Below are two menus. The left hand menu includes a list of consulting and facilitation services to help you reinforce the foundation for shared decision making. The right hand menu includes a list of services to help you plan and chair successful meetings. Click on the appropriate menu item for a detailed description.

CLICK ON A MENU ITEM TO GET A DETAILED OUTLINE AND OTHER INFORMATION ON IT.

Evaluating Significant Documents & Policies

Retain us to evaluate and analyze applicable documents from the following list:

• Constitution, Bylaws, Statutory Provisions (if applicable).
• Organization's and team's mandate, mission, vision and value statements.
• Team's charter and Committee's terms of reference.
• Decision tree: Who makes what decision?
• Job descriptions, roles and responsibilities, accountabilities.
• Conflict of interest and Confidentiality guidelines
• Freedom Of Information (FOI) and Protection Of Privacy (POP) policies.
• Code of ethics, code of conduct.
• Disciplinary procedures.
• Dispute resolutions procedures.
• Orientation manual and member education and mentoring program.
  

• Are policies and governing documents relevant to today's realities?
• Are documents clear, concise, unambiguous?
• Are documents written in plain language aid laid out in a "reader-friendly" format?
• Are policies logical, realistic and enforceable?
• Are policies too restrictive or are they "enabling"?
• Are policies fair and reasonable?

Retain us to inspect the foundation for shared decision making and identify flaws that are causing or may cause dysfunctions. As a part of our assessment, we may need to interview leaders and decision makers, attend and observe meetings, or view and analyze videotapes of meetings.

Areas we can analyze and comment on include:

• Decision making team's mandate (see questions to consider).
  
• Allocation of decision making powers (see questions to consider)
  
• Size and composition of decision making team (see questions to consider).
  
• Team member & leader selection processes (see questions to consider)
  
• Team orientation & on-going education (see questions to consider)
  
• Effectiveness of team leader (see questions to consider)
  
• Effectiveness of team members (see questions to consider)
  
• Team's relationship with support staff (see questions to consider)
  
• Team's relationship with subordinate committees (see questions to consider)
  
• Team's relationships with the larger community (see questions to consider)
  
• Feedback and dispute resolution processes (see questions to consider)
  
• Team's ethics, culture & "rules of engagement" (see questions to consider)
  

Team dysfunctions are costly. They can waste precious resources, distract you from your mandate, lead to bad decisions, and expose the organization to risk.

Retain us for advice on addressing team-level dysfunctions, such as:

• A lack of sophistication or awareness of the magnitude of decisions made.
  
• Apathy, low commitment levels, and a search for the easiest way out.
  
• A tendency to avoid tough issues or pretend they do not exist.
• Confusion or disputes over who controls the agenda.
  
• Fear of change and a tendency to instinctively embrace the status quo.
  
• A tendency to quickly dismiss ideas from "outside the box".
  
• Fragmentation, turf protection, and the promotion of self-interest.
  
• Acceptance of bad meetings as a fact of life.
  
• Hesitancy to express legitimate concerns for fear of becoming unpopular.
  
• Impatience, "leaping to solution-mode", and ending discussions prematurely.
  
• Behind the scene lobbying, alliance building and backstabbing.
  
• Use of rules of order to manipulate, subvert and disrupt.
  
• Majorities always over-powering minorities.
  

Retain us to help you deal with difficult team members, who:

• Act unilaterally and outside their scope of authority.
  
• Leak confidential information to outside parties.
  
• Place narrow interests ahead of broad organizational interests.
  
• Violate conflict of interest guidelines.
  
• Routinely miss meetings, arrive late or leave early.
• Provide significant information too late in the decision making process.
  
• Dominate, intimidate, manipulate and disrupt meetings.
  
• Do not prepare for meetings.
  
• Come to meetings with closed minds.
  
• Always oppose and attack but never propose anything.
  
• Are "closet parliamentarians" who nitpick and insist on absolute procedural accuracy.
  

Combating team dysfunctions tends to be a reactive task, similar to finding and plugging a leak in a building. There are times when "repair" work will not do and a full "renovation" is needed. Organizational renewal and re-structuring can be complex and challenging. It is best to do this work with the involvement of affected parties.

We can help you by planning and leading the organizational renewal and re-structuring process. Specifically, we can do the following:

• Involve members in developing options to reinforce the decision making foundation.
• Identify changes that people might resist (e.g.: reduced authority and power bases).
• Lead consensus-building sessions, intended to reduce risk and maximize opportunities
• Work with the group to resolve sticky issues and establish comfort with the outcomes.
• Help develop documents and policies that reflect the new decision making structures.
• Prepare a transition plan from the current structures to the new ones.
• Help you develop an implementation plan to sustain the momentum generated by the program.
  

Our evaluation of your meetings may require some or all of following activities:

• Attending and observing meetings.
• Viewing and analyzing videotapes of meetings.
• Reviewing meeting agendas, accompanying reports, and minutes.
• Interviews with meeting attendees and professional staff.
  

• Value - or return on investment - added by a meeting.
• How well the larger community was served by a meeting.
• Clarity of the group's mandate and meeting purpose.
• Clarity of agenda items, terms and abbreviations used.
• Quality of the documents on which collective decisions were based.
• Depth and quality of the discussions and the decisions made.
• Amount of time spent on substantive issues versus insignificant ones.
• Whether rules of order helped or impeded progress.
• Degree of fragmentation and adversity versus cohesion and collaboration.
• Balance and equality: Was 90% of time taken up by 10% of the people?
• Effectiveness of the meeting Chair.
• Effectiveness of each voting member.
• Effectiveness of support staff and professional advisors.
• Amount of courtesy, civility, decorum, and apparent trust and respect.
• What could make meetings more dynamic, varied, interesting and fun.

We can help you plan and chair the following (and other) types of meetings:

• Contentious Board, Council or Committee meetings.
• Divisive partnership meetings with anticipated power struggles.
• Inter-departmental meetings to discuss significant structural changes.
• Large community consultation meetings.
• Public hearings to discuss contentious re-zoning bylaws (local government).
• Annual General Meetings (companies, credit unions, non-profit organizations).
• Contested elections or proxy fights.
• Special General Meetings with resolutions to remove directors from office.
  

• Planning the agenda, framing the issues, and preparing decision-making options.
• Planning discussion activities to shift from "combat-zone" to "construction-zone".
• Preparing participation guidelines, to ensure fairness, equality, civility and decorum.
• Preparing an overall script for the meeting.
• Preparing ad-hoc scripts to deal with disruptive behaviours.
• Briefing all participants on their roles and any do's and don'ts.
• Meeting separately with various factions to establish respect for the process.
• Coaching the designated meeting chair.
• Serving as an impartial meeting chair on your behalf.
  

If you need expert advice on rules of order, we can help you by:

• Preparing expert opinions on procedural issues and rules of order.
• Identifying procedural options for an upcoming meeting.
• Developing procedures for nominations and contested elections.
• Developing procedures for disciplinary motions and removals of directors.
• Drafting Ordinary and Special resolutions.
• Preparing a brief summary of meeting rules.
• Preparing a quick reference guide for meeting participants.
• Preparing an overall meeting script.
• Preparing ad-hoc scripts to deal with disruptive behaviours.
• Serving as an impartial presiding officer during a meeting.
• Serving as a procedural advisor (parliamentarian) during a formal meeting.
  
  

• Shift your focus from mechanical rules to core principles.
• Shift from archaic and confusing terminology to plain language.
• Determine the significance (or lack thereof) of procedural violations.
• Eliminate procedures that are not needed, even if they have been used for years.
• Combat nit-picking and procedural nonsense in meetings.
• Understand key concepts: majority, tie, abstentions, proxies, quorum.
• Handle motions, amendments and other procedures with ease and confidence.