Facilitated Meetings
Facilitated meetings are quicker and often less formal than a mediation. They can last as little as one hour and can take place either face-to-face or virtually using tools such as teams or zoom.
Facilitated meetings - services available:
Civil and Commercial
Leading as a facilitator in one facilitated meeting.
Leading as a facilitator is a series of facilitated meetings involving the same individuals relating to the same dispute.
Being the ‘preferred provider’ of all facilitated meetings for the organisation.
Training individuals in an organisation with the skills to deliver optimal facilitated meetings.
Retainer to lead facilitated meetings and to provide training to skill individuals to run their own facilitated meetings.
Workplace
Leading as a facilitator in one facilitated meeting.
Leading as a facilitator is a series of facilitated meetings involving the same individuals relating to the same dispute.
Who will be helping you?
When you request me to provide services, this is delivered through “Shackleton Consulting & Development Limited”, which is a UK registered company.
Depending upon the characteristics of the disputes or your requirements, these can be met my me (Russell Shackleton) or by one of my associates. Diversity and inclusion is important to me, I seek to ensure that the associates available are experienced and come from diverse backgrounds.
When we discuss the needs of your organisation I can include in the proposal the resumes of the team that will best meet your organisational and cultural needs and cover the appropriate areas of expertise.
I will manage all contractual arrangements with the associates so you will receive just one invoice to cover everyone providing services.. This makes it simple to you and helps manage your risks.
We can discuss any area of concern, as communication and collaboration are my essential bebaviours.
What is a facilitated meeting?
A facilitated meeting is either a single meeting, or a series of meetings, held between two or more parties, that have struggled to recognise or resolve a problem without the assistance of a ‘third person’ - a facilitator.
A party in a facilitated meeting could be two or more:
employees within a team or an organisation
employer and current or former employee(s) of an organisation
representative(s) of different organisations – such as a customer and supplier
a representative(s) of an organisation and an individual that has a dispute with that organisation
Any other parties involved in a dispute
Note: those present at such a meeting could also include a witness for each party or their representatives such as a legal advisor, accountant or union representative.
When are facilitated meetings most valuable?
When an independent / objective person is required to witness, and operate the meeting in a manner to ensure that all parties have a fair opportunity to make their views known.
At an early stage in a dispute (before a mediation would be needed to resolve a dispute)
In situations where a serious of meetings over a period of time are required to agree actions and monitor / review progress of those actions.
These meetings are often seen more in a workplace setting (a performance management meeting would be an example), though their format makes them a good option to help resolve many disagreements or misunderstandings.
My role as a facilitator:
A facilitated meeting creates a safe space for all the participants, so that they can be heard and have the opportunity and feel confident enough to articulate what they feel is giving rise to the difficulty in dealing with the situation.
My role as the facilitator is to ensure that this process allows everyone to have their say and to give support to them in identifying what needs to happen next. This could be done by asking questions that encourage the participant to explore in further detail just what is giving rise to the difficulty and what steps they think would help to overcome this. I can also suggest options to either or both parties if there seems to be an impasse.
At the end of the meeting I will articulate the positions of each party and the agreed outcomes of the discussions verbally. I will also agree with each party who is responsible for documenting these findings and monitoring they they are implemented; the follow-up is something that either myself, one of the parties or an independent person trusted by both parties can do though the documenting of the meeting really needs to be done by someone that was present at the meeting.
What are the objectives of a facilitated meeting, or series of meetings?
The objectives of facilitated meetings are:
to mutually agree a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) outcome.
to monitor and manage the progress of the delivery of the agreed actions.
to agree further ways forward where outcomes are below those acceptable to all parties.
to build confidence between the parties and develop and practice interpersonal skills that can lead to the need for a facilitator to be no longer needed.
The benefits of using an external facilitator:
CONFIDENTIALITY: With the use of an external facilitator organisations often find that the conversation can go into areas that the participants would have felt uncomfortable to discuss with an internal facilitator which can bring better results.
INDEPENDENCE: It is essential that all the parties have confidence in the independence and objectivity of the facilitator.
OBJECTIVITY: In an organisation where the parties are members of the same team, the facilitator can often be a member of the human resources team; though sustained relationships are often best preserved if someone outside of the organisation is the facilitator and there can be no perception of a prior, current or future conflict of interest.
PERSPECTIVE: A person from outside of the organisation can bring a new perspective to the dispute by asking questions that have not previously been asked, raising areas that might otherwise have been seen as ‘the elephant in the room’ or observing behaviours or cultures from an outside angle.
EQUALITY: An independent facilitator can also add value in cases when there is an imbalance or perceived imbalance between the parties (if there is for example a C-suite executive and a junior member employee or where one party has many years of service and the other person is a new employee.
Let’s talk about how a facilitated meeting could be a cost effective way to resolve a dispute or improve performance.
FREE UKRAINE FACILITATED MEETING or MEDIATION SERVICE:
In solidarity with the people of Ukraine and the wonderful UK hosts, I am proud to offer my services FREE of charge to help resolve disputes between hosts and guests in the ‘HOMES FOR UKRAINE SCHEME’. Please click on the Ukraine flag for more information.
