Last night, I helped facilitate a community meeting for the Los Angeles Eco-Village, which meets on a regular basis to discuss and decide issues within the community. These weekly meetings are facilitated by different members of the community on a rotating basis. 

Like the Eco-Village, many board meetings of nonprofit organizations are facilitated by a member of the board itself. Based on my work as a facilitator, I have compiled my top 10 tips for facilitating successful meetings and want to share them with you:

1.      Listen:  Listen closely listen to everything that is said and watch people’s body language as well.

2.      Develop the Agenda:  Before the meeting, create an agenda that has clear items that lead to actual decisions.

3.      Serve Everyone:  As a facilitator, you are there to serve the entire group, which means you don’t take anyone’s side. 

4.       Steward the Process:  Your job is to ensure the decision making process moves forward – the group’s job is to decide.

5.       Conflict is Normal:  Expect occasional conflict and work to build areas of agreement with the group.

6.       Set Ground Rules:  Going over some common ground rules at the start helps enforce bad behavior if it occurs. 

7.       Decide how to Decide:  Every group needs to agree on what their decision making method is before they start making decisions.

8.       Pay attention to time:  Remind the group how they are doing on time and/or appoint a timekeeper to help ensure things keep moving.

9.       Use your toolbox:  One example: Use a stack (which creates a list of who will speak next so people don’t interrupt).

10.   Practice:  We learn facilitation by doing it. We get better at it by reflecting on how we did and constantly learning new ways to do it better. 

I will elaborate on these in future blog posts and wish all of you the best as you facilitate future meetings.