Facilitation Skills for IT Staff

Course Description

This course will provide individuals with the skills needed to facilitate group activities in the working environment. Increasingly these days IT staff are asked to facilitate or `run` meetings and need to know the people handling skills involved in facilitation to enable the meeting participants come to an appropriate conclusion. This is particularly so where end-users and IT people are meeting to discuss major projects. The course involves participants working on processes and procedures that result in succesful meeting facilitation through the use of group and individual activities, exercises, formal inputs etc.

Duration: 2 days

Prerequisites

Participants will generally be in a management or supervisory role or be charged with managing groups either in meetings or other scenarios.

What is facilitation?

Distinguish between facilitation and other roles and activities Define Facilitation Consider how Facilitation skills support events such as meetings, quality circles Distinguish between People, Task and Process Describe the key skills for a Facilitator

Preparation for Facilitation

Working with the meeting `owner` Allocating roles Deciding on timings, agenda, participants Pre-reading and thinking pointers

What does a Faciltator need to know?

Stages in group interaction Skills required from a facilitator Assessing your preferred facilitation style

Communication Skills

Spotting Behaviours Communication styles using NLP information Active listening Questioning techniques

Observation Skills

Observation Recording Judging behaviours and reactions

Intervention Skills

When to intervene Frequency of process reviews Intervention by questioning Intervention by controlling individuals Intervention by time-keeping Intervention on process and procedures Intervention as an export

Handling Difficult Participants

Types of difficult participant How to handle these dificult people Using judgement Trusting in group dynamics Facilitation skills questionnaire

Facilitation Facilitation Skills Facilitation Skills training Management skills