Facilitation Skills

1 Day

Introduction

Facilitation is often referred to as the new cornerstone of management philosophy. With its focus on fairness and creating an easier decision making process. Creating a comfortable environment through better facilitation will give you a better understanding of what a good facilitator can do to improve any meeting or gathering. A strong understating of how a facilitator can command a room and dictate the pace of a meeting will have you on the road to becoming a great facilitator.

Our Facilitation Skills workshop can help your organisation to make better decisions. This workshop will provide an understanding of what facilitation is all about, as well as practical tools you can use to facilitate meetings.

Programme Objectives:

• Define facilitation and identify its purpose and benefits
• Clarify the role and focus of a facilitator
• Differentiate between process and content in the context of a group discussion
• Provide tips in choosing and preparing for facilitation
• Identify a facilitator’s role when managing groups in each of Tuckman and Jensen’s stages of group development: forming, storming, norming and performing
• Identify ways a facilitator can help a group reach a consensus: from encouraging participation to choosing a solution
• Provide guidelines in dealing with disruptions, dysfunctions and difficult people in groups
• Define what interventions are, when they are appropriate and how to implement them.

Method and Approach

This programme will involve the use of slides, handout material, work manual with all instructor notes and slides, examples of best practice, appropriate videos and appropriate video material.

The use of flip-charts, syndicate workshops and reporting back sessions will encourage a fully participative and enjoyable event. Delegates will be encouraged to participate actively in relating previous work experiences.

Who Should Attend

This course will be of benefit to:

• Facilitators
• Professional trainers
• Organisational development professionals
• Executives and senior managers
• Career changers
• Anyone who wants to more effectively facilitate group processes

You should attend this course if you want to:

• Run meetings with greater efficiency
• Handle challenging behaviours productively
• Take on a more senior role
• Create engaging group processes
• Change career into facilitation

Course Content

This one-day course will cover the following subjects:

Module One: Getting Started

• Introduction to the course
• Workshop Objectives

Module Two: Understanding Facilitation

• What is Facilitation?
• What is a Facilitator?
• When is Facilitation Appropriate?

Module Three: Process vs. Content

• About Process
• About Content
• A Facilitator’s Focus

Module Four: Laying the Groundwork

• Choosing a Facilitated Approach
• Planning for a Facilitated Meeting
• Collecting Data

Module Five: Tuckman and Jensen’s Model of Team Development

• Stage One: Forming
• Stage Two: Storming
• Stage Three: Norming
• Stage Four: Performing

Module Six: Building Consensus

• Encouraging Participation
• Gathering Information
• Presenting Information
• Synthesizing and Summarising

Module Seven: Reaching a Decision Point

• Identifying the Options
• Creating a Short List
• Choosing a Solution
• Using the Multi-Option Technique

Module Eight: Dealing with Difficult People

• Addressing Disruptions
• Common Types of Difficult People and How to Handle Them
• Helping the Group Resolve Issues on Their Own

Module Nine: Addressing Group Dysfunction

• Using Ground Rules to Prevent Dysfunction
• Restating and Reframing Issues
• Getting People Back on Track

Module Ten: About Intervention

• Why Intervention May Be Necessary
• When to Intervene
• Levels of Intervention

Module Eleven: Intervention Techniques

• Using Your Processes
• Boomerang it Back
• ICE It: Identity, Check for agreement, Evaluate how to Resolve

Module Twelve: Wrapping Up

• Words from the Wise
• Review of Parking Lot
• Lessons Learned
• Completion of Action Plans and Evaluations