Career connection

Facilitator, moderator or mediator

Neutral third parties make all the difference



We’ve all been in meetings where prominent issues needed resolution, but after a couple of hours, the team made little or no progress. A neutral, third-party facilitator, moderator or mediator can help run meetings more efficiently and navigate all parties to desirable outcomes.

Jamie’s manager appointed him to lead a team of cross-functional experts for several meetings among internal auditors and data analysts for an upcoming software upgrade to improve audit quality. Jamie showed great leadership potential, but he didn’t have experience leading such a large team project. During the kickoff meeting, several points of disagreement quickly surfaced between two groups in the meetings. Jamie, in his attempt to exert his leadership, joined in the banter by offering his suggestions and counterpoints. However, four months after the meetings had concluded, the team hadn’t resolved many issues. Unfortunately, management shelved the project, and Jamie’s manager and team questioned his leadership ability.


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