Boost Your Business By Facilitating Teamwork

I bet you didn’t know that more than 90% of turkeys are artificially inseminated. Do you know why? Not for genetic reasons. Poultry companies have figured out how to raise turkeys that are so meaty and fast-growing that they have just one little problem: The birds are so big and clumsy that they can’t seem to get together…

By BOB ROSNER Wall St. Startup Journal

This sounds like some small businesses, doesn’t it? It can be clumsy for people from different backgrounds to come together to birth new ideas. But the tips below can help you midwife a great performance from your team. For more ideas, check out "How to Make Meetings Work" (Berkley Publishing Group, 1993) by Michael Doyle and David Straus.

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Do you understand your role as a facilitator? You may be the head bird, but that doesn’t mean you can gobble up all of the company’s time or scratch out all of its answers. Your job is simply to use questions — and occasionally gentle prods — to keep employees on task, keep everyone involved, quell attacks and move things forward when they bog down.
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Do you describe your role in meetings to the staff? The authors suggest that you start with a brief statement like: "My role isn’t to contribute ideas or evaluate yours. I’m here to focus everyone’s efforts on the task. Facilitation is tough, so I’ll accept whatever help you can offer. With your help, I’m sure we’ll accomplish a lot."
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Has your company agreed on how to solve the issue at hand? Take it from me: It is easier to decide how to handle tough issues before you are knee-deep in content. So resist the temptation to dive right into a problem. Take time to decide how you plan to solve the situation before you start pecking at solutions.
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Do you keep everyone involved? One thing that can derail a small company faster than you can say "Butterball" is resentment from people who feel ignored. Avoid that by checking in with employees frequently. Touching base this way ensures that even quiet members get their say — and that all ideas are heard.
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Can you learn from your mistakes without obsessing over them? Facilitation is a contact sport, so you are going to make mistakes. Examine your mistakes briefly, decide to improve in the future, then let them go. If you obsess on them during your meetings, you will lose track of the work of the moment.
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Do you limit your own talking? Great facilitators are often overlooked because they aren’t the center of attention. They just prod from the edges with pointed questions that keep members focused on the issues. When it comes to talking, less from a facilitator is almost always more.

Follow the tips above and you can turn a small business with its fair share of turkeys into a high-performing organization.

— Mr. Rosner is the author of Working Wounded, a Web site and internationally syndicated column. He’s also the co-author of "The Boss’s Survival Guide" (McGraw-Hill, 2001) with Allan Halcrow and Alan S. Levins.

http://startup.wsj.com/columnists/newventure/20021108-nva.html