Transformation Leadership Skill 7 - Event Facilitation

One of the most highly valued Transformation Leadership skills is the ability to successfully organize and facilitate large cross-functional collaborative teams to develop consensus and take action to deliver performance improvement. 

The Transformation Leader will be challenged to facilitate different types of collaborative events involving all levels of the organization from senior leadership to specialists, internal and external participants including customers and suppliers, and different purposes including leadership events and optimal solutions design. 

· Executive Round Table (Build Leadership Consensus on Approach)

· Governance Team (Recurring End-to-End Supply Chain Leadership)

· Action Item Portfolios (Leadership of Discipline, Risk Management, and Projects)

· Project Optimal Solution Design (Lean Six Sigma, OpEx, BPM, and Innovation Methodologies)

· Customer & Supplier Collaboration (Leadership Alignment and Innovation)

Successful facilitation of collaborative events requires the Transformation Leader to be highly skilled in three areas.

· Collaborative Event Planning

· Event Facilitation

· Define and Execute Actions

Collaborative Event Planning

The first step in designing a successful collaborative event is to properly define the purpose of the event, set a manageable scope, and establish a supportive sponsor.  The next step is to assure attendance by all of the important stakeholders who must understand, own, and sustain the actions and changes to be designed and executed by the team. The final steps in planning are the careful selection of the location, design of the layout to support collaborative interaction, and selection of the right techniques and methodology to deliver the desired outcomes.

Event Facilitation

Successful facilitation of large cross-functional team events will require the Transformation Leader to integrate the traditional facilitation and team building skills of Organizational Dynamics specialists with Senior Executive skills of establishing perspective and accountability, and the Black Belt skills of step-by-step execution of performance improvement methodologies that deliver results. The combination of these valued skill sets makes the Transformation Leader a very rare and highly valued individual who can successfully engage entire organizations and deliver rapid transformation results.

Define and Execute Actions

Transformational collaborative events must be more than “feel good” sessions. Organization should expect that specific decisions will be made and actions will be defined and executed as a result of the session. The Transformation Leader must be skilled in achieving consensus on specific actions items, moving the entire team to take action, and assuring support the effort after the session to achieve the results. Critical leadership skills of action assignment, accountability, resourcing, and results monitoring are all required.

The Transformation Leader must possess the integrated leadership, team facilitation, and performance improvement methodology skills to successfully conduct large cross-functional collaborative events that deliver results.

To learn more about this and other Transformation Leadership Skills go to: CSCTA.net