Communications Workshops

Progressive Facilitation Skills: Core Competencies for Effective Small Group Facilitation

2 Day Workshop

Prerequisite: None

It is impossible to be part of an organization today and not attend meetings. Staff meetings, project meetings, planning and coordinating meetings-they 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" to "facilitators".

This 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.

Workshop Learning Objectives:

  • Distinguish facilitation from instruction and training.
  • Provide facilitators with commonly used process tools to make their meetings easier and more productive.
  • Identify the competencies linked to effective small group facilitation.
  • Demonstrate through simulations, role-play, critical incidents, and other exercises, each facilitator competency

As a Facilitator you will:

  • Help the group define its overall goals and its specific objectives
  • Help members assess their needs and create plans to meet them.
  • Provide processes that help members use their time effectively to make high-quality decisions.
  • Guide group discussion to keep it on track

Essential Practices You Will Learn:

  • What group dynamics are really like
  • Staying neutral and on content
  • Difference between "content" and "process"
  • Listening actively & Asking the right questions
  • Paraphrasing to clarify
  • Synthesizing ideas for clarity
  • Staying on track
  • Giving and receiving feedback
  • Testing assumptions
  • Difficult Situations & Difficult People
  • Collecting Ideas
  • Identifying & labeling sidetracks
  • Building a Shared Framework of Understanding