Facilitation

Facilitation of Your Desired Outcomes and Results

Leadership is about achieving desired outcomes and results. Facilitation is about achieving desired outcomes and results. Leadership can be approached from multiple perspectives and success involves selecting an appropriate approach for the situation at hand.

Facilitation also is about selecting an appropriate approach for the task at hand and my approach to Facilitating Desired Outcomes makes use of a range of facilitation approaches. These involve a different mix of process and content as required and can be labelled from the content free process consulting to alternative finding, collaborative problem solving, training/educating and on to a content rich expert facilitation.

Regardless of the size of the organisation involved most people we work with are experts in their business or are customers and community members with deep useful insights. Whether it be the finance, services, telecommunications, government, education, retail, manufacturing, health or any other industry people know their business and what needs to be done. The problem is people are so busy and focussed on their business that don’t always know what they know or are unable to bring it together in a format that is widely understood and actionable.

This is where we can be of great value to you as between your knowledge of your business and my expertise in facilitation we develop great clarity on the issues involved and what needs to be done. Some of the ways we can help you with facilitating the results you want are:

1. Vision and Strategy as the basis for desired results
2. Relationship Management to ensure successful collaboration
3. Problem Solving to enable you to get on with the real work
4. Customer Consultation to understand expectations and unlock the door to success
5. Community Consultation to engage, understand and service stakeholders
6. Conflict Resolution so you can focus on what really matters
7. Innovation to break new ground and improve your bottom line
8. Fit for Success so you can perform at your peak
9. Process Facilitation to tackle any issue, identify and create your desired future
10. Facilitation for Leaders to increase your effectiveness
11. Facilitation for Facilitators to assist you provide great value to others
12. Development Programs to build your capacity for action

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How can I benefit from using a facilitator?

A client recently said to Andrew, “Thanks that was great. In two hours you helped us solve a problem we had been working on and going nowhere for 8 months”. Do you have a problem like that and what would is the cost of it going on and on unresolved?

Another client told us after major community consultation exercise “Wow, what a relief. Before we started working together I had no idea what was possible and was so scared of what would happen. Our event was so good I would have paid you anything for what you have done”.

These are just two ways you can benefit from working with a facilitator. My article on Facilitating Desired Outcomes provides more information with some of the key challenges that can be readily addressed with professional facilitation being:

• It is often difficult for a leader to facilitate a meeting or planning event and to have input. You often focus on one or the other to the detriment of the overall outcome
• Often people are too involved in their problems to ask the right questions and see what is going on and what needs to happen
• Far too often people focus on the wrong problem and waste time and money trying to fix the wrong problem
• Shared understanding is assumed and mistakes, rework and poor execution occur
• Tough issues are difficult to talk about so they are ignored and performance suffers
• Lack of effective vision and shared commitment results in mediocre performance at best
• There is no innovation and the competition moves ahead while you fall behind
• Customers, the community and your staff have valuable insights capable of transforming the business if only you knew what they were
• Facilitating events is often an add on and not a serious job which leads to poor results and makes it even harder next time

Is your vision and strategy clear, well understood and current?

• Vision and strategy facilitation will provide the clarity and direction you are seeking.

Do you have a deliberate approach to relationships and are they working well?

• Relationship Management facilitation will determine the appropriate relationship type for you then ensure you achieve it.

Are you frustrated with constant problem solving, sometimes trying to solve the same problem over and over?

• Problem Solving facilitation will identify the real problem and allow you to focus on high leverage solutions.

When did you last have a conversation with your customers about how to improve your business?

• Customer Consultation opens the door to real communication with your customers and improves service, reduces costs and increases profitability.

Would you benefit from engaging with your community and developing a shared vision?

• Community Consultation connects people, builds shared understanding, commitment and action.

Is conflict making life difficult and limiting your performance?

• Conflict Resolution seems so hard but when it is the focus of your work it is amazing how quickly results flow and our clients wonder why that allowed the conflict to create such a problem in the first place.

Could better thinking unlock new possibilities, profits and success?

• Innovation facilitation helps you discover what your people know, think differently and improve your business by identifying new approaches.

Are you struggling to develop people, improve team dynamics, relationships and a healthy workplace?

• Fit for Success facilitation builds teams, enhances individual fitness and focuses on improved performance for individuals, teams and organisations.

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Key words: Facilitation, Leaders, Leadership, Leader as Facilitator