Group Facilitation

A facilitated discussion by an independent facilitator or mediator will make your project move forward more smoothly and quickly.

Examples of such endeavors could include:

  • Diverse board members charting goals and organizational vision for the next five years
  • Co-op members discussing practices for better communication
  • Business employees and supervisors meeting to acknowledge office politics, discuss potential conflicts and create pre-emptive solutions
  • Property owners, building contractors and sub-contractors meeting to discuss timing, payment, and contingencies for a project.

 

Conflict is part of all organizational growth but left unattended or wrongfully engaged, it can hamper or ruin any group endeavor. Regardless of the project, if you engage facilitated discussion and problem-solving, you can avoid bitterness, inefficiency and even litigation by addressing:

  • a lack of a common mission statement or vision;
  • a lack of information or a common historic narrative;
  • hurt feelings and resentment;
  • bad decision-making processes. 

By addressing these foundational issues, groups develop a solid core understanding from which to proceed.

Scott starts every group facilitation with individual conferences to understand the needs, spoken or not,  of the persons involved.  Individual meetings then lead to group meetings, during which people learn more about the motivations and expectations of others, and clarify common interests. This often involves uncovering unspoken assumptions and expectations and communicating them to others.  Near the end of the facilitation, the group reiterates all that has been learned or decided, and makes decisions for future action.

The entire process improves the bottom-line performance for any group endeavor. Engaging Scott in this process can yield surprisingly large returns in the long run, and often makes short-term operations easier, also.


“The easiest, the most tempting, and the least creative response to conflict within an organization is to pretend it does not exist.” – Lyle E. Schaller

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