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Facilitation Skills Training Course

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Facilitation skills are needed to run a productive and impartial meeting or gathering. Facilitation is required wherever a group meets for a common purpose such as decision making, problem solving or exchanging ideas and information. Facilitation skills include good meeting practices such as timekeeping, following the meeting agenda and keeping a complete record. Further skills involve the ability to monitor the group and its individuals in light of group dynamics. Facilitators also need listening skills including the ability to paraphrase, stack a conversation, draw people out and balance participation. A successful facilitator needs to respect others and have insight into the many layers existing within a group. When consensus cannot be reached within the group, the facilitator needs to assist the group in understanding the differences that divide it.

Facilitation focuses on fairness and is seen by many as the new cornerstone of management philosophy. Facilitation eases the decision making process and creates a comfortable environment for a successful meeting. The Facilitation Skills Course will give participants an overview of what facilitation encompasses and tools they can use to facilitate small meetings. They will learn how to become successful facilitators by commanding a room and dictating the pace of a meeting.

In TBAE’s Facilitation Skills Training Course participants will learn how to build consensus by encouraging participation, gathering information, presenting information, synthesizing and summarizing. They will be taught how to deal with difficult people including addressing disruptions, understanding the common types of difficult people and helping the group to resolve issues on their own. Other subjects covered in the course include Understanding Facilitation, Process vs. Content, Laying the Groundwork, Tuckman and Jensen’s Model of Team Development, Reaching a Decision Point, Addressing Group Dysfunction and Intervention.

For a virtual team building option of this course see our Online Soft Skills Workshops for Teams.