Well-managed projects depend on a manager’s ability to harness the collective intelligence of the project team. Here Clive Lewis, MD of illumine, considers how a new facilitation approach can generate project team consensus.

Getting team agreement on direction and decisions is a holy grail for project managers. In principle we all know that people can achieve much more when they are aligned in their thinking and their purpose – but in practice how can this be achieved?

The answer to this conundrum lies in fast facilitation – and, more specifically, in the way that managers can use facilitation to help their people reach consensus. Let me explain.

Facilitation is an important part of a manager’s know-how because it is understood that the process of how something gets done can often get in the way of the task itself. Looked at in another way, while the individuals within a group or team may be extremely talented and motivated this doesn’t mean that they know how to work together effectively.

Facilitative management cuts through this dynamic – ensuring that issues such as relationships, beliefs and values are included as an essential part of the project team’s ability to perform.

Read more at PROJECTmagazine.