A facilitated process may be a single meeting, a conference, or a series of meetings that happen over a longer period of time. The process has an end goal, usually some objective which the organizer would like the participants to complete. Process design is the skill of managing the agenda, participants, venue, materials and objectives to create positive outcomes for the group.
Designing Facilitated Processes & Meetings
We help meeting organizers or project managers to design processes that will achieve the desired outcomes, both in terms of the rational objectives the group needs to complete and in terms of the experience the group wants/needs to have together.
You can see some of our recent work in the Featured Facilitation Projects highlighted to the right, or by reading blog posts in the Facilitation category. A quick run-down of some recent clients/projects that we’ve done process design consultation for includes:
- BC government (Ministry of Forests)
- Non-profit sector (Victoria Foundation, NEED Crisis Line, Canadian Mental Health Association)
- Tech sector (small software company)
How We Get Involved
We’ve been involved with clients as facilitators focusing strictly on process, and also in an advisory capacity (with some content involvement alongside process). Each client has different needs, and the best way for us to discover if should work together is by having a chat on the phone or in person. We can offer value in a variety of ways:
- Review meeting objectives and agendas and offer advice on how to increase the likelihood of success in an already-planned meeting;
- Help to brainstorm facilitation questions;
- Provide frameworks or advice on how to structure difficult meetings or conversations;
- Assist with conference planning by attending to the conference program and process aspects, and advising on how venue/catering/program issues will influence group outcomes. (We’re NOT event planners!)
- Plan a multi-stage facilitated process for a change management project, involving diverse participants.
- Many more… just challenge us!
Facilitation Models
There are many different models or methods for group meetings, some of them more formal than others. Here are some of the models we’ve worked with (and/or are working with now):
- Focused Conversations
- Consensus Workshops
- Open Space Technology
- Appreciative Inquiry
- World Cafe
We’re not advocates of any one particular theory over another. Each of our clients receives a customized process design, taking into account the situation, personalities, environment and limitations of the group.
How to Begin
Give us a phone call or send an email using this form. A real human being will receive your email and get back to you within 48 hours. If you don’t hear from us in that time, please call because it means something’s broken with the website!
