Facilitation Skills
It is impossible to be part of an organization today and not attend meetings. Staff meetings, project meetings, and planning and coordinating meetings all take time.
There has been a growing realization that we have to pay attention to the process elements of meetings if we want them to be effective. With its focus on asking rather than telling, and listening to build consensus, facilitation is the new leadership ideal, the core competency everybody needs. Managers and supervisors are often asked to facilitate rather than instruct or manage their meetings and training sessions.
How can you facilitate, rather than control, group decision-making and team interaction? With no formal training, people may find it difficult to make the transition from instructors or managers to facilitators.
At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Distinguish facilitation from instruction and training
- Identify the competencies linked to effective small group facilitation
- Understand the difference between content and process
- Identify the stages of team development and ways to help teams through each stage
- Use common process tools to make meetings easier and more productive
Defining Your Role
To begin, participants will explore the differences between facilitation, training, and chairing.
How Facilitators Work
Next, participants will explore key facilitation skills, levels of facilitation, facilitation language, and things to do to ensure facilitation success.
Establishing Ground Rules
In this session, participants will discuss ground rules, also known as norms. They will also work together to generate a list of ground rules for the remainder of the workshop.
Content and Process
While facilitators are responsible for the process, it is participants who are responsible for and manage the content. This session will explore the differences between these two aspects of a meeting.
Types of Thinking
Next, participants will learn about divergent thinking and convergent thinking, as well as the grey area (also known as the Groan Zone) between the two.
Handling Controversial Issues
In this session, participants will learn how to handle controversial issues in a neutral and professional way.
Communication Skills
This session will explore the building blocks of good communication: active listening, questioning skills, probing techniques, and managing your body language.
Listening For Common Ground
For most people, it seems to be instinctive to try to find something in common with their fellow humans. In this session, we will explore the importance of listening for common ground in facilitation.
Common Facilitation Techniques
This session will begin with a lecture on 16 important facilitation techniques. Then, participants will divide into groups to prepare and present a short demonstration on a chosen technique.
Providing Effective Feedback
Part of your role as a facilitator includes providing and accepting feedback. This session will give participants some tips on giving and receiving feedback. It will conclude with an exercise that will help them practice this skill.
Managing Divergent Perspectives
Next, participants will learn some ways to manage divergent perspectives. Then, they will apply their knowledge to a case study.
The Language of Facilitation
In this session, participants will learn about some communication elements that are unique to facilitation. Then, they will apply their knowledge to an interactive case study.
Building Agendas
Part of facilitating meetings is developing an agenda. This session will outline a brief, easy process to help facilitators build a good agenda.
Dealing with Difficult Dynamics
In this session, participants will complete a mix and match exercise to identify possible difficult behaviors and ways to manage them. Then, participants will learn about and practice twelve easy, effective ways to intervene in a group discussion.
Building Sustainable Agreements
Getting a group to come to an agreement is not much good if that agreement is not supported by true consensus. This session will give participants ways to build sustainable agreements.
Stages of Team Development
Next, participants will learn about Tuckman and Jensen’s Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning model, which outlines the stages of team development. Participants will also identify some ways to help groups through each stage.
Analysis Tools
The final session will introduce participants to two decision-making tools: SWOT analysis and force field analysis.
Your Satisfaction
is our Success!
OUR GUARANTEE:
Our high impact and interactive training programs have been skillfully researched and are designed to provide each participant with powerful, specific tools and knowledge. If any participant feels that they did not receive great value, effective tools or skills, they are asked to contact our customer satisfaction department. We will honour a 70% refund to the individual who has expressed (in writing) the reason for their dissatisfaction. We believe that if you have not received what we have promised to deliver, then you are entitled to a refund.
SELF-PACED
ONLINE LEARNING
Learning at your convenience.
If time, geography, or just about any thing else is standing between you and the learning your want or need; our Online Learning may be the perfect solution. Designed for convenience and impact, we have broken down our training topics into simple sessions and sections that provide you the opportunity to start, stop and resume your learning -from anywhere, at any time. Now you get to decide where and when the right time is to expand your knowledge and skills.
$279.00 USD
IN-PERSON
LIVE TRAINING
Delivering a traditional training experience -in-person or virtually!
Hands down Live Training is our most popular and requested format, whether on-site, virtual classroom, or as a lunch & learn. Participants are engaged in an interactive experience with the trainer and other participating team members. Live training sessions range from a single day to a multi-part or ongoing training series. Whichever your choice, Mainstream will craft and tailor your experience to ensure it is specific, relevant and unique to your team.Something you certainly will Not receive is a pre-formatted, pre-scripted, one-size fits all training experience. We know that every team has unique learning needs and situations, therefore your training should be too. Our free program customization service aims to meet unique or custom training needs.Why settle for a program that gives you almost what you need; our team thrives on giving you Exactly what you need.
In Person Training
The traditional classroom style of training remains our Most Popular and Most Requested format. On-site training provides participants with an in-person facilitator who will work directly with the team, whether for a single training session or a training series. The Mainstream team will craft and tailor your experience to ensure that your training session is specific, relevant and unique to your audience while meeting your learning objectives. Why settle for ‘pre-formatted, pre-scripted, one-size fits all’ training programs, when our team is able to customize a program that is just right for you? We know that every team has unique learning needs, situations and that they come from a variety of industries, each having unique customer needs and demands.  Our programs can be scaled to accommodate time restraints, unique learning needs and even industry or company nuances and barriers.
Don’t settle for a program that gives you almost what you need; our team wants to give you Exactly what you need.
Virtual Room
Delivering traditional onsite training results …virtually!
We’ve officially changed the rules and redefined what is possible in the world of soft skills learning. Our unique technology, accompanied by honed delivery methodology, have successfully replicated the traditional classroom-style training environment, allowing it to exist online.
Most online training solutions limit participants’ responses to keystrokes or to single person conversations because -with inferior technology- group discussions become distorted and confusing to follow. Our Virtual Room has eliminated those barriers and encourages learning through meaningful instructor feedback, skills modelling and engaging group discussion, without visual or audio distortion
The Virtual Room is for any organization seeking a flexible substitute to traditional onsite training; whether to lower costs, eliminate unnecessary travel or to simply ease the burden of demanding work schedules.
Lunch & Learn
A Lunch and Learn session is an onsite or virtual learning program with a facilitator-led session sharing valuable information and skills on an area of identified learning interest. It’s a great break away from a traditional training program, allowing your team the opportunity to learn while enjoying their lunch. Due to the limited time, the program focuses on specific learning concepts and skills.  It is an interactive session that quickly targets and reveals learning objectives that are predetermined by the training organizer.  Lunch & Learn sessions are also great as a training series, providing progressive learning programs for developing skills in a ‘bite-sized’ format.
INTERACTIVE
WORKSHOPS & WEBINARS
Quality interactive and engaging training professionally presented.
In today’s workplace, trying to coordinate a single day or location for a group can be a challenge and at times costly. We understand that the needs of our clients are varied so we have made accessing interactive learning as convenient as a click of a button. From single to multi-person registrations this option has provided convenience for many; a live webinar or prescheduled workshop may offer the perfect solution.
Start a Conversation
Contact our team of experts and we will guide you to the perfect training solution for your needs!
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At its core, leadership means setting goals, lighting a path, and persuading others to follow. But the responsibility entails much more. Leaders must get their message out in a way that inspires, make the most of their limited time, and build roads to precious resources. They must negotiate alliances, improve their colleagues, and align the ambitions of the many with the needs of the organization.
What makes for a great leader? Is it something to do with inward characteristics, such as confidence and focus? Is it more about outward presence, including charm and compassion? Or is it about the ability to create a vision and get others to commit to it?
The answer is all of the above. By accepting the challenge to lead, you come to realize that the only limits are those you place on yourself.
Critical Thinking
In today’s society, many people experience information overload. We are bombarded with messages to believe various ideas, purchase things, support causes, and lead our lifestyle in a particular way. How do you know what to believe? How do you separate the truth from the myths?
The answer lies in critical thinking skills. The ability to clearly reason through problems and to present arguments in a logical, compelling way has become a key skill for survival in today’s world. This two-day workshop will give you some practical tools and hands-on experience with critical thinking and problem solving.
Dealing With Difficult People
We can get into a routine where it feels like everyone we speak with is either having a bad day, or we are having a bad day ourselves. We feel like we constantly meet people who seem to be inconsiderate, stubborn, incorrigible, indecent, miserable, or passive-aggressive. Sometimes we can be equally awkward ourselves. While it might seem that the easiest remedy is to lock yourself up at home and avoid people, we eventually have to pick up the phone or step outside and have an interaction with somebody.
Success comes from understanding how we behave, as well as how we can influence others. If we approach difficulties as needing to take place in one or a series of conversations, and we approach those conversations with a plan, we will find that we have less difficult people to deal with. More often than not, we will also have more meaningful and significant conversations. In this one-day workshop, you will teach participants how to turn difficult situations into opportunities for growth.
Delegation: The Art of Delegating Effectively
Effective delegation is one of the most valuable skills you can master. It reduces your workload and develops employee skills. Delegating prepares employees who work for you to be able to handle your responsibilities and simultaneously allows you to advance to other career opportunities within your organization.
Delegation is often one of the hardest skills for a manager to master. However, the skill can be learned. This one-day workshop will explore many of the facets of delegation, including when to delegate and whom to delegate to. We will also go through the delegation process step by step and learn about techniques to overcome problems.
Honing and Delivering Your Message
This one-day course will prepare participants to develop a message and remain on topic when they are presenting their message to the media and public without straying from the point, or points, they want to make. The final session will give students the opportunity to craft and hone a message of their own.
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