I have facilitated some meetings that seemed doomed from the beginning. Despite a good process and facilitation skills, the group came together unprepared and seemingly with the "wrong stuff." Is ther anything I could do to be sure of success?

In facilitation, as in painting, preparation is critical to success. One really good, short listing of the biggest deal breakers for facilitated sessions is a McKinsey Quarterly article Taking the Bias out of Meetings. Both the facilitator and staff have responsibilities that include making sure the right people are part of the session (which may mean excluding some who think they should be there and inviting some who you might not think of at first), doing homework for the session, and making sure there is follow up accountability. The article gives good tips for each of these.

Tip: Build a facilitation preparation, execution and follow through process and add to it based on articles like these as well as observations from your own sessions and those of your colleagues.

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