Assessment of facilitators' design thinking

Abstract

Meeting design is one of the most critical prerequisites of the success of facilitated meetings but how to achieve the success is not yet fully understood. This study presents a descriptive model of the design of facilitated meetings based on literature findings about the key factors contributing to the success of collaborative meetings, and links these factors to the meeting design steps by exploring how facilitators consider them in practice in their design process. The empirical part includes a case study conducted among 11 facilitators. Session goals, group composition, supporting technology, motivational aspects, physical constraints, and correct practices are found to outline the key factors in design thinking. Furthermore, the order of considering these factors in the design process is outlined. The results contribute to the discussion on how to improve the effectiveness of collaboration with better meeting design, providing also some insights into further development of design support tools. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.