An Introduction to Facilitation Skills
- Explore why learning facilitation skills are important to your organisation.
- Discuss what being a good facilitator achieves for you as an individual.
The key knowledge, skills, and behaviours of an excellent facilitator
- Discuss the differences between training, presenting, and facilitating.
- Explore the knowledge, behaviours and skills of a facilitator.
- Consider your own skill gaps in this context and how you can develop these.
The barriers to effective facilitation and how to overcome them.
- Identify the barriers to being an effective facilitator.
- Learn techniques to overcome them.
Hosting an Effective Facilitation Session
Steps in preparation
- Identifying the purpose and objectives
- The kinds of information and data that would be useful to know.
- Consider your audience.
- Pre-event consultations
Explore the structure of an event using dynamic facilitation methodology. - The Opening Stage
- Introducing the process
- The art of “taking all sides”.
- Getting everyone’s contributions.
- Charting all contributions including problem statements, concerns, solutions and other information.
The Transition and Intermediate Stage
- Welcoming concerns and new problem statements
- Working with advocacy
- Drawing out group divergence and convergence
- Maintaining a safe interactive and productive environment
- Trusting the group to own the process.
- Looking for a breakthrough.
The Closing Stage and Follow Up Activities
- Using outcome charts
- Using bookmark charts
- Agreeing actions / next steps and the importance of follow up.
Evaluate the actions you need to take to improve your facilitation skills.
By the end of this course delegates will:
- Be equipped to plan and deliver a range of facilitation sessions well.
- Have the appropriate knowledge skills and behaviours to be an excellent Facilitator.
- Understand how to assess and choose the right facilitation techniques and tools for the occasion.
- Channel nervous energy positively.
- Be able to effectively engage all participants.
- Be able to use dynamic facilitation skills that inspire participants to collaborate.
- Be creative and ultimately produce excellent outcomes for participants and their organisation.
This course is for anyone who runs facilitation sessions as part of their role. Anyone who wishes to improve on their existing skill or prepare to begin facilitating will benefit from this course
This course will help delegates to become dynamic facilitators who can facilitate a variety of facilitation events from simple one-off interventions to a more complex series of events.
There is no pre-course work associated with this course.
We offer optional follow-up coaching with the tutor. Our tutor will attend or delegates will record and submit two facilitation session they conduct over the 3 months following their training. The tutor will provide delegates with feedback and coaching on the sessions and learning to date.
There is also the option of running follow up action learning sets for organisations who purchase this course for in-house delivery to their staff.
Pricing is available on request for either of the above follow up options.
There is also a two-day programme which includes communication skills, and a practical practice activity.
All delegates who attend this course will be issued with a certificate of attendance upon successful completion.
We deliver our Facilitation Skills course throughout the UK and beyond. We can facilitate onsite at your premises, as a virtual training option for those who are working from home or at any number of venues in Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff or London. Contact Us for more information or click the green button below to see when we are next running this as an open course anyone can attend.
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