February
14,
2024
Executive Facilitation
Part 6: Signs your executive session was a success.
You facilitated an executive working session and you think it went well! You think… How can you know?
Here’s what you might hear and observe after a solid session.
“This was great.”
It’s not the most rigorous test of your facilitation, but it matters. How people feel coming out of the room is important. It means they feel it was a good use of their time, and they’ll approach your next session with enthusiasm.
What to do when you hear this: Conduct a pulse survey to drill down on why people liked the session. And consider one-on-one check-ins with a few participants to get more detail: what they liked and what improvements you could make.
“This is the new way of doing it.”
Sometimes a session or activity feels so effective that leadership wants to adopt it as a standard practice. That’s a great sign that your session worked.
What to do when you hear this: Document your facilitation process and tools. Post them in a shared folder and let people know where they can find your files.
How people feel coming out of the room is important. If they feel it was a good use of their time, they’ll approach your next session with enthusiasm.
“Remember what we said during our meeting?”
When participants reference the ideas, skills, or decisions you made during the session, that means your session is resonating and making an impact.
What to do when you hear this: Capture those things that are resonating and make sure everyone has access to them.
“I’m following up on my action item.”
At the end of a good executive session, you define next steps and responsibilities. When you see those things happening, the session is making a difference. You’ve taken the value out of the room and into the organization.
What to do when you hear this: Celebrate and normalize. Share who’s moving the ball forward; this will nudge others with to-dos to do the same.
“We’re kicking off the project.”
Many strategic working sessions are convened to make strategic decisions. Those decisions turn into strategic projects. You can feel good if the rubber is hitting the road, with projects funded and underway.
What to do when you hear this: Keep an eye on the project born during your session. Document your success story: you gathered the right people and they produced something impactful!
“Here are the numbers.”
Strategic decisions are intended to make an observable, positive impact. Hopefully, the actions and initiatives born in your session end up showing those results. That’s the ultimate sign that you made a difference.
“Let’s do this every year.”
If your executive session felt right to leadership, produced sound ideas and decisions, and generated positive outcomes, it had obvious value. Leadership might feel so good about it that it becomes an essential tool for your organization. Well done, facilitator!
ICYMI: Executive Facilitation Series Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 & Part 5
