When people get together for discussion, a decision, or to develop a proposal,
the effort can be productive, innovative, and fun!
In an environment of collaborative teamwork, you can still get decisions expeditiously.
When Pat Esslinger facilitates your meeting, your participants
- generate a lot of ideas in a short time.
- stick to the agenda and follow ground rules.
- comment anonymously--which encourages them to be frank and to participate fully.
- quickly reach consensus--real agreement rather than railroading and surrender-- and the degree of consensus is measured.
- produce results--a written record and report.
How does this work?
Each participant in the room is provided a laptop computer on a self-contained portable network. One-at-a-time oral comments and facilitators' flip charts are largely replaced by simultaneous keyed-in comments and electronic big screen displays. As directed by the facilitator, the software
- organizes the discussion.
- refines, categorizes, and consolidates items quickly and easily.
- provides structure for evaluating ideas systematically, allowing participants to weight or rate a list of alternatives against a list of criteria and/or to allocate resources among the alternatives.
- instantly analyzes the evaluations statistically and displays the results graphically.
- creates a real-time permanent record of all input.
The software that does all this is GroupSystems. With a facilitator's guidance, this software is very easy to use--even for participants who are not particularly tech savvy.
Take a look at a picture of one of Pat's electronic meetings.
A few reasons why you should have used Pat's groupware for your last meeting
- People were reluctant to be identified with their comments.
- "Groupthink" prevailed.
- Creativity was stifled because a few participants dominated the discussion.
- The best ideas came after the meeting from somebody who didn't speak up in the meeting.