Best Practices for Facilitating Meetings

Kenning Associates Partner Jen Lachance says that facilitating a meeting means “creating space for group level sense-making”.  With that benchmark in mind, she and fellow Kenning Partner (and facilitation veteran) Thom Shaw discuss some of the best ways to prepare for a meeting, conduct it, and what you should do once it's done.  How do you define goals and outcomes going into a meeting, and how can you create a sense of progress during?  What are some of the ways you can profitably arrange the meeting room, where should you stand, and when does it even make sense to sit down?  What are some of the ways to deal with disruptive behavior, and why is some level of conflict actually a good sign?  And finally, what’s “the bike rack”?

 

Thom and Jen draw upon their deep experience to speak to these issues and many more.  In the end, Thom and Jen promise that facilitating a meeting–helping a group solve problems and build alignment–can be rewarding, meaningful, energizing, even fun.

 

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