Applications - Effective Meetings (2/2/10)

Facilitation, as I had just said previously, is difficult. However, it is a role I have often attempted to fill to varying degrees of success in the past. Here are a few of the lessons I feel I will be able to apply to future attempts at effective facilitation.

• Better identify personalities - It's difficult for me to sometimes identify what might be a task oriented personality vs. a forceful destructive personality. By better examining the textbook examples, I think I will better be able to see details better that I may have missed in the past.
• Maintain neutrality better - I'm a passionate person, which is sometimes why I want to facilitate resolutions between other people that have passion. However, I do have a nasty habit of losing my neutrality if the issue gets drawn out for too long. By better managing time on issues better I hope I can manage my ability to remain neutral.
• Check my own personality - I'm not always going to be the facilitator, so I need to remember what I do which might disrupt that process. I may not be directly facilitating, but it is a responsible team member which assists in reducing unneeded work on whomever is taking on that role.