When I’m facilitating a kōrero or workshop with operational stakeholders (especially subject matter experts), I find it hard to do two jobs at once:
• hold the room and guide the conversation
• take accurate notes that reflect what was actually said
In an ideal world, we always have someone to take minutes. Often we do not.
What I do instead:
If participants are comfortable, I’ll record the session so I can produce a transcript and build notes from that. Recording without telling people can raise privacy issues, so I always ask first and stick to our approved tools and settings.
My workflow:
- Ask for agreement to record, and say what it’s for
- Create a transcript using approved software
- Use an approved AI tool to create a first draft of notes and structure
- Go back in with the transcript, my own notes, and recollection to tidy it up and add the real detail
The bit I did not expect: it’s a reflection tool too
Facilitation is a craft. Most of us are learning it in real time, on the job. It’s often part of our roles, but we’re not “facilitators” by title, and many of us have not had formal training.
So after a session, I’ll also ask the AI tool things like:
• What are three things I did well, and three things to improve?
• Roughly how much time did we spend on each agenda item?
• What did we actually achieve compared to the agenda?
It’s not perfect, and I treat it as a prompt, not the truth. But it helps me run a quick personal retrospective while the session is still fresh.
Why this matters
Facilitation is a craft. Most of us are learning it in real time, on the job. It’s often part of our roles, but we’re not “facilitators” by title. Many of us have not had formal training. It’s a skill to build, like any other.
When you do not have a colleague available to observe and give feedback (or they’re flat out too), using a transcript and an approved AI tool can be a practical way to run a personal retrospective and keep improving over time.
Used carefully, with consent and within your organisation’s privacy and tool settings, AI can support:
• better meeting records
• better timing estimates
• better self-awareness as a facilitator
Next workshop I will trial having people type their name, role, and hope into the comments instead of doing a round robin of introductions. I recognised that it was taking too long at the time, but it’s not something you can easily cut off once it’s started.
Keen to hear what others are doing: how are you balancing facilitation, capture, and continuous improvement in your mahi?
PS. It’s not possible to use the teams recordings function at the moment in my workplace as it is blocked by IT. This is my work around that meets our privacy and IT policies.