Course Details

Victoria University Professional and Executive Development

Level 2, Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Wellington City

Two Days
9:00am - 4:30pm

Overview:
It takes confidence and skill to facilitate groups. Meetings are supposed to be interactive - they are a time when a group can share information, and in the hands of a skilled facilitator, can make good quality decisions, come up with great solutions and forward the action on a project.
In presentations we feel safer as we have more control - but "question time" can be pretty challenging. "What if they ask me that question?" or "What if I don't know the answer?"
If your role requires you to do any of the above, this workshop will help you get better results with groups - regardless of your level of skill and experience.

Who Should Attend:
The Group Facilitation Skills workshop is for anyone who facilitates groups (your own team, project groups, focus groups, etc.) or who wants to make presentations or training more interactive.

Course Objectives:
At the end of this workshop, you'll be able to:
* Use a simple, thorough and flexible planning process
* Engage with your audience and break down barriers
* Navigate a group to uncover needs and gather information, make decisions or create solutions
* Make meetings interesting, interactive and worthwhile
* Manage group dynamics and conflict
* Answer questions or concerns so as to forward the group�s outcomes.

Just some of the specific benefits include:
* Developing your skills to a level where even you are surprised at how well it went
* Feeling confident and at ease so that talking to a group is as comfortable as talking to friends across a coffee table
* Incorporating what you learn into your own unique style.

Course Outline:

* Defining facilitation
* Structuring and designing facilitations
* Setting clear outcomes for group sessions
* Creating team agreements to manage group behaviour
* Understanding your audience
* Setting up a group session
* Creating a supportive environment
* Catering to many communication styles
* Brainstorming and other group discussion techniques
* Handling challenging behaviour
* Managing the groups �state�
* Handling �hot� questions

Course Format:
This workshop is highly practical and interactive. We take a maximum of 12 people so you get one-on-one attention. There are multiple opportunities to practice and we follow each exercise with a feedback session. Participants are taught a constructive and supportive feedback model which they use to coach each other, which is another great tool for the workplace.

We have two facilitators who offer you a number of facilitation models and share their combined 30 years experience. You'll also learn from all the other participants.
Trish Stonestreet is a director of Maygrove Management Services, a corporate training and development company, which specialises in leadership and people management development as well as sales and communication skills. She is trained in Accelerated Learning and NLP.

Keryn Weir has vast experience in working with senior management in team development, strategic planning, risk management, internal audit management, and organisational development. She has an MA in Industrial and Organisational Psychology