Essential Faciliation Core Skills Workshop

Louise O'Meara, Regional Director for IISC Ireland brings us information on their public workshop "Essential Facilitation ® Core Skills for Agreement-Building". This three day programme will take place on November 27, 28 & 29, 2007 in Dublin. The Workshop focuses on the essential strategies and skills for helping groups solve problems, resolve conflict and build agreement - and provides participants with a solid foundation of facilitation theory and practice for immediate use.

Louise writes...

Chances are, the more responsible you are for organisational or community outcomes, the more meetings you will need to facilitate and the more agreements you will need to build. Facilitation is critical to success whenever a decision involves several people. Essential Facilitation® provides a solid framework and proven techniques for resolving conflict, creating buy-in, and building lasting agreements – skills as valuable in every day life as they are in organisational settings.

Benefits for Participants

In this three-day intensive facilitation workshop, participants will learn the essential strategies and skills for helping groups solve problems, resolve conflict and build agreement. Led by expert practitioners, the workshop will provide participants with a solid foundation of facilitation theory and practice for immediate use. After completing this workshop, they will be able to:

• Keep discussions on track

• Design results-focused agendas, group processes and implementation plans

• Design and conduct planning sessions and team meetings

• Use collaborative problem solving tools to make decisions more easily

• Respect and make best use of diverse points of view and communication styles

• Share ideas, responsibility, and success in a way that values everyone’s contribution

• Use win-win thinking to resolve conflicts

• Model behaviours that help others improve group interaction.

Over three days, participants will have numerous opportunities to practice what they’ve learned including facilitating a number of discussions in ‘practice meetings’ using tools presented. In activities and exercises they will be encouraged to focus on real-life issues facing their organisations for immediate application. With an average participant-to-trainer ratio of 10:1 participants will receive considerable attention with both group and individual feedback and coaching. This approach produces immediate gains in skills and awareness. We will tailor the workshop to the levels of experience of participants, creating the opportunity for both novice and more advanced facilitators to improve their skills.

Benefits for Communities / Organisations

Effective facilitators unlock the power of the individual and show groups how to reach their desired goals. When development officers and leaders model skillful facilitation, they put their commitment to participation and collaboration into practice. As facilitation skills improve throughout an organisation or community, everyone involved becomes more creative and productive, and is better able to seize opportunities for significant improvements in how work is done in order to achieve more effective and sustainable results.

Workshop Topic

• The Interaction Method™
• Meeting Planning and Agenda Design
• Listening as an Ally
• Resolving Conflict
• Tools for Building Understanding and Agreement
• Mastering the Strategic Moment
• Facilitative Behaviors
• Collaborative Problem Solving

Who Should Attend

Anyone who leads groups, teams or meetings needs to be able to act as a facilitator. Participants may include:

• Directors, CEOs and managers of organisations
• Formal leaders who are responsible for the performance of others
• Team leaders and supervisors
• Development officers & project leaders
• Neighbourhood and community workers & leaders
• Informal leaders such as development consultants

DATES: 27 - 29 November 2007, 9:30am – 5:00pm

LOCATION: Youth Work Ireland (formerly National Youth Federation), Dublin

COST: €595/Stg£395, includes all materials and lunch

For more information or to register please contact:

IISC Ireland, PO Box 969, Belfast BT5 9AN

EMAIL: lo’meara@interactioninstitute.org

WEBSITE: www.interactioninstitute.org

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