Facilitated Discussion Preparation Page
The following checklist is designed to help you prepare for your facilitated discussion by clarifying your goals and priorities in advance of the session. Please take a moment to answer these questions for yourself with the goal of helping you prepare for a successful meeting.
- Interests (i.e., hopes, goals, needs, concerns, motivations) – What interests are you hoping to have satisfied at the meeting? What do you think is important to the other person? Imagine the discussion was a success – what goals of yours would be met as a result?
- Options for agreement – What would be considered a good outcome for you and for the other person? If you were not involved and you were asked to suggest some options for resolution that all everyone might accept, what would you propose? (These possible terms should meet everyone’s interests.)
- Alternatives to reaching an agreement – What will you do if you do not reach an agreement with the other person? What do you think the other person will do if an agreement is not reached? How well do you think these outcomes meet your interests compared to what you might do together?
- Objective Standards (examples include – best practices, precedents, and industry norms) – What standards of fairness apply to your situation? What have others done when faced with a similar situation?
- Communication – What messages do you want to send and have understood by the other person? What questions do you have for the other person at the meeting? What do you think the other person wants you to understand?
- Relationship – Define the quality of the relationship between the two of you. Should it continue or end? On what terms should it continue or end?
- Commitment – Are you prepared to enter into an agreement? If so, what would you like to see happen that you think would work for you and the other person? Do you need to check in with anyone else before committing to an agreement?
- Other – Please identify any other issues that you think need to be discussed. It’s sometimes helpful to think of the facilitated discussion as a meeting and it’s your job to create an agenda that will cover the topics that you think need to be addressed.
