Overview/Description
You're heading into a room full of people coming at a problem from totally different perspectives. What techniques and tools will you use to create the synergy necessary to complete your mission? What do you need to get started? This second course in "The Successful Facilitator" series provides you with tips and techniques that will help you become a successful facilitator. You will learn to recognise communication style differences. Learning techniques, like paraphrasing and mirroring, will give you ways to clarify and reinforce what you're hearing and make sure everyone in the group is hearing the same thing. Once you've explored the various means of communicating, it's time to take on the challenges of facilitating the process of getting everyone to speak openly and honestly, in an organised manner that is clear and respectful of the other participants. And, don't forget to listen for the things that participants are not saying. You will also discover techniques to help with the ever-challenging task of timing activities, preparing effective agendas and handling long lists of information.
Target Audience
Managers, team leaders, or anyone who will conduct/lead meetings or workgroups.
recognise the benefits of effective facilitative listening.
identify the impacts and characteristics of diverse communication styles.
identify the characteristics of facilitative listening techniques that reinforce understanding and clarify what someone else is saying with their definitions.
identify facilitative listening methods that provide under-active participants with opportunities to contribute during a facilitated discussion.
identify the benefits of helping groups with opposing views find common ground.
Gathering Diverse Points of View
recognise the value of collecting perspectives to generate ideas and resolve difficult issues.
identify the characteristics of activities whose purpose is to collect the perspectives of all stakeholders before attempting to resolve a problem.
identify methods to help participants generate ideas that can be refined through further discussion.
define three activities that enable groups to discuss difficult issues without anyone feeling singled out.
Encouraging Freedom of Speech
recognise the benefits of facilitating organised and courteous open discussions.
identify the characteristics of groups that will benefit from stacking techniques.
identify strategies that facilitate individual expression of ideas by others.
identify techniques that will keep a group focused on the discussion topic.
identify questioning techniques that ensure an equal voice for all group or meeting participants.
Facilitative Time Management
recognise the critical importance of strategies for setting and maintaining the pace of various types of meetings and work groups.
identify guidelines for determining how much time an activity will take a group to complete.
identify the characteristics of adaptable agenda planning.
identify the challenges involved in categorising long lists.