Facilitation Services

• Public involvement processes
• Informational, planning, and problem-solving meetings
• Public meetings
• Intra-governmental discussions and negotiations
• Staff and board retreats

Have you participated in a meeting where you feel like the group came together and accomplished a lot in short period of time? It’s a great feeling.

Cindy Cook designs meetings where individuals come together to accomplish things as a group that they could not have achieved as individuals. She helps groups define goals and develop strategies to achieve these goals. When working with groups who are facing seemingly intractable issues, Cindy uses her experience, insight, patience, and humor to help the group create a climate of collaboration.

The Adamant Accord facilitation model builds the foundation for constructive dialogue well before the first meeting begins. At the very initial stages of discussion, Cindy works intensively with participants to identify issues and to help identify, clarify, and articulate participants’ interests. This advance work ensures that participants come to meetings well prepared, consequently meeting time is used efficiently and effectively.

During meetings, Cindy brings her energy and focus to the group’s work, and uses her experience and humor to help groups address issues thoughtfully and creatively. She gently guides discussions so that the group stays on track and on schedule.

Cindy skillfully makes large amounts of complex information accessible and manageable. She regularly works with clients to distill large volumes of technical, scientific, and legal information into presentations and fact sheets that are readily understandable and that provide the information the group needs to move forward.

See Fact Sheets / Process Maps

Adamant Accord’s Facilitation Process

Cindy’s work is rooted in a deep-seated faith in the wisdom of groups. She enjoys designing and facilitating processes in which individuals move beyond their differences and work together and to achieve their common goals.

Adamant Accord designs processes that provide opportunities for meaningful and productive stakeholder involvement. We develop “process roadmaps” that give the participants a visual understanding the overall process, how and when decisions will be made, and how a particular meeting fits into this larger process.

Planning

• Assist in articulating meeting goals
• Frame issues in ways that are most likely to lead to resolution
• Develop agendas that use time effectively and efficiently
• Resolve intrapersonal issues away from the table

Facilitation

• Establish a warm, productive atmosphere
• Focus discussions
• Ensure productive involvement of all participants
• Keep meetings on schedule
• Address interpersonal issues
• Record the group’s progress and articulate next steps

Follow-Up

• Identify action items in a written meeting summary
• Continue to work with participants to ensure the group’s goals are reached

See Tips & Resources for “Reaching Agreement at Meetings”

Project Snapshot — Facilitation LEED Stormwater Rating System

About a week before the meeting, EPA contracted with Cindy Cook of Adamant Accord to serve as meeting facilitator. Cindy worked intensively with all parties to develop agreement regarding the meeting’s purpose, develop the meeting agenda, and to suggest pre-meeting conversations to help resolve procedural issues.

At the meeting, Cindy helped participants explore their common interests, before moving to areas of disagreement. By early afternoon, the group surprised itself by coming to agreement on a stormwater rating system. They are so pleased with the results that they are actively considering using the stormwater criteria that they developed in other LEED Rating System products. Participants agreed some of the keys to their success were the intensive pre-meeting work to develop consensus regarding the meeting goals, pre-meeting conversations regarding procedural issues, and skillful meeting facilitation.