Facilitation Training

Competitiveness, Customer Service, Continuous Improvement, Teamwork, Strategy, Re engineering... the list goes on. Never before have organizations, in all sectors of the economy - public and private - been faced with such an array of issues to be addressed, and with such urgency. Organizations are increasingly turning to Teams (Work Teams, Task Forces, Quality Improvement Teams, Executive Committees, Volunteer Boards...) to deal with these and other complex issues.

Unfortunately, the performance of these teams has often fallen below expectations.

A Different Approach

At INTERSOL, we believe that to be effective, teams must attend to, and "Align", three critical performance areas: Purpose, People, and Process as illustrated in our Strategic Alignment Model™

Alignment means that the group...

• is clear about its Purpose (what it must achieve or produce);
• adopts or develops Processes (methods, structures, tools) which are consistent with the Purpose, and;
• has People with the ability, willingness, and opportunity to contribute positively to the application of Processes toward group Purpose.

A key factor promoting alignment in task-oriented groups is Facilitation.

Training in Group Facilitation

INTERSOL's Group Facilitation workshops are aimed at all those having a mandate or interest in improving the productivity of task-oriented groups.

Intersol provides Training in Group Facilitation at two levels:

The Foundation Course in Group Facilitation focuses on developing participants' understanding of, and ability to use basic process facilitation techniques and tools to assist groups accomplish specific tasks. Participation in the Foundation Course will enable you to...

• Choose and facilitate the best Process for helping a group accomplish a specific task;
• Establish and maintain a positive group environment for Process sessions;
• Adopt Process leading behaviour appropriate to the group and task;
• Facilitate appropriate participation during group sessions.

The Advanced Course in Group Facilitation builds on the Foundation program by expanding participant's repertoire in the areas of both process selection and facilitation technique. Participation in the Advanced Course will enable you to...

• Design a multi-process intervention to help a group manage change;
• Apply processes for helping teams develop strategies, determine Key Result Areas, and establish business objectives;
• Manage difficult facilitation situations;
• Describe and appreciate the impact of your own personal facilitation style.

There is also an Essentials of Group Facilitation workshop which offers a condensed 1 day workshop covering many of the topics which are addressed in the Foundations program.

Intersol's Group Facilitation courses draw on our own ongoing facilitation work with client groups. Workshop participants therefore benefit from the "real world" experience of our instructors. A powerful Reference Tool called the Facilitators Toolkit is provided to all participants of these courses.