Facilitated Retreats

When you are close to a problem, it's hard to be the leader of the meeting.

Bring in Eileen and she will:

Access the wisdom of the room

Facilitation is the use of specific skills and interventions to help people reach their own conclusions and wisdom. Depending upon the needs of the client, Eileen facilitates multi-day management retreats (See ALIGN below) as well as single event facilitation bundled with a presentation.

Hold In-Depth Interviews

These services are determined following an in-depth interview with a potential client. Sometimes this service includes the use of self-administrated survey tools and instruments (Check out some of the instruments).

Moderate Panels For Optimum Participation

The skills of facilitation weave into the skills of moderating as well as emceeing an event. I work with meeting planners to create a detailed agenda to eliminate as many surprises as possible and keep an energy-building flow in the meeting. As a moderator, I have designed survey questions that engage the audience before the panel even starts. The questions form the flow of the panel and then I work with panelists beforehand so we have a seamless transmission of ideas. The ability to synthesize comments and engage the audience are key elements. As an emcee, my role is to create bridges within the event and to find ways to use appropriate humor to keep interest high.

Whether facilitating, moderating, or emceeing, the final task is to make sure that everyone else shines—not me. (But like Billy Crystal, I would like to be memorable :-)

Help Stakeholders In Times Of Significant Change

"As a result of your work, the senior leadership team walked away as a cohesive unit, re-energized and more hopeful. We are committed to a new future which we now own. You helped us learn how to be resilient change masters."
Stanislaus County, CA

Hold ALIGN Management Forums For Larger Scale Challenges

ALIGN MANAGEMENT FORUM

"Wisdom resides in the audience." Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE
Using her skill as a counselor and facilitator, Eileen is sometimes asked by groups to come "inside" and help them with communication or team issues. Each session is a one-of-a-kind interactive forum designed to accomplish a specific objective. The following information on ALIGN, a Management Forum details a specific intervention which Eileen has designed to assist senior-level groups explore critical business issues.

ALIGN—A Management Forum: Why Bother??

Most organizations tend to head first toward "logos" or logic without checking for alignment in principles, purpose, and relationships.

Without alignment, millions may be invested in product development and only to be rejected by the market.

Without alignment, conflict, backstabbing, and mistrust haunt corporate corridors and more time is wasted in redressing people problems rather than dedicated to solving productivity problems.

Without alignment, there are meetings with no imperatives; and action with no results. In short, too many forums first begin in the mind (logos) without understanding who sits around the table and why they are gathered.

ALIGN—A Management Forum: What Does it Do??

Aggressively serves the stakeholders through an action-orientation

Tackles tough issues, seeking to impact the bottom line with a long-term vision

Engages participation and commitment for specific outcomes and deliverables

Honors and respects individual differences while supporting the team concept

Affords a framework for improving communication and relationships by creating a supportive environment for authentic dialogue

Provides congruency of vision and action

Offers improvement in innovation teams

Engages the mind and spirit

Allows for creative problem-solving in an informal, relaxed atmosphere

Reinforces corporate identity and forward-looking themes through the use of customized tools and collateral

ALIGN—A Management Forum: How Does It Work??

Uses one-on-one interviews with participants in order to condense data into core themes and issue statements.

Uses a facilitated, group-paced process for discovering, learning, solving, and creating action items and deliverables for the organization

Flows according to the sequence of the ancient Greek thinkers: ethos, pathos and logos.

Beginning with ethos, participants work on the establishment, recommitment, and rejuvenation of personal and corporate principles and purpose.

Moving into pathos, participants work on the connection and alignment of relationships.

In the logos phase, participants hone the problem-solving ability of the group to create and make strategic moves for an agreed-upon outcome.

Who Presents ALIGN—A Management Forum?

McDargh Communications is often joined in this endeavor by Bench International a consulting organization dedicated to designing and building teams in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer product, and chemical industries.

Testimonials

Our department had gone through some significant changes during 2007, requiring a much different approach to this year’s conference. We decided to change direction a bit and bring in an outside motivational speaker to help break the ice and enable better communication. We were referred to Eileen by a colleague who was very happy with her work at a previous conference and based on conversations we had leading up to our event were confident she would be a perfect fit. And of course, she was! Eileen met and exceeded our expectations, was a critical part of our creative planning design, a joy to work with and remains one of the best speakers we’ve ever had.

Jason Linder
Corporate Credit
Intel Corporation