 Learning how to facilitate a meeting effectively is a great skill to develop for anyone who runs, organizes or attends a lot of meetings. Facilitating a meeting effectively is likely to make the meeting a lot more useful for everyone. Attendees are more likely to solve the problem or make the decision that they are at the meeting for and it is likely to be a much more enjoyable journey to get there for all attendees. In this video I'm going to go through a few meeting setup points and then talk about nine key actions that a good facilitator takes during each meeting. And towards the end of this video I share a list of useful questions to ask as a facilitator. My name is Jess Coles and I've spent 25 years working in corporates and household names all the way through to SMEs at all management levels. I've attended lots of meetings, run meetings from team meetings all the way through to board meetings. If you're new to this channel, Enhance.Training provides online business courses to help individuals improve their personal performance and that of their team and business. And if you like this video please give it a thumbs up, subscribe and share it with friends. So the first important task when thinking about how to facilitate a meeting effectively is to make sure all attendees are really clear on the purpose or the objectives for the meeting. And understanding of the longer term goals of the group can also provide valuable context. So what does the meeting organizer want to achieve from the meeting? Typically the objective of a meeting is to solve a problem or a set of problems or to make a decision. Make sure this is clear, written down and shared with the attendees prior to the meeting. And then during the meeting keep bringing the attendees back to the purpose of the meeting particularly if they go off on tangents. A successful meeting is achieving the objective of the meeting. The next task in preparing to facilitate a meeting is to create an agenda or review the agenda with the meeting organizer so the agenda is clear and each point in the agenda is a step towards achieving the purpose of the meeting. Make sure each agenda item has enough time for debate and discussion. And don't forget to include breaks if the meeting is longer than say an hour. From each agenda item has a specific question to be answered rather than including as a vague subject area. This specific approach helps the attendees prepare prior to the actual meeting. And be realistic about what can be achieved in each meeting. For more information on setting agendas see our video How to Set a Meeting Agenda. And do send out the purpose of the meeting, the meeting agenda and all the pre-reads at least 24 hours before the meeting. And obviously the more preparation attendees need to do prior to the meeting the more time they'll need. So let's now go through the nine actions that a good facilitator takes during each meeting. The first action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to stay neutral. This is important for you to gain the trust of every participant. You're looking after each attendee equally to help the team work towards the purpose of the meeting. So when in the facilitator's role staying neutral means you know firstly not taking sides in the discussion including agreeing or disagreeing with points made. Avoid voicing your own opinions as well and stay out of the conversation unless it stalls or starts going around in circles. It is extremely hard to be a facilitator and a participant in the meeting. Facilitating is an active role even if you're in the background of the meeting for a lot of the time. The second action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to actively listen to each attendee. Actively listening means in keeping eye contact with the person you're listening to. Provide encouraging body language so the speaker gets feedback that you are following what is being said. Make sure you take in what is being said so you can paraphrase or summarize as needed. And then you are observing the speakers and others, body language, energy levels, tone of voice and all the other non-verbal information that they are providing. Active listening takes concentration and energy. If you don't know what's going on in the meeting how can you facilitate it effectively? And also listening is a very underrated and underutilized skill yet you can learn an amazing amount by actively listening properly. The third action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to keep the group focused on the purpose of the meeting. You know we've all been in meetings where the group is pulled off on tangents to explore interesting yet unrelated ideas. Keep them group focused on the purpose of the meeting. Having the purpose stated in writing on a whiteboard or put in the middle of the table and draw the attendees back to the purpose every time they go off on a tangent. A successful meeting is achieving the objective of the meeting. The fourth action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to keep the group moving through the agenda items, which should keep the meeting to time and achieve the outcome sort. The purpose is the goal of the meeting and a good agenda is the route to achieve it. Of course be flexible. If the group is able to jump steps for instance, let them do so. Use your judgment. Allow the group plenty of time for discussion and decision making during the meeting itself. The fifth action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to ask probing questions to move the discussion forward, to get meeting attendees thinking in new ways, or to explain the point that they've made in a clearer or more in-depth way. I'm going to share a range of good question types to ask, which include firstly, what makes you think that? Or can you expand on that point? How would you summarize that? How would you measure success in that instance? How does this conversation get us to the goal of this meeting? What impact does that approach have on the team or the business? What would that look like? How do you feel about that? Tell me more. Are you willing to share any more? Does anyone else share these views and feel they can contribute? Some people find that, and go on to state a problem or opinion, how far would you agree with that point? If you were given control of the company for a week, what would you change? These are some examples, and I'm particularly like the last one. But whatever you ask, keep your questions open, i.e. it's very hard to answer them with just a yes or no. And by all means, use variations on the example questions that I've shared, and there are many others that work very well too. The sixth action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to make sure everyone participates in the meeting. Getting everyone to participate equally means you're drawing out opinions from the quieter members by asking them questions or giving them the space to speak. It also means keeping the stronger personalities in check. You know, ask them to scribe on a flip-chart or other actions that forces them to listen to the others. Or it could be using exercises such as taking turns for each person to speak their views without interruptions, or maybe using post-it notes to capture ideas and thoughts from everyone and then debate each as a group. Keep an eye on the personalities and dynamics within the group and help those that are more reluctant to speak or truly voice their views. Support those that voice dissenting views by getting the group to work through the view together, rather than dismiss it out of hand, for instance. The seventh action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to create and maintain a positive and productive atmosphere. It can be very easy for the dominant or senior people in the room to effectively silence other members, often without realising by interrupting, talking over others, using put-downs or guilt trips or other techniques. Be on alert for any behaviour that stops attendees participating equally and call it out. Equally, it is important to keep an eye on the energy in the room and look out for points where the group gets stuck. Take a short break or do a short exercise to reinvigorate the group. Ask questions to steer the group past roadblocks or problems. Keep the atmosphere and feeling within the group positive, respectful and productive. The eighth action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to summarise discussion points and decisions. Keep actively listening and take the time to paraphrase and summarise what has been discussed, the progress that's been made, the actions agreed and the decisions made to make sure everyone in the group understands and takes in the key points. This stops individuals falling behind the group or reaching an incorrect conclusion in their own mind. Get agreement from the group about the summary you or others provide. This keeps what has been agreed and discussed clear in everyone's mind and ensure the minute taker for the meeting captures the summaries clearly if this is not you. The ninth action to take when facilitating a meeting effectively is to get the group to reach agreement. Reaching agreement gives the attendees a way forward, a decision, a course of action, et cetera. And getting genuine agreement can be tough if you have a lot of opposing views within the group. Work through each of the views to make sure everyone contributes and each view is considered by the group. The best solutions, actions and plans often come from a combination of several initial options. This is the power of using a group to get an agreement rather than one person making a decision or taking an action. Don't allow the group to reach agreement by moving to the lowest common denominator as this often doesn't produce the best agreement for the team or the business. Keep the group working until all members of are at least okay with what has been agreed. So in summary, use these nine actions to improve how you facilitate meetings in your business. Learning how to facilitate a meeting effectively is like any skill it takes practice. So do take the time to practice and get better at reading the room and dealing with different situations that arise in many of these meetings. Businesses that have effective, well-run meetings achieve a lot more. Having employees that can effectively facilitate meetings is a very valuable thing. Enjoy getting more from your meetings. And do visit us at enhance.training and take a look at the courses and resources we have available to transform your personal team and business performance. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.