The role of a facilitator working with groups is well known and widely employed. Some examples are: Board Retreats, Senior Management Strategy Sessions, Issue Management Sessions, Focus Groups, Stakeholder Consultations, Staff or Stakeholder Input, User Groups, Community Interest Consultations. The legendary "workshop", often taken for granted as a solution because it appears to be a compellingly obvious choice, is often part of the problem.
There is a wide range of situations in which productively identifying and confronting issues and getting the required work done calls for an independent facilitator working with the client in some constructive and appropriate way.
It is clear, though not widely understood, that the way things are done, i.e., process, can have a greater impact on outcomes than subject matter or good intentions. This is why it is necessary for process to be carefully designed.
Process design, like architecture, is a professional competence, and itself a process, that should be undertaken by the facilitator in close collaboration with the client. As noted, the impact of design and its process is exceptionally influential, often in ways that are unknown or hazy to those not trained or sufficiently experienced. It is counterproductive, quite costly and potentially fatal for engagement and process design to be overlooked, ignored, inappropriately executed or inappropriately timed and positioned.
The reverse is also true. Design can be appropriately undertaken and address needed progress of the client over an appropriate time frame. In this context, it can provide leverage needed by the client to have a reasonable and realistic expectation of desired outcomes and their impacts. One can never expect to complete even the simplest of puzzles if key or numerous pieces are missing in action.
Copyright 1999-2007 Frank McLean
page last updated 18 Jan 07
