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Understanding the Challenges to Effective Meetings
We help companies, organizations and communities tackle their challenges of strategy
and/or performance in an effective manner and achieve desired outcomes by creating
agreement.
action.
Individuals have their own unique ideas about solving the problem. Yet, real progress only
comes when common ground is realized and individuals are empowered to take action
toward common goals.
With the appropriate framework and guidance individuals can work effectively as a group to
solve tough problems and discover new resources for positive change.
What We Do
We specialize in arranging and facilitating effective meetings that bring groups to discover
common ground, align around a vision of the future and define an action plan.
Over the years we have refined a methodology that achieves these results in the span of
two consecutive half-day meetings with the key stakeholder interests represented.
Stakeholders are the individuals who are able to commit to the decisions, have information
that is relevant to the decisions, or that will be impacted by the decisions of the group.
The meeting strategy delivers a roadmap so action steps are outlined, roles and
responsibilities are defined, and results can be tracked and benchmarked against desired
outcomes.
The Meeting Strategy
In our experience, it is difficult to create a solid new scenario for the future before
everyone has had a chance to express their own perspective and there is a shared reality.
Active listening and productive cooperation begin only after everyone has been heard. It is
not necessary for everyone to agree with all of the perspectives represented.
To create the conditions for success, we conduct the meeting in three phases:
It is the participants themselves that tackle the current challenges. The group comes to its
own conclusions, defines desired outcomes and agrees on the action plan. It is this
process that enables participants to be fully committed to the results of the meeting.
Meeting Schedule
We organize the meeting in two half-day sessions starting with an afternoon session
followed the next day with a morning session. This format greatly improves the productivity
of individuals and groups, preventing exhaustion and declining attention.
A Simple and Powerful Framework
Our strategic process uses a simple and powerful framework to enhance the effectiveness of
the meeting. We maintain a framework that ensures that the final action plan addresses
the key areas of Leadership, Strategy, Culture and Process to solidify a common vision of
the group’s future.
Our tools allow the group to look rapidly, yet holistically, at key strategic moves. We ensure
that the final agreement addresses the following questions:
To develop productive strategic thinking quickly and achieve rapid results, we focus on the
following aspects:
We help companies, organizations and communities tackle their challenges of strategy
and/or performance in an effective manner and achieve desired outcomes by creating
agreement.
- Improve performance,
- Reduce organizational overwhelm,
- Define a new strategy,
- Scope out a new project,
- Coordinate implementation,
action.
Individuals have their own unique ideas about solving the problem. Yet, real progress only
comes when common ground is realized and individuals are empowered to take action
toward common goals.
With the appropriate framework and guidance individuals can work effectively as a group to
solve tough problems and discover new resources for positive change.
What We Do
We specialize in arranging and facilitating effective meetings that bring groups to discover
common ground, align around a vision of the future and define an action plan.
Over the years we have refined a methodology that achieves these results in the span of
two consecutive half-day meetings with the key stakeholder interests represented.
Stakeholders are the individuals who are able to commit to the decisions, have information
that is relevant to the decisions, or that will be impacted by the decisions of the group.
The meeting strategy delivers a roadmap so action steps are outlined, roles and
responsibilities are defined, and results can be tracked and benchmarked against desired
outcomes.
The Meeting Strategy
In our experience, it is difficult to create a solid new scenario for the future before
everyone has had a chance to express their own perspective and there is a shared reality.
Active listening and productive cooperation begin only after everyone has been heard. It is
not necessary for everyone to agree with all of the perspectives represented.
To create the conditions for success, we conduct the meeting in three phases:
- Face Reality: First, the group takes time to understand the different perspectives
that exist and agree on a common reality. - Explore Potential: Only after facing reality can the group create a vision of the
future, and agree on the desired outcomes. - Commit to Action: In this critical third phase, the group needs to define roles and
responsibilities, action items and time tables so that the momentum created by the
meeting can continue.
It is the participants themselves that tackle the current challenges. The group comes to its
own conclusions, defines desired outcomes and agrees on the action plan. It is this
process that enables participants to be fully committed to the results of the meeting.
Meeting Schedule
We organize the meeting in two half-day sessions starting with an afternoon session
followed the next day with a morning session. This format greatly improves the productivity
of individuals and groups, preventing exhaustion and declining attention.
- The common ground phase is conducted during the afternoon of the first meeting day.
- The visioning process begins at the end of the day and continues into the beginning
of the following day, to benefit from having the evening to reflect on the day's
discussion. - The action planning is done in the morning when people are most refreshed. It is
important to have some time flexibility at the end so that follow-up steps can be
properly defined.
A Simple and Powerful Framework
Our strategic process uses a simple and powerful framework to enhance the effectiveness of
the meeting. We maintain a framework that ensures that the final action plan addresses
the key areas of Leadership, Strategy, Culture and Process to solidify a common vision of
the group’s future.
Our tools allow the group to look rapidly, yet holistically, at key strategic moves. We ensure
that the final agreement addresses the following questions:
- Does the strategy fulfill the group’s purpose?
- Is it likely to be implemented?
- Is it sustainable over the long term?
- Is it coherent (do all the parts fit together)?
To develop productive strategic thinking quickly and achieve rapid results, we focus on the
following aspects:
- Everything has to be coherent. People deeply sense when things do not add up.
Even before they can express it, they know something is off. This often triggers
arguments that are not about the core issues. - The framework is light and intuitive. It guides through a progression of why, who,
what, how in an integrated manner that everyone can follow easily. - The action plan comes last. It is important for the group to identify common ground,
uncover potential, and become energized before tackling the implementation issues
such as solving the economic challenges. - The role of leadership is to sustain vision and purpose. Leadership is not about
managing the details.
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