The Project Meeting Facilitator: Facilitation Skills to Make the Most of Project Meetings

Chapter 5. Facilitating Project Initiation Meetings

If your project doesn't work, look for the part that you didn't think was important.

—ARTHUR BLOCH, author of Murphy's Law

INITIATE. THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY defines initiate as "to cause or facilitate the beginning of." As project meeting facilitators and project managers, we are requested to do just that whenever we engage in a project. However, organizations often skip the initiate phase all together. This can lead to disastrous consequences.

Have you ever been in this situation? Someone stops you in the hallway to run a great new concept by you. You listen intently and provide some constructive feedback about the idea. A few weeks go by and you hear nothing. You may have even forgotten ...