Facilitation Lessons Learned: One Board, Four Board Retreats, and Four Formats

Interactive stations require increased planning time and logistical challenges. However, boards love interacting with staff and seeing tools and technology.

Facilitators seldom have the opportunity to use four formats with the same board of directors for four consecutive years. Blame it on COVID. In 2019 the board retreat was in-person, we were virtual in 2020, hybrid in 2021, and this year we were once again in-person.

Here are a few lessons learned.

The Overall Approach Matters

Many board retreats are no more than a string of PowerPoint presentations from department heads. Somehow, the leadership thinks the retreat should be one big information session. This approach is ineffective, and facilitators especially struggle with information-type retreats in virtual or hybrid formats.

Board retreats should be interactive because the intent is to create common understanding and synergy for the big things that need to be done in the coming year. As a facilitator, you will not struggle with the technology hand-offs and a bored board if you focus on the primary purpose.

In every format, send them the monotonous report-outs in advance and find interactive ways to cover the key information. Staff will get a little mad because they cherish their time on the stage, but the retreat is about the board and not the staff. And the board can read the details.

Five Pillars of Facilitating with FINESSE matter

The five pillars are: conduct a pre-session exchange, ask powerful questions, anticipate disruption, have engaging exercises, and roll with the ebb and flow.

For example, this board finds a pre-session survey using Microsoft Forms very useful. This retreat marks the fourth time in a row that we have used this technique. Creative ways to ask questions, using different question formats, and tying the questions to topics covered in the retreat are ways to keep the technique fresh.

Regardless of the format and experience of the facilitator, doing these five aspects well is the formula for moving from good to great.

Have a Plan B for Schedule and Content

Regardless of the format, the schedule and content will likely need an adjustment on the fly. Develop the schedule and content independently.

We organized an interactive session at this year's retreat using an audience response system (ASR) on board roles and responsibilities. The session used only two information slides and then moved into five real-world situations where each board member responded how they would handle the scenario from the perspective of the manager and as a board member.

The session was scheduled as the last of the morning because it was fun and because two earlier sessions were potentially controversial. Plan B was deleting a scenario just before lunch as an easy way to make up some time.

Both potentially controversial sessions went well and on time. However, a different session gained some unexpected interest, and more time was provided (both speakers had additional material, as planned). In the end, a modified version of Plan B, chosen by the board, was simply a pivot to a 15-minute delay in lunch rather than dropping a scenario.

Boards Love to Interact with Staff

This is not the same thing as those boring PowerPoint report-out given by each department head (avoid this – do not create a bored board).

Interaction with staff means one-on-one or small group time together. And it goes farther down than the department heads. Find ways to have the front-line employees showcase what they do or the technology they use, whether the format is in-person, hybrid, or virtual.

For the first time in four years, we were able to use six stations that allowed pairs of board members to rotate together and meet with staff. Each station covered a specific topic, had hands-on material or equipment, and included at least two staff members.

Facilitating is Relatively the Same

Facilitating board retreats requires some different tools and techniques than other types of facilitated sessions. Within the specialty of board retreats, there are a few examples where a facilitator can run the gamut of in-person, virtual, hybrid, and back to in-person with the same board. There are some powerful lessons learned, including that at its core, all facilitation is relatively the same – at least, if you know what you are doing and follow the five aspects of facilitating with FINESSE.

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JD Solomon Inc provides program development, asset management, and facilitation for facilities, infrastructure, and the environment. Contact us for more information about our services related to Board Retreats, Strategic Planning, and Public Workshops,

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JD Solomon to Deliver Keynote for NC Engineers' Winter Seminars

Professional Engineers of North Carolina will hold its Annual December Seminars on Monday, December 5 to Wednesday, December 7, 2022. The event will be at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh, NC.

Topics cover the range of civil, mechanical, electrical, transportation, and environmental sectors. Licensed professional engineers can receive up to 18 professional development hours for their participation.

Solomon's keynote will address how engineers can be better business communicators of their work.

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JD Solomon Inc is a niche consulting firm providing program development, asset management, and facilitation for the built and natural environments. Completely in its third year in business, the firm has provided services in ten US states in the government and private sectors.

How Regionalization & Consolidation of Water Utilities Creates New Projects

JD Solomon was a member of the US Water Alliance task force on "Utility Strengthening Through Consolidation: Guiding Principles for the Water Sector"

The main benefit of regionalization is that it better leverages the resources of two or more water systems. Water utilities can use five major structures to pool their resources, and five major considerations must be addressed. The result is a matrix of projects that must be planned and executed to gain the desired economies of scale.

Regionalization and Consolidation Are The Same

Merriman-Websters Dictionary defines regionalization as “to divide into regions or administrative districts.” Consolidation means “the process of uniting.” By definition, regionalization (decentralization) and consolidation (centralization) have different meanings. In the water utility space, the words mean the same thing.

Since 1983, the USEPA has defined regionalization as “involving the cooperation of system owners and, perhaps, the consolidation of financial re­sources, physical plants, and/or personnel.” The perspective is from the small utility (less than 10,000 connections) and the ‘region’ is a subdivision of the state or federal government.

Benefits and Challenges

According to USEPA, “the main benefit of regionalization is that it pools individual resources of two or more water systems to obtain services or facilities that one or both systems may not have been capable of obtaining by themselves.”

Infrastructure is the most obvious thing that can be leveraged in a regionalization structure. Less obvious things include people (certified operators or licensed engineers), billing systems, geographic information systems, equipment, and maintenance resources.

The primary challenge is regionalization is often viewed as a means to create a larger entity that results in a loss of local policy control. In some cases, one entity is financially distressed and seeking a larger customer base to spread the pain – either in the long-term or short-term. In other cases, one community simply does not like the other.

Six Aspects That Must Be Considered

1. Infrastructure. The primary issues are related to the practicality of connections, the condition of existing infrastructure, and long-term needs/expansions.

2. Financial. The current debt amount, cost of deferred needs, current rates, and current rate structure are primary considerations.

3. Human Resources. Every employee contemplates whether they will lose their job, lose power and respect in the new organization, and lose pay or benefits.

4. Organizational (governance). The primary consideration usually relates to decision-making based on proportional size or equal governance based on the number of entities (regardless of size).

5. Legal. All regionalization and consolidation agreements should be in writing. Most require approval by the state legislature.

6. Political (social). Some communities do not see eye-to-eye, whether related to Friday night football or something that has nothing to do with water and sewer. More commonly, their elected officials do not like each other. Trust is an essential part of regionalization and consolidation.

Five Structures Are Available

1. Basic service contracts are the most widely used method of regional cooperation. Specific functions such as wholesale (or retail) water supply and wastewater treatment volumes, emergency services, operations and maintenance (O&M), or billing services may be contracted. While a form of regional cooperation, basic service contracts are a very low form of getting economies of scale from one system or the other.

2. Joint service (partnering) agreements establish the participating systems as partners in the provision of a particular activity. This commonly includes a shared partnership for building a new water supply source, a water treatment plant, or a wastewater treatment plant. These agreements are long-term in nature, detailed and legal in nature, and usually require some form of special legislation from the state-elected assembly.

3. Merger occurs when one system agrees to become part of another system legally. In most cases, a smaller system is absorbed by a larger one. In some cases, the smaller system may continue to provide monthly bills to its customers to maintain its local brand.

4. Local Special-Purpose Districts are generally units of local government that provide a specific service to a defined geographic (service) area. This structure was more common in the 1970s when federal dollars were available to create utilities in low and moderate-population areas. Over the past 30 years, many smaller special-purpose districts have merged into larger ones or regional authorities.

5. Regional Authorities are distinguished from the local special districts by the size of the area affected, a larger scope of services provided (e.g., water and wastewater), and independent autonomy. However, most US states do not allow taxation authority or issuing general obligation bonds to authorities. Regional authorities usually require legislative approval and governmental restrictions; however, regional authorities are considered the most similar structure to a private entity.

Moving Forward

Regionalization and consolidation of water utilities involve many interrelated parts. The main benefit is regionalization provides better leverage for the resources of two or more water systems. A matrix of projects must be planned and executed to gain the desired economies of scale. Regionalization and consolidation require time, money, and political capital to achieve a result that improves a community for many generations.

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JD Solomon Inc provides program development, asset management, and facilitation at the nexus of facilities, infrastructure, and the natural environment. Over his career, JD Solomon has led water utility regionalization assessments and implementations in fourteen US states.

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