In today’s team-oriented business environment, facilitation and meeting leadership skills are in greater demand than ever. The success of any group project is directly related to the ability of the facilitator or meeting leader to direct and control the dynamics of group discussions, maintain focus and move the group toward its goals. This hands-on workshop is focused on the art of effectively leading group discussions of all kinds

This program is designed for:

• New facilitators
• Seasoned facilitators who wish to expand their skills
• Team Leaders
• Supervisors and managers
• Any employees who lead meetings

Would you like to develop your meeting leadership skills in order to?

• conduct more effective, efficient and dynamic meetings?
• keep the group on focus and moving steadily towards its goals?
• ensure full group participation?
• Deal with disruptions that hinder group progress?

Facilitation Skills provides real-world, proven techniques to assist you in these and many other critical aspects of meeting leadership. The purpose of this workshop is to provide these techniques to you and allow you the opportunity to practice them. The ultimate purpose is to get a better return for the enormous resources devoted to meetings.

• Create and maintain a participative group environment
• Get a session started with energy and enthusiasm
• Use business-related exercises to begin the team-building process
• Utilize the "rule of the first 10 minutes"
• Demonstrate effective techniques for leading tightly controlled discussions
• Conduct brainstorming and list-building discussions, effectively and efficiently
• Utilize interactive techniques to conduct open-forum discussions
• Demonstrate the "rules of choreography"
• Use a variety of questioning techniques to focus discussions and encourage involvement
• Create and use open-ended and closed-ended questions
• Effectively manage and organize the flow of information
• Use flipcharts and white boards as visuals and organizational tools
• Apply techniques to handle – or, better yet, prevent – disruptive situations
• Demonstrate a variety of techniques to maintain control and focus
• Use group decision-making tools such as fishbones and multi-voting techniques
• Distinguish between teaching and facilitation
• Utilize discussional methods to handle differing attitudes, disagreements and hostility
• Identify basic techniques for overcoming nervousness
• Bring non-participators into a discussion in a non-threatening manner

*Setting up in-class "teams" for carrying out exercises and practice sessions throughout the workshop

*Team exercise for purposes of personal introductions, preparing to introduce team members to the rest of the class, and identifying expectations for the workshop

*Team presentations including personal introductions and discussion of workshop expectations

*The three basic roles of a team facilitator or group leader: teambuilding, teaching and facilitating, and process consulting

*Techniques for kick-starting a meeting in a way that generates enthusiasm and begins the participative process immediately

*The "Rule of the First 10 Minutes" in beginning the team-building process

*Using an opening exercise to begin a meeting and the criteria for designing such an exercise

*Basic group dynamic principles as they apply to establishing and maintaining a participative environment

*Techniques for conducting tightly-controlled discussions such as list-building and brain-storming; how to maintain a pace that prevents the evaluations and arguments that prolong the discussions and drain the energy of the group

*How to use flip charts to help control the pace of discussions, to create spontaneous visuals and to capture and organize input from the group

*The Rules of Choreography: conducting open discussions while maintaining control, keeping the group focused, and moving the discussion steadily toward its goal.

*Team exercise: preparing a plan to lead discussions on topics provided; volunteers from each team then lead the planned discussion with one of the other teams

 

*Review and reinforcement of concepts and techniques discussed during Day 1

*Practice demonstrations; each participant will lead a 15 minute discussion on a topic of his or her choice. Each demonstration will be followed by a feedback session; participants will lead the feedback session, providing another opportunity to practice facilitation skills

*Discussion of the types and causes of nervousness and techniques for overcoming it

*The use of questions for getting and maintaining interest and managing the flow of information; the types, targets and use of questions; how to ask questions in a way that makes it comfortable and "safe" for participants to respond

*Preventing disruptive situations and how to handle them when they do occur; configuring the meeting room to avoid problems; the classic types of "problem" participants and disruptive situations and some ways of handling them.

*Utilizing effective and efficient group decision-making techniques; facilitating the use of a cause and effect diagram (fishbone) and utilizing multi-voting techniques to select priority items.

*Summary and adjourn

• Instructor consultation during the program
• Free telephone consultation after the program
• Instructional publication: "How to Keep from Talking to Yourself"