The Top Meeting Pet Peeves that Plague Organizations – Tip #2

The following is the second meeting pet peeve in a weekly series of 5.

Pet Peeve #2: Lack of Facilitation

Some people mistakenly believe that meetings run on their own—that all you have to do is get a group of people together in a room and they’ll automatically produce good results. Wrong! Getting the people together is the easy part; leading them in a productive discussion takes skill. That’s why solid meeting facilitation is so critical.

The facilitator’s job is to control the flow of the meeting, to help attendees work together, to provide structure to the meeting, and to get everyone involved. When attendees are allowed to have their cell phones ringing during the meeting, when one or two people are permitted to dominate the conversation, or when it’s acceptable for key people to not contribute to the discussion, good facilitation is lacking. Therefore, make sure all your meetings have an effective facilitator at the helm.