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Professional Preparation and Consistency

Small adjustments to how you start the workplace meeting or event can significantly impact participation, interaction, session constructive interaction, and event results.

• Adhere to Preparation Checklists: Consistently following established preparation checklists ensures that no small detail—agendas or rosters (digital or hardcopy) —is overlooked.
• Arrival Early for Support: Arriving early at a scheduled event or meeting ensures you are prepared and available to assist fellow facilitators or early arrivals, enhancing the collective quality of the experience. For a virtual live event, 15 to 30 minutes early arrival is recommended. For a live, in-person event, 60 minutes is recommended.
• Maintain Standards: Taking a few minutes at the end of each event to ensure your digital activities, and documentation (paperwork) have been completed, the workspace is ready for the next user (key activity if a live, in-person event), and recordings with transcripts have been verified and accessible (for virtual-live events).
• Scenario: Instead of rushing in right at the start of a meeting or learning workshop, you arrive 15 minutes early to test the meeting application, connect to presentation equipment, verify URL links to digital content, print extra copies of the materials, etc., ensuring a smooth start for everyone.

Tactical Communication Habits

Refining how you manage interactions in real-time can neutralize negativity and foster a safer environment.

• Use the “Move On” Technique: When a disruptive or off-topic question is raised, quickly state how and when you will address it later and immediately return to the current topic to keep the team on track. Pro Tip: before the session starts, create a “safe space” for any topics to documented that will be reviewed after the session concludes. Point out this safe space during the session introduction – alerting all attendees that some topics will be managed off-line and listed in the safe space. Using this methodology will level-set users that not all topics will be managed during the session, and some may require off-line discussions and follow-up. Clearly identify who will be responsible for those topics or questions, and the methodology that will be used to communicate the findings or results to the audience after the session. Process and clarity up front will support the “move-on” technique.
• Repeat for Understanding: Practice mirroring by restating others’ points to verify your understanding. This small step gives you a moment to gather your thoughts while ensuring the other person feels heard.
• Identify Best Practices: Actively look for and identify best practices to use as visual examples for less experienced team members, helping to elevate the workplace team’s overall performance.
• Scenario: When a colleague makes an aggressive comment, one option is to mirror their statement to clarify their intent, providing an opportunity for the colleague to pause, listen and ideally rephrase comment in a professional manner in response.

Diligent Documentation and Feedback

Tiny improvements in how you record and share information can lead to large-scale organizational change.

• Complete Every Evaluation Survey: Treating every meeting feedback or session evaluation as a “tool for change” rather than a chore allows you to consistently provide feedback on products, services, or policies that need improvement.
• Keep Fact-Based Logs: Maintain a detailed record of significant interactions, sticking strictly to facts (dates, times, and specific actions). This consistency ensures that if you ever need to address repeated or serious issues, you have a documentation log.
• Stick to Simple, Clear Language: When articulating your viewpoint or reporting an issue, focus on keeping it simple and sticking to the facts. This reduces misunderstandings and increases the impact of your message.
• Scenario: After a difficult project wrap-up, you spend 10 minutes providing specific, constructive feedback in the post-project survey, highlighting a process flaw that had been impacted on the team or the project results.

Small Steps in Team Collaboration

Excellence is often the result of small, collective commitments to a better culture.

• Collaborate on Behavior Expectations: Engaging in even a small conversation about behavior expectations can trigger a “positive chain reaction” in your department’s culture.
• Embrace “Triage” Support: Offering to perform “triage” or supplemental support for a colleague or client who received lackluster service can solidify relationships and improve the organization’s reputation.
• Scenario: You notice a new hire is struggling with a complex software tool. You offer a 10-minute “triage” session to walk them through a few shortcuts, improving their confidence and productivity for the future.

This series of small improvements can positively impact the workplace outcome for the attendees and improve the process for the next meeting or event you are responsible to deliver – gaining you a reputation for excellence in facilitation delivery and knowledge management.