FACILITATING COUNCIL MEETINGS EFFECTIVELY …The genius of our church government is government through councils… Hardly a day passes but that I see the wisdom, God’s wisdom, in creating councils: to govern his Kingdom. Men can get together with seemingly divergent views and far different backgrounds, and under the operation of the spirit, by counseling together, they can arrive at an accord. Pres. Stephen L. Richards, Conference Report, October 1953.
“Appoint among yourselves a teacher (or a facilitator), and let not all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time and let all listen unto his saying.” (D&C 88:122) As a church leader, you will find yourself facilitating discussions. Discussions are an integral part of our council system. Your role is to direct the flow of comments from participants. Some participants may speak too much and take most of the time, while others speak too little and are not able to contribute. You would like to ensure that everyone in the group is involved. The objective of the discussion is to obtain inputs from everybody towards resolving issues and concerns and then to effectively use the ideas to create positive change.
Some things to remember when facilitating discussions: You are the moderator. You are not a speaker. As moderator your job is to get everybody involved. Therefore, you should limit your speaking time. You determine who is speaking and for how long, whom to ask for suggestions, when to call those who are not speaking, etc. Prepare council meeting room and ensure that it is clean, free from distraction, and conducive to the meeting. Arrange the chairs in such a way that you are able to see everybody. Introduce some ground rules such as: let’s raise our hands if you want the floor to speak; let’s listen to the speaker while speaking; let’s avoid talking to our seat mates when one is speaking; let’s make our remarks brief and concise to give everybody a chance to share their ideas, etc. Preview the topic at hand and give everyone a background of the issue. Then give them time to pause and think.
Start and end the meeting on time. When the discussions go beyond the time limit, people become restless and distracted. Summarize the highlights of the discussion at the end of the meeting and delegate assignments when necessary. Record to whom the assignments were given to pinpoint responsibility and follow-through later.