How often have you attended a meeting and wondered, “Isn’t there a better way to do this?”
Two new Innovation Insights from Penn State’s Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment provide guidance on ways to have more effective meetings, whether you are the meeting leader, facilitator or participant.
-- Innovation Insight No. 28, What Type of Facilitator Are You?, explores the many variations in the role of a meeting facilitator. These can range from an external consultant contracted for a specific project with a client, to a supervisor leading a work unit meeting, to a meeting attendee working informally to make a meeting more effective and efficient. Whichever of these roles you may find yourself in, this Innovation Insight provides steps you can take to improve each of the four stages of a meeting: planning, conducting, closing and following up after the meeting.
-- Innovation Insight No. 29, Becoming an Effective Facilitator within Your Own Organization, identifies some factors that need to be considered when choosing between an internal and external facilitator. It also provides some best practices for internal facilitation.
The Innovation Insights series is published by the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment to share information about concepts, approaches and tools in the areas of continuous quality improvement, institutional assessment and strategic planning. A number of the Innovation Insights have been published as Integrating Planning, Assessment and Improvement in Higher Education by the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
For more information, visit the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment website or email psupia@psu.edu.