Why Use A Trained Facilitator for Your Meeting or Workshop?

A third party, objective facilitator who is trained in proven, outcome-driven facilitation techniques exponentially increases the success of your meeting or workshop, especially if a topic is complex, you need to build rapport or consensus, if it's critical to mine innovative thinking, you need to move an initiative or concept forward, or when you're undertaking planning--whether Strategic Planning, Project Planning, Action Planning or Annual Planning.

An outside facilitator allows all company or organization representatives, including leadership, to participate equally. A trained, third-party facilitator also takes the inside politics out of the process and keeps the conversation objective, realistic, inclusive, participatory and responsive. 

A facilitator is different than a meeting planner, which typically is someone who takes care of the logistics of putting together an event. A facilitator is also different than an emcee, who may put together an agenda and keep a meeting or event moving, but is not there specifically to guide the group through a participatory, outcome-driven, proven process in which they have been trained. Finally, a facilitator is different than a consultant in that a consultant gathers information and then tells you, based on experience and expertise, what to do, whereas a facilitator’s role is to bring out the wisdom and expertise of the group to find the answers.

A savvy executive knows to engage a facilitator early on in the process, because part of the role of facilitator is to listen to your goals, concerns, needs and challenges and then custom-design a process to address them, drawing from experience and a vast toolkit of proven methods. 

You don’t need the facilitator to be an expert in your industry; what you need is someone who is an expert in facilitation; i.e., 

• Trained in a proven process that brings out the wisdom, experience and innovative ideas from the meeting or workshop participants,
• Experienced in skillfully navigating negativity and naysayers
• Expert in eliciting the participation and buy-in of the entire group
• Excellent at staying neutral
• Adept at guiding the group to an outcome-driven, realistic, useable plan/agreement.

MK Communication Strategies Principal Maggie Kuhn and her facilitation associates are deeply experienced professionals and are trained in the Technology of Participation (ToP)® methodology of facilitation.