Facilitation Skills

It is impossible to be part of an organization today and not attend meetings. Staff meetings, project meetings, and planning and coordinating meetings all take time.

There has been a growing realization that we have to pay attention to the process elements of meetings if we want them to be effective. With its focus on asking rather than telling, and listening to build consensus, facilitation is the new leadership ideal, the core competency everybody needs. Managers and supervisors are often asked to facilitate rather than instruct or manage their meetings and training sessions.

How can you facilitate, rather than control, group decision-making and team interaction? With no formal training, people may find it difficult to make the transition from instructors or managers to facilitators.

This one-day workshop has been created to make core facilitation skills better understood and readily available for your organization. It represents materials and ideas that have been tested and refined over twenty years of active facilitation in all types of settings.

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish facilitation from instruction and training
• Identify the competencies linked to effective small group facilitation
• Understand the difference between content and process
• Identify the stages of team development and ways to help teams through each stage
• Use common process tools to make meetings easier and more productive

Program Outline

• Defining Your Role
• How Facilitators Work
• Establishing Ground Rules
• Content and Process
• Types of Thinking
• Handling Controversial Issues
• Communication Skills
• Listening For Common Ground
• Common Facilitation Techniques
• Providing Effective Feedback
• Managing Divergent Perspectives
• The Language of Facilitation
• Building Agendas
• Dealing with Difficult Dynamics
• Building Sustainable Agreements
• Stages of Team Development
• Analysis Tools
• Workshop Wrap-Up