Why should professionals team up with a facilitator?
Professionals often face conflict. Whether it comes in the form of difficulty with interpersonal relationships within a small operation or a larger multi-layered organization, fiduciary relationships or even board members determining business strategy, if not resolved, the conflict can continue beneath the surface and ultimately undermine the venture or even important relationships.
Engaging a facilitator at those times can help in the following ways:
- The facilitator is neutral and objective with no bias to any person or position. This enables professional participants to be acknowledged and their individual voices heard in a neutral setting.
- The facilitator supports each participant thereby creating an atmosphere wherein each participant has a meaningful opportunity to speak directly and to be sure he or she understands the issues underlying the dispute or conflict. Making sure all participants are equalized at the table sets the tone for dealing fairly with each other and treating one another with respect. This helps preserve the foundation of the existing relationships and helps build the relationships back up.
- At no time are the attorney’s and/or fiduciary’s duties to their client compromised. The setting is one where the attorney and/or fiduciary participates in discussions with or about their client and it is the facilitator’s role to make sure the other parties understand and hear their positions. The facilitator assists in having individual’s party’s positions communicated and acknowledged, concerns outlined and understood all the while moving forward in a problem-solving approach.
