Meeting Facilitation
We run hundreds of facilitated sessions a year for leadership teams who need more than a good agenda. When the stakes are real, you need someone in the room whose only job is the process, so your team can focus on the decision.
A clear role
Meeting facilitation is a structured process led by a neutral expert who manages how a group works together, so the group can focus entirely on what they're working on. Our meeting facilitation services cover agenda design, the process, the ground rules, and keeping the conversation productive. Your team owns the content and the decisions.
The real problem
The most common cause
When the leader running the meeting is also the person with the most at stake in its outcome, something has to give, usually neutrality. A leader trying to both participate and referee ends up doing neither well.
Without a neutral process owner, the loudest or most senior person in the room shapes the outcome, whether or not they have the best answer.
Past a certain size, a meeting without structured process management stops being one conversation and becomes six.
Issues that need real facilitation get punted meeting after meeting because no one in the room is positioned to manage the conflict productively.
Our methodology
Every session we run, regardless of size or topic, opens the same way: we Start with Impact. It's the difference between a meeting that limps into its first agenda item and one that has the room's full attention in the first ten minutes. We use 13 specific strategies to Start with Impact, tuned to the room, the topic, and the stakes. Every certified facilitator on our team has run this opening hundreds of times.
The room knows exactly why they're here and what "done" looks like.
The opening creates real energy for the work ahead, not just a review of logistics.
Participants understand their role and know their input matters.
Everyone is engaged within the first few minutes, not just the usual voices.
How it works
Every engagement starts with a conversation. Here's what happens after you reach out.
Tell us about your meeting through the consultation form or call 770-454-1440.
A Client Executive calls you to understand your true need, the stakes, and what a successful session looks like.
We recommend the right session type and structure and match a certified facilitator who has run that format before.
Your facilitator designs the agenda, process, and ground rules around your objectives.
Your facilitator runs the session on-site, virtually, or hybrid, so your team can focus on the decisions.
Every meeting is different
Not every meeting needs the same meeting facilitation services. A 200-person conference needs a different facilitator skill set than a two-person conflict, and a board retreat needs a different structure than a strategic planning offsite. Tell us what you're planning, or browse by session type below. Aligning several departments? See our cross-functional meeting facilitation services.
Run a 50, 100, or 500-person session that still feels like one conversation.
Explore Large Group FacilitationGet your board or leadership team aligned somewhere other than the boardroom.
Explore Board & Executive RetreatsLeave with a ranked plan your team can actually execute.
Explore Strategic PlanningBring in a neutral third party when the conversation is too charged to run yourselves.
Explore Conflict ResolutionBuild real trust and working rhythm, not a one-day trust fall.
Explore Team BuildingOne-on-one work for leaders navigating a specific challenge.
Explore Executive CoachingGet honest, structured input straight from your customers or employees.
Explore Focus GroupsAlign two organizations, teams, or departments around one way of working together.
Explore Partnering SessionsCompare session types
| Session type | Who's in the room | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Large Group Facilitation | 50 to 500 people | Conferences and large sessions that need to feel like one conversation |
| Board & Executive Retreat Facilitation | Board members or the senior leadership team | Aligning a board or leadership team away from the boardroom |
| Strategic Planning Facilitation | Leadership team and key stakeholders | Leaving with a ranked plan the team can execute |
| Cross-Functional Meeting Facilitation | Leaders from several departments | Resolving competing priorities across teams |
| Conflict Resolution Facilitation | As few as 2 people | Conversations too charged to run yourselves |
| Team Building Facilitation | An intact team | Building trust and a working rhythm |
| Focus Group Facilitation | Customers or employees | Getting honest, structured input |
| Partnering Sessions | Two organizations, teams, or departments | Agreeing on one way of working together |
Why leadership teams call us
With 30+ years and 35,000+ facilitators trained through The Effective Facilitator®, there is almost no meeting scenario our team hasn't faced. Our bench includes 11 of the world's 56 Certified Master Facilitators, and every facilitator on our meeting facilitation services team is trained and certified in the same proven methodology.
That methodology was built by Michael Wilkinson, Founder and CEO of Leadership Strategies, a Certified Master Facilitator and author of The Secrets of Facilitation and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. His team of certified facilitators, at every level, brings it to your room.
Client results
“What effective facilitation of a Lean initiative produces is team buy-in, an understanding of the team’s purpose, and a true commitment from the team to implement the action plan. Wonderful by-products are fewer follow-up meetings and team members who are excited about Lean.”
“Michael is an outstanding Master Facilitator and human being! I recall sitting in sessions with him, and feeling excited about what I was learning, and amazed at his skills...such an inspiration! Leadership Strategies is the place to go for Facilitation and empowering others to show up for themselves and others in a meaningful and powerful way!”
Common questions
Still deciding which session type fits? Schedule a consultation and we'll help you find the right approach.
A leader who is also a stakeholder in the outcome can't stay neutral and participate at the same time. When someone tries to do both, the group either defers to them (losing honest input) or challenges them (creating conflict that derails the session). Bringing in professional meeting facilitation services lets your leadership team fully participate, because someone else is running the process.
We start with your session type, group size, and stakes, then match you with a certified facilitator from our meeting facilitation services team who has run that specific format before, whether it's a 300-person conference, a five-person conflict conversation, or a two-day board retreat. Our most complex or highest-stakes engagements are matched with one of our Certified Master Facilitators.
Most don't perfectly. Tell us what you're planning in the consultation request, and we'll recommend the right structure, even if it borrows from more than one approach above.
We run all three regularly. The facilitation techniques shift by format, but the neutral-process principle doesn't.
A meeting facilitator designs and runs the process of a meeting so the group can focus on the content and the decisions. The facilitator sets the agenda and ground rules, keeps the discussion on track, draws out quieter voices, manages conflict, and makes sure the group leaves with clear decisions and next steps, while staying neutral on the outcome.
Bring in a professional facilitator when the stakes are high, the group is large, the topic is contentious, or the leader who would normally run the meeting also needs to participate. Common examples are strategic planning sessions, board and executive retreats, cross-functional alignment meetings, and topics that have stalled in past meetings.
A Leadership Strategies Client Executive contacts you for an initial call to understand your true need and what a successful session looks like. After that call, we hold a consultation, design the session around your objectives, and a certified facilitator runs it.
No. Meeting facilitation services put one of our certified facilitators in the room to run your session. Facilitation training teaches your own people to run meetings themselves, through courses like Masterful Meetings and The Effective Facilitator®. See upcoming course dates.
Ready when you are
Whatever the session, someone on our team has run it before. Schedule a consultation and we'll help you find the right fit.
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