Soft skills training - Facilitation Skills

Course Outline

Introduction
Facilitating the interaction of a group of in order that people with different perspectives, needs, views, and political agendas come together, make effective use of time, develop a shared agenda and build trust and commitment toward shared goals requires expert facilitation skills.

This is more than effective meeting management and is not about effectively setting up and chairing meetings as addressed in the Effective Meetings course. Rather it is concerned with applying processes and knowledge to assist people to function well in group forums.

Who is this course for?
People who have a need to regularly facilitate groups of people to make collective decisions. For example, individuals who regularly lead client or other meetings in which multiple stakeholders from different clients, businesses, departments or teams attend.

Prerequisites: Delegates will have received previous interpersonal communication skills training, covered in courses such as Coaching Skills or Personnel Effectiveness. Delegates must also have a clear idea of how to manage standard team meetings, set agendas and for example may have already attended an effective meetings programme.

Course objectives
The aim of the programme is to teach people to facilitate effectively.

Course Content/ Learning Components
The course introduces facilitation as a process and set of skills:

Group Dynamics:

Understanding the dynamics of groups
The role of the facilitator
Managing the dynamics of facilitating whilst also contributing to the content and output of the group
Establishing ground rules

Facilitation as a process:

Understanding the stages of group thinking
Managing the transition from one stage to the next

Behaviours required:

Maintaining direction and purpose whilst retaining trust and openness
Identifying and managing “derailers”
Opening discussions
Opening up political agendas
Building bridges between different ideas and agendas
Building openness and trust
Getting to decisions
Building commitment

Behavioural Competency Addressed
The following primary competencies and success factors will be addressed in the course:

Working with Others: Building Relationships
Communication: Delivery Through People

This is down to earth and stimulating. The process uses a simulated business challenge in order that individuals can focus on learning the process and practicing the skills required to facilitate effectively. Individuals will get a clear sense of their own strengths and potential weaknesses as a facilitator and how to make best use of their skills. In addition they will learn to recognise and manage others in the group who have the potential to derail the process or take the group off track.

Duration
This is a two-day course.

Are you interested in this course?

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