Facilitating Interdisciplinary Meetings: A Practical Guide

Abstract

Facilitators can play an important role in helping research teams achieve equitable collaborations, reach decisions, manage time, keep work flowing, and—at best—seamlessly achieve their goals. Having a facilitator can allow team leaders to focus on the content of the meeting itself and engage with group members in a different way. Facilitation can also help teams address many of the challenges that can emerge throughout the course of collaborative interdisciplinary research, from negotiating diverse priorities and interests, to designing effective and productive meetings, to navigating philosophical differences and power dynamics within a team. This guide offers pratical suggestions for how best to facilitate team work.