University Of Minnesota Extension Eight Ps Of Effective Facilitation Planning And Preparation

Press release from the University of Minnesota Extension:

September 13, 2021

Many of us are seeing a return to in-person and hybrid meetings following the COVID pandemic. It might be an ideal time to remind ourselves of the importance of planning and preparation for the meetings we lead and facilitate. 

Rarely are meetings I facilitate or attend perfect. However, planning for meetings we lead and facilitate provides sufficient rewards. I can recall meetings I have facilitated when something went wrong. Maybe I lost the group’s attention, or the group didn’t understand my instructions for an exercise, or they responded with blank stares at a question I asked. Maybe the process I designed was not producing the results I expected. Or maybe I didn’t prepare the necessary handout or flipchart.

Most if not all these problems can be traced back to my ineffective facilitation planning and preparation.

In response to the problems and challenges I have described, I found a very helpful approach developed by Jeff Bracken, an organizational effectiveness consultant. Jeff’s approach is not a linear, generic cookie-cutter template that applies to all facilitation situations. However, it does provide a clear process and useful guidelines that you can customize to your unique requirements.

The Eight Ps for effective facilitation planning and preparation are: perspective, purpose, people, product, place, process, practice, and personal preparation. Following is an overview of each.

In my journey as a facilitator, I have learned that utilizing these Eight Ps of effective facilitation planning and preparation make all the difference between a poor and unproductive meeting and one that is inspiring, motivating, fun and productive.

My hope is that as we return to more in-person and hybrid meetings in the coming weeks and months, we make the most of our time together since we never know when it will be taken away from us again in the future.

This press release was produced by the University of Minnesota Extension. The views expressed here are the author’s own.