Developing the meeting outline is to plan the activities that will guide the group to achieving the desired outcomes. For example, an outcome might be for the group to create a list of 10 suggestions to assess the current morale of a particular department. As you are designing the meeting outline, select the most appropriate tool or technique to lead to the desired outcome.

Successful leaders leverage myriad facilitation techniques and master when to use a particular technique as much as how to use it. Some basic techniques include:

Listening

If you expect the group members to actively participate, then you need to be sure to listen to what they are saying. After posing a question, pause and give them time to think and formulate their responses. When someone begins to respond, avoid assuming that you know what he or she is going to say. Nothing dampens a group’s discussions faster than a leader who interrupts or jumps to hasty conclusions about a particular point—which may be incorrect. Pose a question, give the audience time to think, and then truly listen to participant input.

Questioning techniques

Using various questioning techniques is probably the most common way to encourage participation from a group—and is a skill that serves business professionals both inside and outside of a meeting room. There are several types of questions, including open-ended, close-ended, hypothetical, and rhetorical. The ability to ask strong questions requires skill, practice, and planning.

Accepting different opinions and views

If you are asking for ideas, comments, and thoughts on a topic, then be prepared for views that differ from yours. If you don’t agree with something, be sure that you do not leave the audience with the impression that you agree or that the information is correct if it is not. If answers to questions aren’t quite on target, then redirect the question and open it up to others by asking, “What do the rest of you think?”

Silence

Silence is an effective meeting technique and one that novice leaders often struggle with the most. Pausing enables the group to process what you are saying and to form their own thoughts and opinions.

Some additional considerations that you might want to include when creating your detailed agenda and notes to lead the meeting are guided discussion, storytelling, humor, quotations, metaphors, and analogies.