Facilitation : The path to straighforward meetings
Have you ever needed to get somewhere — and had to choose between the cheaper and the faster route?
Maybe it’s two trains:
The local train — cheaper, more frequent, but it stops everywhere.
The bullet train — pricier, but it goes straight to your destination.
Or maybe it’s two flights:
One with three layovers and a full day of travel.
One nonstop, more expensive, but it gets you there in a few easy hours.
When I was younger, I often picked the local train or the cheap flight. It seemed sensible — save a little money, take a bit longer, it’ll be fine.
Uhmm…. it was only fine because I was young and broke.
The trains stopped constantly. The planes had endless layovers and delays. By the time I arrived, I was sore, tired, and frustrated.
One time, I thought I got a great deal on a flight. My connection was cancelled and I spent more than the flight price difference on airport food and drinks waiting for the next flight. 😤
Meetings are exactly the same
Most organizations run on the local train/cheap flight model. You gather your team, everyone brings their own goals, priorities, and communication styles, and the meeting stops everywhere — every opinion, every tangent, every re-opened decision.
You will (probably) still get to the destination eventually — but it’s exhausting, and the cost in both time and energy is high.
It’s not that the team isn’t capable. It’s that the meeting itself isn’t designed to reach a destination efficiently.
Facilitation is the bullet train/ direct flight of meetings
Have you heard the saying the hard way becomes the easy way and the easy way becomes the hard way ?
I think there comes a point when you are done doing things the hard way. The point where the trade off of saving money vs spending your life/energy/ time/focus doesn´t make sense anymore.
That is what facilitation is for meetings. The bullet train option, the direct flight.
When you work with a facilitator, the destination is programmed before the meeting begins. You set the outcome together — then the facilitator reverse-engineers the route: the structure, the pacing, and the conversations that need to happen to get there.
There’s no guesswork.
No unnecessary stops.
No derailments.
You still travel together, but the experience feels smoother, faster, and infinitely more focused. ✨
By the time you arrive, the work is done, the group is aligned, and you have energy left for whatever comes next.
(Is it volleyball Tuesday ? Time to work on that side project you have been dreaming about ? Get a massage ? Do something fun with the kids ? You name it, you have time and energy to DO it.)
So the next time you plan a meeting, ask yourself:
Do you want the local train or the bullet train? The layover flight or the direct one?
When you are done doing things the hard way, H&Co is here to help :) just book a free discovery call to learn more.
