Focus groups and facilitated sessions can be vital to assist a team or group to reach a consensus when having started from different perspectives, or providing the right environment to reach agreement on a course of action.

Focus groups allow a small group of people to discuss an issue supported by an independent facilitator. They are particularly useful if there are widely differing viewpoints.

Some of their advantages are in that they allow for ideas to be explored and contextualised and they create a safe environment to address areas of tension and opportunity to highlight areas of agreement and compromise.

Using an independent facilitator will ensure effective meetings. By this we mean that your company will enjoy meetings that do not over run, uses the time available effectively, reaches clear outcomes and ensures every attendee has a shared understanding of the meeting’s purpose. There is the strong potential that, in following this approach, meetings will become an exceptionally effective use of time and resources.