Case Study: Facilitating board meetings

The MD of a small business had recently invested in a training course on how to chair meetings more effectively.  He had recognised the value in the techniques given by the course and tried hard to implement them  when he return to work.  However, he found that the techniques prevented him from having the level of detailed input that he was used to and he felt that the quality of decision making dropped.  A discussion with several board members and a review of some recent minutes made it clear to me that, this being a small business, the MD was actually needed to fulfil an ‘expert’ role as well as be the meeting chair.   I facilitated the next 3 board meetings and specifically took on the role of ‘meeting manager’ (eg ”mediator’, ‘time-keeper’, ‘topic sheepdog’ etc.) and left him with the roles of ‘expert’ and ‘decision maker’. This worked well and prior to the fourth meeting I spent time coaching the MD’s PA to fulfill my role on a permanent basis.

Facilitation

Facilitation is literally the act of making something easier for those involved. In practise this usually means  that I guide a group of people through a process of discovery, investigation and/or decision making.  As a facilitator I am not there to provide advice or technical input but to ask the right questions, build a shared memory of the answers  and apply the appropriate tool s to help the group make progress and reach agreements.

• Case Study: Facilitating board meetings
• Case Study: Facilitating innovation

Website optimisation

For some time the topic of website optimisation has been one of my bugbears.  Seemingly far too often what should be a 2 minute search for information, a product or a service ends up taking half an hour or more.

The easy solution, put forward by most web design firms is search engine optimisation (SEO).  This is presented as a magic bullet for that vaguely disappointed feeling business leaders frequently have towards their websites. But, as we all really know, deep down, magic bullets are belong in fairy stories and not in business.  The reality is that a website is not just an electronic billboard but a fully functioning arm of a business.  Instead of approaching it as a technical black box of wizardry beyond our control we should define, develop, implement and especially manage it as such.

In this light I have put together a presentation for business groups – the slides for which are available for download by clicking on the image below.  The slides are designed to support the presentation rather than contain it in full and therefore contain highlights and summaries rather than the full picture. If you are interested in having me present this to your board, chamber of commerce or business network group give me a call.

Website Optimisation presentation