Facilitator Assessments - Selection Criteria LO9475

Dr. Scott J. Simmerman (74170.1061@CompuServe.COM)
26 Aug 96 10:27:24 EDT

Replying to LO9435 --

Brock asked about facilitators and selection criteria in LO LO9435.

Guess my reaction is, tough call. For me, the essence of any of these
processes is ownership, and this seems especially true for a "Board of
Directors for a new organization set up by our provincial government."

It's one thing when it's a volunteer group and one thing when the
participants are primary stockholders of a for-profit company.

Nobody ever washes a rental car is an obvious issue. The facilitator
who does NOT do a good job of creating ownership and involvement in the
plan will develop only an excellent plan -- the likelihood of
implementation and followup would be low. Or, if the new solution is
just like the old ones that haven't worked before, all you will do is
continue to roll along the same way (but this doesn't seem to be the
issue with this particular job of strategic planning).

On the other hand, The Round Wheels are already in the wagon. Methinks
that the people who would choose to get involved at the Board Level
already have some sense of purpose and dedication and are also
successful in their own right.

Thus, while it makes sense that an outside expert might add a more
complete frame to the picture, one might also do some if not all of the
painting. I've sat in on those meetings where we are asked for our
input but the decisions are already final. It's right out of a Dilbert
cartoon.

On the other hand, creating something from scratch is difficult and time
consumming and also a bit frustrating for busy executives.

I've sat in on both types of planning stuff on "public" boards. I've
also seen the obvious non-participation / non-involvement of a few key
board members totally demotivate the rest of the group.

So, my cop-out is to suggest you get someone with experience at the
table but whose style is very participative and engaging. Or, if it is
pro bono work, get both types involved,

For the Fun of It!

-- 

Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company, 3 Old Oak Drive, Taylors SC USA 29687-6624 74170.1061@compuserve.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>