CPA (Holdings) Ltd - Advanced Facilitation Skills

Objectives of These Workshops

Increase skills in managing and facilitating groups of people both within your business and with clients;

Enhances individuals Interpersonal Skills making them more effective in all their relationships;

Provides an in depth understanding of human interaction, and how this relates to group activity enabling individuals to become more effective in working within teams of all kinds;

Enables individuals to build and sustain teams that enable revenue growth through a professional and consistent approach to individual and group relationships which is as applicable to their own work environment as to their clients’.

These workshops enables participants to:

Improve skills and knowledge in managing an extensive range of group dynamics;

Increase skills and confidence in dealing with difficult situations either internally, or on client engagements;

Proactively manage conflict and build consensus;

Fully utilise the creativity and energy of a group to maximise output;

Build skills to give and receive feedback effectively.

Regardless of the specific activity, it is vital to ensure that when a group meets, the session is run effectively, ensuring objectives are met and that people’s time is optimised. The Effective Facilitation Programme is a four day workshop designed to build on individuals’ strengths and knowledge to assist them in developing further in advanced facilitation skills and techniques. The workshops provide an in-depth understanding of human interaction and how this relates to facilitating group activity.

Key Benefits – participants will be able to:

Improve customer relationships and business growth;

Manage difficult behaviour and situations and gain consensus and commitment to business objectives;

Become skilled at giving, receiving and controlling feedback;

Increase confidence in identifying business opportunities and revenue streams on client sites and feed back to the relevant in house teams;

Improve the effectiveness and cohesion of cross functional and virtual teams;

Maximise a group’s ability to generate ideas, carry out needs analysis, requirements definition, risk analysis, strategy definition and rapid project start ups;

Improve decision making in flatter organizations as well as within matrix management structures;

Develop skills in unearthing potential ‘show stoppers’ and identifying clear strategies for moving forward.

The Suggested Audience Includes:

Experienced Sales Professionals, Professional Service Consultants, Customer Services, Project Managers, Technical Pre-Sales Consultants, and all Virtual Teams engaging in Solution Selling and other specific projects.

Comments from a recent Client group that attended the Facilitation Skills Workshop 6th – 9th May 2003

General Comments on Meeting Aims and Objectives

“Yes, the ideas on feedback and the psychology of relationship building will be particularly useful."
"I now understand how to develop a strong relationship with the Sponsor."
"I wanted to learn new skills and techniques that I could use both internally and externally with clients - I now feel that these objectives have been very well met.”
“Yes, my objectives were met. A lot of information, clearly given at the right level for the group.”
“Excellent course. Practical. Strong team-building ethic. Adaptable and Supportive.”
“The course reinforced and built on my existing skills.”
“This course has totally exceeded my expectations in terms of acquiring tools and knowledge to design and run successful workshops.”

General Comments on Meeting Personal and Professional Needs:

“I got a lot of useful skills, tools, and also the confidence to utilise them.”
“This course has come at a good time for me and has been pitched at exactly the right level.”
"The material covered in this course is crucial for everybody, not just facilitators or managers." “Some things I can use straight away.”
“This has given me new skills to take back to the office and practice straight away.”

General Comments on Flexibility

“The facilitators ability to adapt to enforced change of circumstances was amazing.”
“They made it easy to go with the creative flow. Too many workshops, in our business, get side-tracked into what the facilitator wants.”
“Timings were flexible. They had to be, for the course to work.”

General Comments on the Facilitation Workshop

“Overall excellent.”
“Good course – well run.”
“Gave some good insight into group dynamics.”
“Successful under the most trying conditions.”
“The workshop built on and reinforced existing skills as well as giving many tools for the toolbox.”
“Great.”
“Hard work but enjoyable.”
“The subject matter was fascinating and inspiring, but the course was very intense.”

From Final Day review:

“We learnt the tools of the trade and how to to control meetings all the way through.”
“As a group, there is such trust now. Incredible support.”
“The models are just so pratical. I don't see how I will ever be forget this stuff, it is so fundamental.”
“We’ve covered things that can be taken in and used right away.
“If we had nothing else, we have a much better working relationship.”"I now feel totally comfortable about designing and running customer facing workshops."
“The responsibility is now with us – if we don’t change it, it won’t change.”"This has been more than a course - it was an experience - and what a great experience."
“I can understand other’s points of view now, and have empathy.”