The
Top Ten Reasons to Develop Skilled In-House
High-Stakes Facilitators - The Key to a Profitable
Future!
by Lynda Curtin, The Opportunity Thinker
Traditional brainstorming isn't
cutting it anymore. Employees are frustrated with this incomplete tool. They know
they can do better, they just don't know how. There is a demand like never
before on employees to think differently because of intense competitive
pressure. The need for a new skill set has emerged - High-Stakes meeting facilitation. But, it hasn't been actively developed at most companies, yet.
If any of the following statements are true
in your business, perhaps it is time to develop your own profitable in-house
innovation leaders
skilled at helping teams to "out-think" the
competition.
The top 10 reasons to develop your own
in-house High-Stakes Meeting Facilitators. Which of these statements describes a
condition at your company?
- The brainstorming sessions our employees are currently leading are
failing miserably costing us millions in lost revenue and time delays.
- We are still using the outdated SWOT tool (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats) to develop corporate strategy. The result -
competition has intensified.
- We got caught up in the dotcom business fad and watched our capital go down the drain. Excitement and emotions ruled the day!
- We have to run the gauntlet to hire innovation experts because of
corporate secrecy.
- We don't have a core group of highly skilled employees that we can
call on to facilitate ideation and strategy sessions that consistently lead
to powerful new solutions.
- Our employees are great at meeting etiquette. (All that meeting
training is paying off! Or is it?) But, they are fed up at the amount of
time they waste in meetings, not to mention how much money it represents in
payroll!
- Egos rule the day. This is very dangerous to our business.
- Our company has made big mistakes that have cost us millions because
important information was not considered, pitfalls were overlooked,
customers did not understand the value in our new products/services, etc.
- "I don't get paid to think" is a statement our employees
will make. Yet, the only reason we hired them is for their thinking!
- Our employees are so focused on problem solving, things that
happened in the past; they don't have time to focus on the future -
where our business will play out!
How many of these statements describe
conditions at your company? Is that acceptable to you?
In my experience it is not uncommon for
organizations to spend far more than $250 thousand on consulting projects
(outside experts) to improve the condition of the organization. These projects
usually involve lots of meeting facilitation to tap into the thinking of
employees led by these outside experts. Lots of times these projects are not
that successful. Yet, at the same time, the same organizations balk at spending
money on developing the ideation facilitation skills of their own experts – their
employees, who would be perfectly capable of leading a lot of these
sessions, if they only knew how. The result would be support for
solutions.
I believe the answers to your business challenges lie waiting to
be uncovered in the brains of your employees. All you need to do is learn how to
tap into their thinking power. Trained ideation process facilitators can certainly help you out.
It just may be time to develop your own in-house high-stakes meeting
facilitators.
Work with Lynda Curtin to
boost this necessary skill set of your employees. The payback will be more than
worth the investment.
©2002. The Opportunity Thinker.
Lynda Curtin is an expert ideation facilitator, professional
speaker, trainer and author in the fields of business creativity, marketing and
speaking. To book Lynda for your event call 818-507-6055 or email info@LyndaCurtin.com
For more information on her programs go to www.LyndaCurtin.com
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