Course overview:  The course is designed for people whose role involves chairing meetings, managing a project, heading up a working group, managing a department or for those who simply want to increase their team communication skills.

Facilitation is the skill, and art of understanding the group process and using communication to effectively guide the group process.

Course objectives: By the end delegates will be able to: Understand the benefits and applications of group communication & facilitation in the workplace, identify the core skills required for effective facilitation, use questions & listening effectively, be able to differentiate between content & process communication, understanding group dynamics, stimulate group discussion and develop their facilitation & communication skills through experiential exercises.

Who should attend: Anyone who attends or leads a variety of meetings, inlcuding team/project meetings and working groups and wishes to become more effective at guiding people to solve problems and make decisions.

Course Content

Introductions

Aims & Objectives

What is facilitation & when are Facilitators needed?

Group Dynamics
The cycle of group development
Diagnosing the development of a group
Dealing with group conflict
Dealing with individual behaviour
Group size and participation

Meeting Skills
Chairing meetings
Managing communications
Ensuring one person speaks at a time
Managing debates
Handling arguments
Picking up on body language
Including quiter members
Controlling more vocal members
Ensuring key points are heard
Creating group participation
Verbal & non-verbal messages
Active Listening
Feedback skills

Facilitor Skills
Rapport Building
Establishing and retaining control
Staying ahead
Importance of feedback
Communications style
Increasing personal impact and creditability
Maximising verbal and visual communications skills
Tools & Techniques

Experiential Exercises & Feedback