Facilitation
The importance and value of skilled, independent facilitation is often underestimated. We think it is a powerful tool to ensure that critical meetings, workshops and events deliver expected results. Our approach relies on careful preparation, establishing clear objectives ahead of the meeting and engaging key meeting participants. We support critical business meetings, key decision-making workshops (we call these 'Rapid Results' workshops), or larger events by choosing the best techniques to make each one successful.
Agreeing Objectives
i2a will agree the objectives and agenda for the meeting/workshop. We use our experience to ensure clarity and establish the ideal and the minimum acceptable outcomes. We pay particular attention to clarifying the role of the project sponsor and identify with the project sponsor any risks to the success of the meeting/workshop.
Designing and Preparing
Preparation is one of the secrets to the success. Together, by pooling i2a's facilitation tools and techniques with our client's knowledge of the business issues, culture and people, we will create the plan.
The meeting/workshop is structured to meet specific requirements. The whole idea is to bring the right people together to make decisions and obtain results more quickly. Accordingly, we will identify the key participants and prepare all the material they will need to make informed decisions. Often we decide to engage all, or some, of the participants ahead of the main meeting; this is important to avoid surprises when everyone comes together.
Facilitation and Follow-up
An experienced facilitator will stimulate debate, encourage the development of options and help the group make decisions. The facilitator's role is to manage the process for the meeting in order to help the participants achieve their agreed goals. It is the art of the trained facilitator to adjust his/her role to meet the specific needs of the group; every group varies and hence so does our approach. If required, i2a has a network of industry and functional specialists who, through their experience, can challenge the thinking of the group. i2a will fully document the output and actions and agree any follow-up activities that may be required.
