Collaboration is crucial to success in the world of 21st century work. Meetings are an important mechanism by which people in organizations collaborate. Meetings are also events that create frustration, consternation, and general upset for people in organizations. They also represent a substantial cost of doing business and a potential drain on profits if no outcomes of value are produced. You can insure that your meetings work by introducing a Facilitator role into your organization. Facilitators are master communicators who design and orchestrate the processes that make any collaborative group event a success. The following is a summary of the key elements of the workshop that has prepared hundreds of people to fulfill the Facilitator role in dozens of organizations from Fortune 500 corporations to small family owned businesses.

Day 1

• Facilitation Defined
  • Facilitation as process orchestration
  • The skills of the Facilitator
  • The personal requirements for masterful facilitation
• Communication…the foundation of masterful facilitation
  • The distinctions of communication
  • The 100% Response-able Speaking & Listening Model
• Applying the distinctions of 100% Response-able communication
  • Questioning from a coaching context
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Giving and Receiving Feedback
  • Creating Consensus
• The Group Process
  • Behaviors in groups
  • The Stages of Group Evolution
  • The Elements of a High Performing Team
  • Practice in observing and analyzing group behavior

Day 2

• Effective Meeting Design
  • Distinguishing the meeting purpose
  • Clarifying meeting outcomes and deliverables
  • Generic analytical processes as meeting design templates
  • The Participation Cycle…a core process for collaborative work
• Key Elements of Meetings that Work
  • The Code of Conduct
  • The Agenda
  • The Action Plan
  • Important Practices and Techniques
  • Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
• Putting it all together…a participative demonstration of what we’ve learned
  • Time for reflection, questions, and getting the feel of the material

Days 3-5

• Practice Facilitation with Coaching Support
  • One hour of up front time with video and Coaching for each round of practice
  • Being a Facilitator
  • Being a Group Member…the principles of masterful followership
  • Being an Observer…group support from a different vantage point
• Closure on individual participant expectations