Facilitation – Begin with the End in Mind
Barbara Brannen brings a thorough and unique process to facilitation.  It is a process that works from the premise that your planning and strategy must come from your desire to be:
•    in a certain place with your revenue, quality and customer service,
•    in a certain time period,
•    with the full support of your team,
•    And creating value in the organization that is sustainable.
Working with Barbara to facilitate your planning session(s) will encompass the following activities:
Prior to the first formal meeting Barbara will conduct the following research:
•    Establishing a clear understanding of the expectations for the business in the next year with one-three key executives (these will actually be used and tested with the larger group in the strategic planning meeting)
•    Expectations for the meeting itself with the key executives which will lead to outcomes, timelines and who are the key players for the meeting.
•    A good understanding of what has worked and what does not work in the group dynamics for your organization
•    Pre-meeting interviews to test the expectations with non-executive team members and inclusion of this feedback into the meeting agenda
•    (I will also ask for full resumes or biographies of all attendees to familiarize myself with the participants as well as current job descriptions or scope of responsibilities)
Setting the actual agenda for the meeting:
•    With the information obtained from above a tentative agenda and outcomes are  established
•    This agenda is then re-worked if necessary to optimize the desired outcomes
•    A final determination is made on who should be in attendance and
•    Who may not need to attend but will have information to add at some point

First Full Meeting:
•    We start with the “Rules of Engagement” for the day to maximize interactions
•    Very briefly set up social styles of the different group members to be sure that there is participation and inclusion of all thought
•    We go over the agenda for the day to see if there is any reason to “adjust” it based on new information or a current situation
•    Begin to work the agenda for the meeting
•    The Facilitator plays the role of;

o     keeping the group on topic,
o    dealing with time,
o    scribing agreed upon plans,
o    ensuring that participants are clear on what is occurring,
o     moderating dissention,
o    Prompting  full participation
o    Keeping up the energy of the group to get the work done.
Close of First Meeting
•    A full outline of accountabilities
•    Recheck on the timeframes that were established
•    A schedule is set up for the reporting of accountabilities
•    How will we measure ourselves?  When?
•    When do we make course corrections in the next 90 days, six month, etc.?
•    Finally we determine how we will roll this out and get reactions from the rest of the organization
Follow- up
•    Barbara will interview various key players in the organization with the outcomes and plans that were established and be sure that buy-in occurs, as well as understanding of the plans.
•    Within two weeks Barbara and an internal delegate will follow up on all accountabilities. Anywhere there is no progress or where the “tyranny of the urgent” is prevailing over moving forward an escalation will occur to problem-solve these issues.

What is unique about Barbara’s process?
All of what you have read and seen so far falls into what you might expect.  What you haven’t seen or would not expect is some of the ways Barbara accomplishes all of this.  Barbara will be helping your team to make all that they have planned “come alive.”  This could mean creating accountabilities by creating a master puzzle and showing everyone where and how the pieces fit together.  This could mean tracking progress on sales through determining where we are on first base, second base, fouling out or hitting homeruns.  The unusual component of Barbara’s work means bringing energy to the process and she will even employ props that sit on your desk to make the point.   Whether it is a contest or a thermometer on the wall, tracking that we are getting traction and making progress is her unique ability.  Keeping metrics or measurements attached to all initiatives is her theme.
Why Barbara?
Barbara spent 20 years of her career on various executive teams, reporting to boards, and building organizations.  With Rose Medical Center she helped that team grow the organization from $75m to over $200 in less than 5 years and with a major financial catastrophe in the middle of that growth.  Her unique way of taking the company out of “over thinking” that catastrophe and into “clearer thinking” saved 400 jobs and allowed the growth to transpire.
At Innovative Services of America she helped grow the company from 200 to 2000 employees in 2 years.  80% of all new hires were employee referrals.  Revenue sharing plans allowed clients to “build their own” product.  The company was deemed to be premier in its services and eventually sold for one and half times it’s assessed value.  With Qwest Communications Barbara was part of the team that did 6 acquisitions in 20 months to build a $3 billion organization and expand in Europe.  Barbara is an author, leadership expert, frequently called upon speaker and now a consultant to organizations.  In recent years Barbara helped determine the problem with a $250m organization that would not allow them to grow.  Once the identification and remediation was in place the revenues went to over $340m.  In another organization of less than $5m, she helped them reduce the number of people they were hiring and hire the right people instead resulting in a tripling of revenues.
Barbara has a B.S. Degree in Commerce from Niagara University and graduate studies work at the University of Denver.  She has been honored by the Denver Business Journal and is a speaker for Vistage, the leading CEO organization in America.