Why take this course?
After completing this course, you will be able to
- distinguish facilitating from chairing and training
- identify the competencies you need to effectively facilitate groups
- understand the difference between content and process
- recognize each stage of team development and help teams through each stage
- use process tools to make meetings and teleconference calls easier and more productive.
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Efficient meetings don't just happen...they're managed.
This course teaches you how to facilitate, rather than control, group decision-making and team interaction: a core competency that everybody needs. You will learn how facilitating is different from chairing and training, and the difference between content and process. We'll examine the stages of team development and how to help your teams through each stage using a less authoritarian and more facilitative approach.You'll learn active listening techniques, how to recognize and respond to different thinking types, give useful feedback, manage your body language, deal with difficult behaviours, and much more. We'll also show you common process tools you can use to make your meetings easier and more productive, and get you practicing new skills right away in a supportive environment.
Who should attend?
Instructors, managers and team leaders who facilitate group sessions such as requirements gathering, brainstorming, public information meetings, focus groups or workshops.
Federal Employees
This course helps you learn or enhance skills you need to meet and apply these federal public service competencies, behaviours, policies or programs:
Key Leadership Competencies:
Engagement, Excellence
Employee Effective Behaviours:
Thinking things through, Engagement, Excellence through results
Communication Practices:
Communications Policy of the Government of Canada
What topics are covered?
Defining Your Role
- Differences between facilitating, training, and chairing
How Facilitators Work
- Key facilitation skills
- Levels of facilitation
- Facilitation language
- Tactics to ensure facilitation success
Establishing Ground Rules
- Ground rules, or "norms"
- Creating a list of ground rules
Content and Process
- Facilitators are responsible for the process
- Participants are responsible for the content
Types of Thinking
- Divergent vs. Convergent thinking
- The "Groan Zone"
Handling Controversial Issues
- Remaining neutral and professional
Communication Skills
- Building blocks of good communication:
- active listening
- questioning skills
- probing techniques
- managing your body language
Listening For Common Ground
Common Facilitation Techniques
- 16 important facilitation techniques
Providing Effective Feedback
- What feedback is, and is not
- Tips on giving and receiving feedback
Managing Divergent Perspectives
The Language of Facilitation
- Communication elements that are unique to facilitation
Building Agendas
- Processes to help facilitators build a good agenda
Dealing with Difficult Dynamics
- Difficult behaviours and ways to manage them
- Twelve ways to intervene in a group discussion
Building Sustainable Agreements
- Getting a group to reach agreement
- Agreement vs. Consensus
- Building sustainable agreements
Stages of Team Development
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
- Helping groups through each stage
Analysis Tools
- Two decision-making tools:
- SWOT analysis
- Forcefield analysis