clear understanding that listening and being responsive is your job. It is also easier to remain engaged if you are curious and motivated by learning more.
Challenge participants to think broadly – try not to churn out the same tired sayings
The job of a facilitator is to assist a team to break free of organisational dogma to understand opportunities for innovation and adaptability by looking at the topic from a different perspective.
Might sound basic, but by simply asking – “What do you mean by that?”; “Who does that benefit – and “How?”; and “So, what?” – should yield some interesting answers where you are essentially forcing people to stop and think. God forbid we roll out some more business jargon with no real substance behind it.
Remove distractions and take breaks – provides a greater chance of successful outcomes
Consider the team and environment, and try to minimise disruptions so there’s concentrated time to undertake activities. If you are asking people to stay focused, then please reward them with a break from time to time.
It’s your responsibility to consider the comfort of your participants. Split the agenda into time blocks of 45-60 minutes with a 5- or 10-minute break. If you don’t do this, you might end up with some ordinary inputs.
Provide follow-up notes and actions – to reinforce learnings
Try to distil all information from the workshop or meeting immediately after the event and distribute it to the team within 24-48 hours. Alternatively, develop the actions and outcomes together as a team before concluding the workshop/meeting – it might give you greater buy-in.
Further to this, don’t be afraid or think that you are annoying or boring when you remind people that there are actions to close out. We can’t let the ideas of a good meeting go to waste. Once you have issued sufficient reminders, you need to transfer the onus to the team so that their success is not dependent on you.
Want some help with your next strategy or content workshop? Tender Plus offers professional tender services such as tender management, tender coordination and tender strategy, to name a few. Don’t hesitate to get in touch – we look forward to working with you!
Did you enjoy this article? You might like some of our other blogs, like Brace for impact: 5 dos and don’ts for impactful tender writing and 10 reasons to use a tender writing service.