Professional facilitation allows managers to focus on the mission of the meeting or event, not its schedule. A facilitator designs, guides and manages the process so that all attendees can participate and make effective decisions.
Our approach to Facilitation
Our facilitators conduct a thorough convening process to determine client needs, project objectives and desired outcomes. We will work with the meeting sponsor to identify stakeholders, design an agenda, develop ground rules and meeting goals and purpose. If the outcome is a decision we will work with the meeting sponsor to determine how decisions will be made. If a record of the meeting is necessary we will figure out the best method for establishing the group memory of the event. Our meetings are effective, efficient and get results. Our facilitation assignments have produced winning teams that exceed their business goals and staff retreats that produce collaborative solutions.
Facilitation for strategic planning meetings
When there are large scale issues that a team or organization needs to discuss and debate or when the old strategic plan is no longer relevant you may want to have a meeting, perhaps off site, to discuss these critical issues. Alternatively, you may serve on a board of directors or a community council where a new roster of board members needs to be integrated with the seasoned members of the board. These meetings can present difficult challenges and call for a facilitator with patience and insight in human behavior as well as skill in managing group behavior.
We have facilitated strategic planning meetings for federal and county agencies which have produced consensus decisions. For another client there were multiple issues and conflicts caused by organizational change and leadership and budgetary challenges. Alternative Resolutions designed and facilitated a series of staff and management meetings using a structured problem solving process. We achieved consensus decisions on priority issues including adoption of innovative staff recommendations.
Facilitation for staff and team building retreats
You may be a new manager with some exciting ideas to introduce to your team. Or your team may be having some issues with the change in management style from your predecessor. You may want to charter a new intra-departmental team in an organization that is accustomed to operating in silos. There may be conflict percolating just below the surface. These situations call for careful planning and a facilitator who is experienced and able to engender trust and encourage the open and honest exchange of information. We designed and facilitated a kick-off meeting for a new intra-departmental team which resulted in a team charter including performance goals, accountability standards, work approach and measures of success. On another project we conducted a needs assessment to determine issues relating to team effectiveness. We lead the group through a structured process to identify team functions, responsibilities, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, and goals. This resulted in enhanced organizational effectiveness, increased teamwork, improved communication and customer service, and an agreed upon action plan.
Environmental and public policy facilitation
When important large scale public policy decisions are at stake you need someone who is experienced at designing an appropriate strategy and process as well as someone who understands the relevant laws, regulations, policies and organizational culture. Ms. Kandell managed environmental enforcement projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for nine years and developed expertise in numerous environmental programs. It was at EPA that Ms. Kandell developed an interest, expertise and hands on experience with alternative dispute resolution, both the policy and the practice. Previously, she prosecuted and defended hazardous waste and air pollution cases as Chief Assistant City Solicitor in Philadelphia and did environmental compliance for a law firm. We have 10 years of experience facilitating large scale multiparty meetings in the environmental arena.
We designed and facilitated a national symposium to identify policy issues regarding biosecurity issues which resulted in agreement among academic, association, industry and government leaders on critical issues and common principles. While at EPA, Ms. Kandell facilitated dozens of Agency-wide workgroup meetings resulting in consensus on an EPA hazardous waste policy. We conducted a case assessment and convened and facilitated meeting of multiple and diverse stakeholder groups regarding cost allocation for clean-up of contamination at hazardous waste landfill. We facilitated multiparty stakeholder meeting on iron and steel effluent guideline development which resulted in an open dialogue of divergent views.
Alternative Resolutions facilitates strategic planning meetings, staff and team building retreats and public policy facilitation in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC
