Any time you are presented a problem – or opportunity – in your business, it’s often valuable to get a few people together to explore the dimensions of the challenge and generate a creative answer. When you’re the boss, it can be difficult to position your role so you get the most from the members of your team and the team as a whole. There could be a number of dynamics going on in the group that work against everyone fully engaging in the process, and being open to exploring new ways.
That’s where an external facilitator can bring measurable value.
Without the facilitator, the meeting discussion often follows hierarchical lines, with participants directing their comments to “the boss.”
By “inserting” the facilitator, the comments initially tend to get directed to the facilitator, often acting as a lightning rod for strongly held opinions, placing the facilitator in the role of independent and unbiased interpreter.
When the facilitator does the job effectively, the flow of dialogue evolves to more direct interpersonal communication, with the facilitator managing the flow among the many nodes on the geodesic network.
Potholes to steer around
In any group dialogue, there is the potential for a number of dysfunctional behaviours and other exposures to emerge.
The kinds of things that can have an impact on the dialogue include:
- emotional hijacking – where seemingly innocent statements are interpreted by others as a personal attack or judgment;
- implicit assumptions – where two or more individuals are speaking and acting on different unstated beliefs or assumptions;
- premature advocacy – where individuals place themselves in a situation where they feel they must defend a position before they have fully understood the collective knowledge in the room; and
- closure without commitment – where individuals feel pressured to reach a decision and thereby acquiesce or grudgingly comply.
With primary concentration on the process, as well as being a “non-attached” third party, the experienced facilitator can help to sense, defuse and redirect these behaviours.