Organizational Leaders:

Are you tired of endless unproductive meetings that leave people frustrated, exhausted and accomplish little?

Just imagine meetings

  • that generate innovative thinking from each person
  • where everyone is fully engaged in discussions and decisions
  • that don’t get bogged down in conflict
  • where consensus is reached between diverse stakeholders
  • that align strategy and action with a shared vision
  • that are so energized and effective that people don’t want to miss them!

We work with groups and leaders who need to collaborate to reach their goals, yet experience stressful, unproductive, frustrating, and confusing meetings.

We can assist you in turning your mundane meetings into meetings that matter. We use participatory, evolving, organic, and interactive group processes that evoke respect and commitment and accomplish their purpose.

Studies show that people are spending too much of their time in meetings that they feel are a waste of their time. How much did your last unproductive meeting cost in time and money? In lost opportunities? Stress? In the longer term cost of low staff morale?

Meetings do matter. They are a key leverage point for creating a focused, energized organization that accomplishes what they set out to do and with amazing results. Yet most executives, managers, directors, or team leaders haven’t learned the skills of facilitating meetings that ensure both group participation and targeted outcomes.

Is this familiar? Discussions go round in circles, veer away from sticky issues, and stay at a shallow level. You struggle to keep the group on topic. When you ask for creative suggestions you get silence. Or you get so many ideas that you are overwhelmed and don’t know how to make sense of all the data. Two people begin to argue. The rest of the group sits back frustrated, thinking “here we go again.” And you think “how can I turn this meeting around and rescue it from being a complete waste of time and money?”

If you are leading or participating in meetings where disrespectful attitudes and power games lead to confusing discussions and mediocre decisions, Sierra Circle Consulting can be of assistance. We can help you discover the hidden potential within your group. We can help your group have meaningful discussions, make quality decisions and plan how to move forward together to implement needed changes.

If you are bringing people together from different departments, functions or geography to develop creative plans or programs and if you want to get beyond the usual meeting dynamics that waste time and energy and result in less than anticipated decisions and outcomes, I can be of assistance.

If you want to improve your organization’s performance, and you want to make meeting and working together more productive, enjoyable and less stressful, you are in the right place. I can help you in two ways.

1. As a professional group facilitator I design and facilitate meetings that deliver results, usually far beyond what is expected by a client. Whether you want to initiate a change process, develop new strategy, or collaborate with other community groups to plan an event or program, I will make that meeting worth your investment.

I use the exceptional Technology of Participation (ToP®) facilitation methods in meetings to catalyze a group’s

  • collective wisdom to make informed decisions
  • strategic thinking to create winning directions
  • energy and commitment to implement action plans.

Your meeting will build consensus and optimize your investment of time, money and energy.

2. As a trainer and coach I will help you learn the ToP® facilitation skills that will give you the confidence to lead group sessions successfully and with ease. I will help you develop a facilitative leadership style that will ensure your meetings happen as creative, energizing, productive and empowering experiences – both for you and your group.

That is what “facilitate” means – to make things easier. Facilitators provide the focus and processes for interaction that easily increase a group’s capacity for depth dialogue, consensus decision making, planning, and collaborative action.

Yes, you can have meetings like this. And imagine the increase in productivity, teamwork, and morale as did these leaders:

“I feel more comfortable to know that I have a method that works; we always come up with a good outcome. Highly participatory - gets everyone involved, not only the outspoken.” R. J. Cardin, Arizona State Dept. of Parks & Recreation.

“Successsful leadeers need to feel comfortable with participation because involvement builds the commitment that leads to competative results. We’ve trained over 200 managers and key players in the ToP methods. These people are sought after for their skills, rather than their position of power.” Peter Laux, Manager, TQ Development & Training, Texas Instruments

You may be wondering if my approach can really help you. I have a solid record of success that proves that my approach works. The remarkable Technology of Participation (ToP®) methods are used by thriving organizations around the world that value a participative culture.

Please browse my website for more information on how your meetings can become meetings that matter. Learn about leaders I work with and the issues they face on the Who I Work With page. Read their comments about results they have achieved implementing the strategies and action plans they developed.

My monthly newsletter, Participation Matters, gives you tips on how to get full participation in meetings and make them more engaging, authentic, accessible and rewarding. You’ll find resources to help you become a facilitative leader – articles, books, upcoming conferences and workshops. When you subscribe, you’ll receive my free report, ‘Five Mistakes That Derail Collaboration – and How to Get Back on Track’