Workshop Facilitation

Most large Australian organisations invest considerably in hiring external facilitators to help them run their workshops and offsites. But are they getting their money’s worth? So, what SHOULD great facilitators do?

A study conducted by Strategic Facilitators has found that large Australian organisations are failing to get full value from facilitated meetings and workshops. Our research shows that while these organisations understand the value provided by external facilitators, they lose out on much of the potential benefit by using relatively unsophisticated selection and evaluation techniques.

Using an external facilitator is critical to the success of a workshop. Here are our 10 reasons why you should hire an external facilitator.

At the end of our workshops, we frequently ask participants to share a reflection on the workshop and a parting thought for their colleagues. These comments (‘…that was the best conversation I’ve seen this board have in nine years in my role.’) are indicative of ‘side benefits’ of the workshops we facilitate; but I’m sure you’ll agree they are pretty substantive serendipities.

Do I need a facilitator or can I handle it internally? Executives often wonder if they can both orchestrate and participate in a workshop. As senior executives and facilitators, our experience tells us that this is difficult to achieve. Here we answer questions relating to the facilitation process and how a facilitator can help you get better outcomes from your next workshop or offsite