Every facilitator who is listed in our database is allowed to provide a self-rating on categories we consider to be the most important in the field. We list 70 service areas, and the facilitator can choose a rank that he or she feels accurately represents his or her experience in the specified area. An expert is one who can effectively train others in the field, while an independent one can work alone without assistance in a particular niche.

To better serve our customers, we believe it is only fair to list qualified facilitators first. A certified master facilitator is an individual who has attained the highest certifications in the field, and as such, will be listed first on the display list generated by a customer’s search query. To protect our clients and offer them expert-level service, we encourage them to use master facilitators. We do this by offering a money-back guarantee on the facilitators’ services if they fail to meet our customer’s expectations. While we would never expect a client to be dissatisfied, we have implemented this guarantee as a way of demonstrating our ability to find the best of the best in the corporate facilitation field.

Client Feedback is Always Important

In addition to listing certified facilitators first and by allowing these individuals to rank themselves, we allow our customers to rate their experience as well. Not only does this help future customers find the right facilitator for their needs, it also helps us reevaluate our listings. If a particular facilitator received too many negative reviews, we would ultimately place them at the bottom of our list.

After the client’s session has been completed, our client relationship managers will reach out to them to log their input. Our customers can rank their facilitator on a scale of one to four, with four being the best rating.

In regards to the certified master facilitators, those who we offer a money-back guarantee on in the event that the customer is not satisfied with the service, we evaluate the facilitator’s performance in core areas. These key competencies (presence, assessment, communication, control, consistency and engagement) are what separate an expert facilitator from a novice.

We urge all our customers to contact a client relationship manager before conducting a search for a meeting facilitator. Our staff will be able to personally select qualified matches who aptly suit your needs. With a money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!

A strategic planning facilitator is an individual who is in charge of leading a group of stakeholders in a strategic planning session or meeting. Some companies prefer to designate an internal leader as the strategic planning facilitator, but doing so will adversely affect the quality of decisions made during this process. An internal discussion leader is typically afraid to ask the tough questions, and could let personal bias steer the conversation away from ideas that he or she does not like. Conversely, a facilitator hired from an online database or from somewhere else outside of the organization does not bring any bias or personal interests to the discussion. He or she can act as an impartial leader as the group completes strategic planning in one of three ways. The three types of strategic planning that an organization might use are:

Goals-based planning

This is the most common approach to strategic planning, and involves defining the company’s mission, determining goals that align with that mission, and devising steps the company will need to take to reach those goals.

Organic strategic planning

This approach makes organizational values the focal point, as members of the group begin by defining the company’s values and then craft plans fitting those values.

Issues-based planning

This type of planning involves devising a strategic plan to address a problem or issue. The company begins by determining what the problem is, and then devises a multi-step approach for eliminating the problem.

When the company hires a professional to provide facilitator services for any of the above strategic planning strategies, it benefits from the individual’s unfamiliarity with the company. A strategic planning facilitator first obtains background information about the company by conducting interviews with top-level executives. From these interviews, he or she will learn the purpose of the meeting and gain a better understanding of the company’s industry. The strategic planning facilitator can also interview lower-level employees who would ordinarily be hesitant to share doubts or negative thoughts about the company with someone within the organization.

Once the strategic planning session begins, the strategic planning facilitator will use his or her facilitation experience to oversee the meeting. He or she will give each team member a chance to speak, and will even direct questions at specific individuals if he or she believes the individual to be too shy to speak during the discussion. Following the discussion, the strategic planning facilitator will make sure a consensus is reached before ending the session.

Without a facilitator, companies will not get the most out of their strategic planning sessions. Business leaders who are looking for someone to provide facilitator services should consult Findafacilitator’s database of facilitation professionals. Our massive online database includes individuals from all over the country, so companies can find a qualified professional regardless of their budget.

Strategic planning refers to the process an organization uses to define its direction or strategy, and the decisions the organization makes about how to allocate resources to achieve this strategy. When strategic planning is completed properly, the organization benefits by aligning available resources with defined objectives. Therefore, the company gets back far more than it invests when it hires a top-quality strategic planning facilitator. These professionals complete the process of strategic planning by completing some or all of the below procedures.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is used by organizational leaders to get a snapshot of the organization. Using this information, decision makers will be able to create a vision, set goals, and delegate responsibilities across organizational departments. A strategic planning facilitator helps with this process because he or she forces the organization to ask the tough questions. When a SWOT analysis is completed internally, individuals might list strengths and weaknesses, but will be afraid to speak up about opportunities and threats because they fear rejection or ridicule. An individual providing facilitator services acts as an impartial observer who makes group members feel more comfortable sharing ideas.

Create a Vision

A vision or vision statement describes what the organization wants to be and how it wants to operate within the marketplace. Another good way to think about the vision is to use it to describe what success looks like for the organization. A strategic planning facilitator will sit down with executives and other decision makers to create or revisit the vision statement. Using input from each person in the room, he or she will guide the group to a consensus.

Set Goals and Objectives

After evaluating or redoing the vision statement, the individual offering facilitator services will help the group set goals and objectives. These goals will be used to judge how close the business is to reaching its vision, setting measurable goals such as a number of sales or percentage of market share. Once these goals are in place, it will be easier to delegate responsibilities to individual departments.

The above-mentioned are some of the ways a strategic planning facilitator will help the company with this crucial process. FindaFacilitator offers a comprehensive database for individuals who need facilitator services, and our client relationship managers can find a professional within your price range who meets all of your organization’s needs.

Poor time management

When the goal of a meeting is to reach a resolution, the conversation must move in the right direction and at a steady pace. When the minutes of a meeting are poorly managed, this does not happen. Instead, the meeting is often continued later. When colleagues must achieve a resolution in a single session, having a group facilitation expert lead the discussion is the best solution for time management.

Team members who talk too much

Team members are encouraged to contribute to group discussions. However, there is fine line between maximizing one’s contribution and talking too much. Sometimes those who talk the most have the best things to say, but regardless of the value of their thoughts, their approach is usually annoying to colleagues. Getting a person who is garrulous to speak less without hurting his or her feelings could prove difficult. Because facilitation experts are impartial participants in a meeting, they are the best candidates to handle the situation.

Team members who tune out

Just as some team members might be loquacious, others may not talk enough. In the era of smart phones and hand tablets, bored colleagues can find ways to be entertained while still looking “busy.” Team members who tune out in this manner often indirectly hurt the group. After not participating in the discussion and missing much of what was said, they may come back later and voice displeasure with the results of the meeting. Group facilitation focuses on inspiring unmotivated team members to participate in group discussions.

No agenda

Groups fall into the habit of not developing agendas because they feel familiar with the topics of meetings. Without a guide for moving through discussions, group members often digress from the meeting’s topic, or spend too much time discussing certain issues. Developing an agenda for each meeting may seem unnecessary, but doing so will help ensure that topics are equitably addressed.

Unresolved conflicts

Unresolved conflicts paralyze the productivity of a group. Whether the conflict exists between individuals or factions within the group, the negative feelings it creates can dominate discussions unrelated to the point of contention. Once group members become entrenched on an issue, working out the problem without outside assistance is often not an option. When this occurs, a facilitator must be called.

Does your company hold unproductive meetings?

If so, making them productive may require the assistance of a group facilitation expert from FindaFacilitator. FindaFacilitator is an agency that supplies professionals who specialize in facilitating various types of meetings, from strategic planning sessions to project meetings. For more information about how facilitation experts improve the productivity of meetings, or for assistance with choosing a facilitator, call FindaFacilitator today.

Ability to Understand the Company Mission

Every company has a mission statement, but the value of the statement depends on how it is executed and whether it communicates the right mission. Strategic planning training helps leaders to translate a mission statement into daily business practices, and to develop a new statement if the present one does not reflect the core values of a company.

Ability to Understand the External Environment

Unless leaders understand the macro and micro factors that affect their company’s position in the external business environment, they could end up wasting sales resources, fail to attract new clients, and even lose established clients. Understanding factors in the external environment allows leaders to consider customer needs as a part of strategic planning, and to respond to changes in the environment with intelligent solutions.

Ability to Understand the Internal Environment

When a company flounders, it often looks as if it lost the battle with its competitors. The truth, however, is that many companies defeat themselves by not examining the internal business environment. Failure to align the sales and marketing processes, poor use of capital in strategic planning, and poor compensation arrangements are internal factors that can gradually push companies into the red. Strategic planning training teaches leaders how to avoid these and other internal pitfalls.

Ability to Formulate Strategic Plans

Knowing what should inform strategic plans and using that knowledge to formulate them are two different things. In addition to helping leaders identify what should inform a plan, strategic planning training teaches them how to implement the information. In many organizations, the formulation phase is the primary barrier to effective planning, and a dynamic training regimen can remove the barrier.

Ability to Execute Strategic Plans

Because small mistakes in a plan’s execution can snowball into big problems later (think resource allocation), some companies are unaware that errors were made in the execution phase until the oversights become difficult or impossible to correct. Strategic planning training helps leaders to develop plans that are executable over the long-term.

Do You Need Strategic Planning Training?

If so, call FindaFacilitator. We provide top rated training facilitators that specialize in strategic planning. By evaluating their performance through client reviews, FindaFacilitator ensures its facilitators perform at a high level. If you need to advance or refresh your strategic planning skills, FindaFacilitator can connect you with an experienced corporate trainer, regardless of your location. To learn more about our services, or to receive help choosing a trainer, call us today.

Oversensitivity

When the Roman Emperor Nero read his bad poetry to the Roman senators, they had to praise his writing, or he would have them killed. Some colleagues bring the same approach to the meeting table—if you question their ideas, they take it as an insult, and resort to arguing to save their pride. That is better than resorting to man-eating lions, as Nero did, but it still takes the meeting in a bad direction. A meeting facilitator can keep meetings on track by diffusing someone’s oversensitive reactions.

Loquaciousness

Some people are the Energizer Bunnies of the boardroom—they keep talking and talking and talking and…you get the point. In most cases, these longwinded soliloquists have the best intentions—they want to communicate what they think is important information. In reality, their speech could be used as a sleep therapy. If a colleague’s loquaciousness is taking the “group” out of group meetings, hiring a meeting facilitator could help.

Gum Chewing

Without blowing a single bubble, corporate gum chewers can make their flexing jowls the visual focus of a meeting. Even worse is when they speak and chew gum at the same time, which makes them look like smart alecks, whether they are or not. The best way to diffuse gum chewers before their cud causes a disturbance is to remind them of company etiquette, or simply moo at them until they get the point.

Side Conversation

Having a side conversation during a meeting is rude—it disrespects the speaker, distracts people’s attention, and gives the impression that the conversationalists have something better to discuss than the topic of the meeting. While a brief side exchange between colleagues is usually acceptable, conversing in a way that would make a schoolteacher say “do you have something you’d like to share” is not.

Argumentativeness

If employees agreed on everything, a company would lack intellectual diversity. Some employees seem dedicated to being flies in the ointment. Are they dissatisfied with their salary? Are they just passionate about the company? One can never know for sure. One thing is certain—silencing a colleague who thrives on negativity can require the help of a meeting facilitator.

When Should You Hire a Meeting Facilitator?

Meeting facilitators cannot cure bad personalities, but they can keep meetings on track and help colleagues to arrive at productive solutions by employing facilitation strategies. If the antics of your colleagues are sabotaging your company’s meetings, hiring a facilitator from FindaFacilitator could help to restore order. To learn more about our services, call us today.

Lack of Focus

When a meeting lacks focus, it is often because team members are unaware of how to address an issue, or because their ideas for addressing it lack a strategic approach. By helping team members think strategically about an issue, meeting facilitators help them develop the strategic focus necessary to resolve the issue.

Lack of Motivation

After a group has tried unsuccessfully to resolve a problem, it can suffer from a lack of motivation. A skilled facilitator can motivate a group by helping it gain new insight into the source of a problem, and what can be done efficiently and economically to resolve the problem.

Negative Group Dynamics

Some meetings are hindered by poor relationships between certain team members—a problem that could be difficult for other team members to address. If the meetings at your company are starting to seem like showcases for personal
rivalries, meeting facilitation can help diffuse the rivalries and restore positive group dynamics.

Lack of Insight

Many groups lack insight, not because they lack the capacity for it, but because they adhere to an outdated way of thinking. This often happens when a team undertakes a new type of project without changing the approach it used for previous projects. Facilitators can help team members gain insight by helping them adapt their thinking to the issue at hand.

Poor Individual Behavior

Because professionals are expected to behave professionally, dealing with a deviate team member could be difficult. Although official penalties are an option, requesting the help of a facilitator, who can diffuse bad behavior by refusing to let it set the tone of a meeting, can be the more profitable option. When troublemakers notice their bad behavior has no affect, they often abandon their quarrelsome attitude.

Does Your Company Need Facilitation?

If the meetings at your company have become unproductive, FindaFaciltator can help. By supplying a variety of specialized facilitators, we make it easy for companies to select a facilitator who can satisfy their needs. We also supply facilitators whose fees are affordable on a variety of budgets, and who travel to most destinations around the globe.

The problems above are common reasons why companies seek meeting facilitation. Other reasons include:

• Difficulty turning ideas into actions
• Lack of participation in meetings
• Difficulty prioritizing problems
• Trouble conducting timely meetings
• Need for an impartial speaker to address a sensitive issue

If your company needs assistance resolving these issues or others, FindaFacilitator can help. Call us today for a free consultation.

Choose a Person who has a Reputation for Being Professional

Facilitating a meeting can bring several challenges, such as dealing with argumentative or loquacious team members. Just as difficult team members can tempt their colleagues to fight fire with fire, they can tempt facilitators to do the same. Professional facilitators find ways to eliminate the behavior of troublemakers without potentially exacerbating it.

Choose a Person Who has the Right Skills

A facilitator should possess topnotch consulting skills in his or her area of expertise. Although a facilitator helps a group to reach its own solutions instead of supplying solutions as a traditional consultant would, consultation skills are still an important aspect of facilitation, especially for strategic planning facilitators.

A facilitator who lacks consulting experience in strategic planning can have difficultly facilitating effective strategies. Although the group arrives at the strategies, the facilitator must understand which strategies are valid and which ones are not.

Consider the Fee

For selection criteria, the fee of a facilitator should not hold more importance than his or her professional qualities, but you should consider the fee with of how often you would need facilitation. Choosing a facilitator whose fee is easily affordable has two advantages: you can use the person’s services as often as necessary, and, in doing so, you allow the person to gain unique insight into the needs and goals of your company.

Find Out if a Person Will Work With a Co-Facilitator

If you plan to have a co-facilitator work with the facilitator you hire, be sure to find out if the latter is willing to work with the former. Although the job of facilitators is to help a group reach a consensus, there have been several occasions where a group has helped a feuding facilitator and co-facilitator reach a consensus. To prevent this from happening at your company, find out if a facilitator is willing to share the reigns with someone else.

Does Your Company Need Meeting Facilitation?

If so, FindaFacilitator can help you find the right facilitator for the job. From strategic planning facilitators to training facilitators, we supply professionals who specialize in a variety of facilitation disciplines, have service fees in a variety of price ranges, possess topnotch consulting skills, and can travel to most locations around the globe.

Along with the frustration it involves, unproductive meetings waste time and money. To learn how FindaFacilitator can help your company make its meetings more productive, call us today for a free consultation.

Maintaining a High Energy Level
Facilitators that maintain a high energy level draw a group’s attention for two reasons: they appear self-confident, and they make what they speak about sound important. Maintaining a high energy level throughout a meeting requires stamina and discipline, but the result is worth it, as the crowd stays tuned in and on point with the meeting’s goals.

Asking Questions that Conjure an Image
As a way to begin a meeting, or segue to another topic, Facilitators often ask a question that conjures a familiar image. Business meetings often involve abstract or technical questions that do not invite participation. Good facilitators combat this effect by asking questions that allow group members to visualize a response.

Using Strategic Follow-up Questions
Most meetings arrive at points where redirection is needed. Rather than bringing the conversation to a sudden end and introducing a new topic, a facilitator can use strategic questions to guide it back on course. The fewer pauses a conversation has, the less likely group members are to break their attention.

Writing down Statements for Further Analysis
When group members make key statements, most facilitators take the opportunity to write them down. Facilitators can use these statements to demonstrate the group’s thought progress, or to show the direction that it needs to go in. Because the group is responsible for creating solutions, analyzing the statements of group members is an excellent way to make the necessary points.

Deferring to the Group’s Knowledge
One of the central tenets of facilitation is that groups have the ability to solve the issue at hand; they just need help channeling that ability. With this in mind, good facilitators build a group’s confidence by deferring to their knowledge of the matter at hand.

Guides the Facilitation Process from Start to Finish
In combination, the facilitation strategies above make it easy for facilitators to guide the facilitation process from start to finish. Although the process allows group conversation to progress organically, the conversation must honor the meeting’s timeline and goals. A good facilitator strikes a balance between these things.

Designing Custom Facilitation Processes
A one size fits all facilitation process will not work for all businesses. This is why the best facilitators design custom facilitation processes. Prior to hiring a facilitator, companies should ask whether the process will be tailored to or based on a template. If a template will be used, the process should be reviewed before making a decision.

FindaFacilitator has the Facilitation Services You Need

If you are a facilitator who is looking for business opportunities, or a company leader who needs a facilitator, FindaFacilitator has the services you need. To find out about our opportunities for facilitators, or to learn how our facilitators can meet your business needs, call us today.