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Major Benefits of Using An Outside Facilitator

Written by: Glenn Ebersole

Article Overview: Are you and your team, task force, committee, or any other working group struggling with issues and divergent viewpoints? Do you attend meetings that take up hours of your time but do not produce actionable plans at the conclusion of the meetings? I believe a majority of you answered YES to both questions. So what is my advice to you? My advice is to use an outside facilitator!

Major Benefits of Using An Outside Facilitator

Major Benefits of Using An Outside Facilitator?By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group™

Are you and your team, task force, committee, or any other working group struggling with issues and divergent viewpoints? Do you attend meetings that take up hours of your time but do not produce actionable plans at the conclusion of the meetings? I believe a majority of you answered YES to both questions.

So what is my advice to you? My advice is to use an outside facilitator for your meetings and retreats. A qualified outside facilitator will free you and your group to focus on the agenda items and will provide a catalyst to keep everyone focused and on track. Effective outside facilitators can help bring out the best in each member of your group and help all members work together to address issues and items on the agenda. An outside facilitator will bring a fresh objective viewpoint and will help your group produce actionable, results-driven plans.

Outside facilitators provide major benefits that include:
+ creating a safe, non-threatening environment for open discussion
+ providing a neutral third party
+ providing management of the meeting process
+ helping participants feel less intimidated
+ helping to clearly define the issues and problems without bias
+ providing assistance in dealing with rivalries within the group
+ making more effective use of the meeting time by keeping the discussion focused on key issues
+ helping break down complex issues and problems to aid the group in working together to solve problems
+ cultivating a commitment of the group to follow-up on the action plan
+ helping to “visualize” what can be in the future by creating a unified vision
+ helping create accountability
+ helping develop specific goals and action plans to address issues and items

Please don’t wait to take action and reap the benefits of using an outside facilitator. I would love to talk with you about how I could work with you as an outside facilitator and how you can realize the benefits shown above. Please contact Glenn Ebersole at jgecoach@aol.com Now!

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