The City of Brooklyn Park is unlearning decades of standard government meeting practices for both internal and external meetings. Specifically, in the last four years, we trained over 30 city staff from various departments in professional facilitation and participatory meeting methods to provide a real tool that allows staff to authentically engage one another and the community and produce meaningful and tangible results and meeting outcomes.

The results of the facilitation methods have been impactful and profound.  Meetings now have strategic purpose and intent as to not waste anyone’s time; meetings are no longer dominated by one person or group of people; meetings are often facilitated by a neutral person with no interest or stake in the outcome; groups create their own motivation by building consensus; unproductive conflict disappears; and there is increased productivity as the outcomes and next steps are clear by the end of the meeting.  The facilitation methods support staff in fulfilling the City’s leadership philosophy in that “we are stronger and wiser as a whole and together can achieve things unattainable by an individual.”