The Encounter Process In Brief

Understanding and using the Encounter Process is a prerequisite to consistently achieving effective client meetings.

The Prepare, Engage, Do, Check, Follow Up structure gives us a high-level view of essential meeting steps, and it is important that none of these are skipped.

The Prepare step is always beneficial, even when it turns out to be impossible to implement the plans that result from it.

The Engage step describes initial contact with my client and the business of getting the encounter on track. Both these points must be attended to at every meeting, whether participants know each other and have already prepared the encounter or not.

The Do step is the core of the encounter: Discover, Inform and Negotiate. These three components of the Do step are described in detail in the Chapters 7 through to 10.

The Check step is used to check for completeness of the encounter. It is necessary to ensure that all participants are OK with the encounter outcome and that the results of the work are reviewed. All open issues must either be closed, or noted for future closure (next steps).

The Follow Up step completes the work started during the Check phase by recording agreements made in that phase and completing next steps in a timely way, where possible. The work of following up from the encounter inevitably launches new ones, making the Encounter Process recursive.

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More about The Encounter Process:

• The Encounter Process top
• The Encounter is a Theory We Use
• Challenge example: it isn’t just about relationships – process matters too
• Challenge example: jumping ahead too quickly
• The Obstacle Course
• The Encounter Process explained
• Prepare step of the Encounter Process
• Engage step of the Encounter Process
• Do step of the Encounter Process
• Check step of the Encounter Process
• Follow Up step of the Encounter Process
• The Encounter Process in brief

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