Author: admin

How good are you at holding a conversation, whilst at the same time keeping a note of the time, holding on to the agenda, managing tricky personalities, catching key points and encouraging quiet people to speak up whilst reining in the verbose ones?

On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) score yourself for your facilitation skills?

And then consider that the next time you have a key meeting it might be productive to hire, borrow or volunteer a skilful facilitator to enable your meeting to run smoothly.

If you are trying to think through essential strategic plans, collate opinions and agree goals, or take time away from your organisation to create new directions with a senior team, then why not make use of a facilitator?

It’s very hard to be in the team, lead the team and manage the team all at the same time and from the same place.

So this week think about playing the facilitation game and set you and your colleagues up for success, by having a properly managed meeting.

This post was inspired by a piece of facilitation I did for a client a few weeks ago, that enabled a diverse team to choose new strategic initiatives. At the end of the piece I was struck that the group made several thoughtful decisions and admitted that without my support they would have foundered as they did before.

We can all reduce the risk of failure and can invest in our future success by recognising the value a facilitator brings.

Next week: Putting The Beach Into Coaching

Are you a little bit peckish? Would you like a snack right now? Maybe a delicious cheese sandwich, with fresh bread, rich butter and strong tasty cheddar cheese. Imagine that sandwich, in your hand and you’re about to take the first bite…smell the aroma of warm bread, imagine the sensation of biting into the cheese and tasting the sandwich…

…Can you smell the bread? Is your mouth asking your brain to stop reading this and rush to the fridge?

How long can you hold out, before you have to go and find something tasty to nibble on?

How long can you delay your gratification for?

More than 10 minutes?

The concept of delayed gratification is about not accepting a small reward now, in order to secure a greater reward later. For example, we can avoid the snack now and then have a decent meal later.

Business success links to delayed gratification. People who stick to cool logic and play the long game may be more successful than those who let emotions override their caution and satisfy themselves now.

My first business mentor used to tell me a story about two chaps who set themselves up in business. On day one in the morning they went to the bank and signed on the line for a substantial start-up loan. In the afternoon they went to the Jaguar garage and each signed on the line for a hand-stitched leather-clad executive purr-mobile. After all, they were Directors so they needed a Director-level car, right?

How successful do you think their business was?*

So, this week practice delayed gratification and don’t reach for the coffee cup at the first notion of hot beans. Instead, take a minute to think about your business and what you can delay…and really think if the item in question is a ‘nice to have’ or a ‘must have’. Which option makes for really good business?

Next week: The Facilitation Game

*They tanked.