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Why Facilitated Groups Make Good Sense
The beauty of a facilitated peer group lies in the dedicated facilitator, who makes all of the arrangements for time, place, and attendees, and attends the meetings themselves.During the meeting, the facilitator asks clarifying questions and solicits questions from others in the group. He/she also documents the problem or challenge being addressed, which member raised the issue, what feedback was given and by whom, and what action steps were decided upon and by whom.
At the next meeting, the facilitator discusses the action steps the group member has taken to resolve the problems. The facilitator documents the results produced since they are the one responsible for holding members accountable for examining and measuring progress. The facilitator provides members of the group with quantifiable evidence that their participation paid off for them. Examples include: the dollar value of advice given/received, the bottom line savings a solution yielded for a member's company, or the value of time that would have been spent on other alternatives had the solution not been extracted via the process and synergy of the peer group. Another important role for the facilitator is recruiting relevant yet diverse members for the groups so their members can get right to work with a ready-made expert panel, making subscription to the group a priceless investment. Hutti personally interviews any given prospective member, informing him or her of the value he is getting from his dollar by backing it up with facts from his own repertoire of peer group successes. He is also quietly sizing up the CEO, ascertaining his or her communication style, his specific skill set, business needs, and determining whether or not the prospective member is amenable to a peer group setting. If all goes well and the CEO wants to try the group before paying a membership fee, Hutti will get permission from the peer group to have the CEO attend on a trial basis. The CEO signs a confidentiality agreement, and attends a meeting.
This protects the individual from joining an incompatible group - but it also protects the members of established groups. If the members feel that a new prospective member is not a good fit, they can speak up and request that he or she not be permitted to join their forum, before it is too late and the dues are paid. Although this is quite rare, say 1 in 100 instances, Hutti wants to make sure the group has the right mix and offers this service to protect the group members' collective investment, making certain that the group provides value to every member.
Obviously, the members join to get results. Hutti says that any given member in a group will see results within a year, but some members gain results as early as the first meeting. He cites one example where a tip given in the first meeting saved one man $100,000. Investment in a facilitated peer group pays off for many reasons:
In helping local businesses become as effective as possible, a positive impact is made on an entire community's economy. Synergy works its way out of the meeting room and into the local community! In Strategic Conversations facilitated peer groups, instead of just a local community benefiting from these groups, entire industries are positively impacted. Henry Barbey, co-founder of Strategic Conversations notes, "These facilitated peer groups, unhampered by geographic distances, allow strong, productive alliances to be built between individuals in the same roles in an industry as well as individuals functioning in vertical roles. Group members broaden their understanding of and problem-solving skills in the operations of an entire industry, instead of just their unique and specialized functions. This strengthens their skill sets and creates additional areas of expertise for both new and seasoned executives, as they share ideas and problem-solving solutions covering a myriad of business challenges. Their organizations receive additional value as they personally do."
Creativity flourishes in peer groups as well. By taking individuals out of the cocoon of their single industry and placing them in the presence of other high-level experts from other industries, either in-person or virtually, magic happens. Now you have executives thinking outside the box, but within their own expertise at running companies. By borrowing innovative ideas that worked in one industry and applying them to a totally different industry, a new code is being written for business. Business continues to evolve because of groups like these - the ideas that peer group members implement and report back on will serve to change the landscape of their own individual companies, their industries and local communities forever.
About Executive Forums and Tony Hutti: Over the past three years, Tony has organized seven different Renaissance Executive Forums Groups in Northern Indiana, serving almost 60 top executives and key executives. These groups meet monthly at several sites throughout the area, working to help each other "Execute their Vision". Tony also works with several CEOs and their management team in Strategic Planning, Team Building and other management issues. In 2003, Northern Indiana was recognized as the Franchise of the year through all of Renaissance EXECUTIVE FORUMS International operations.
About Strategic Conversations and Henry Barbey: Henry Barbey is a highly-trained business coach with more than 20 years experience in business development, marketing and communication. He holds two advanced degrees from Columbia University and is an Adjunct Professor at New York University 's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Henry is passionate about behavioral analysis and helping individuals improve their personal and interpersonal effectiveness.
Wayne Messick has interviewed over fifty thought leaders like Steve. He and his colleagues to interview business owners positioning themselves for success in the 21st Century. These individuals and companies will be profiled here on our web site as well as in one of the two books we have in progress. His colleague Kelly Griffin collaborated with him on this story. She can be reached via email or at http://kellygriffin.com. Kelly is a communications generalist with an extensive background in both business to business and consumer marketing. Kelly, along with her team, has received over 50 national and regional awards for projects, writing, and promotional campaigns. << Back to More Articles |
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