Distributed collaboration, action and accountability
Facilitators ease the way to success, making it possible for groups to do their work. All groups have challenges in working together, often complex challenges. This course provides the advanced tools you need to break through group inertia and build momentum toward success. Deepen your ability to get the best from participation as a facilitator or leader.
Get teams, workgroups, departments and whole organizations working together to ensure success after success. Create collaborations that bring the right people together for the right task, focus their purpose and keep them on track. Use the group’s creativity to solve problems, generate lasting solutions and learn from mistakes. This course demonstrates how to build lasting commitment and empower groups to implement immediately.
Leverage the knowledge and experience of your people to make sound decisions and implement effective action. Leading longer term projects and programs with finesse requires skill and practical tools that operate through entire work cycles. This course shows how to use distributed decision making at every phase of a project to empower people to work with high agility. This course will increase your capacity to deliver on short and long term projects.
Benefits
- Form effective task forces and committees.
- Motivate participation with any size group.
- Generate joint solutions for complex situations.
- Launch programs and campaigns.
- Maximize commitment to any team project.
- Motivate and sustain coalitions and partnerships.
Learn how to:
- Launch an initiative – Clarify the purpose and build team consensus from day one.
- Form a team – Form roles and relationships to make the initiative successful.
- Collaborate effectively – Maintain motivation and momentum throughout the project cycle.
- Build models – Create structural solutions for a variety of purposes
- Create work plans – Enable groups to create practical plans and action timelines.
- Track action – Tools for accountability, problem solving, ensuring results and reinforcing change.
Theory
The manual is downloadable in this self-directed course.
Theory is expanded through readings and videos of classroom lectures and interaction during in-person courses. These videos remain available for a year.
Most advanced tools have templates used to prepare for real client work. The templates carry key theory within them.
Demonstration
There are videos of instructors and participants using the tools in simulated case studies. This demonstrates best practice use of the tools and methods. These videos remain available for a year.
Stages, steps and procedures of each advanced tools are explained in detail.
Application
This self directed course includes examples of products from actual clients as pictures, PDFs or in Powerpoint, so you know what can be achieved. These are downloadable.
Practice
The course includes assignments that help build confidence in your use of the tools and methods. Assignment can be done by yourself, or with a group you convene on your own for enhanced learning.
Your assignments can be uploaded to receive comments from ICA instructors or facilitators. You can contact them for further explanation.
Group Facilitation Methods is a prerequisite for this course.
- Professional facilitators who work with a lot of teams, projects and workgroups.
- Project Managers who are responsible for guiding initiatives to success
Committee and working group chairs who want to use a facilitative approach. - Managers and executives who want to support groups throughout the organization through a style of facilitative leadership.
- Front-line staff who need to work in a partnership mode with other groups and organizations.
The Victory Circle and Project Charter creates goal and comprehensive reference guide for all collaborative work. Frameworking develops a network of support and collaboration.
Model Building and Project Work Planning create structural solutions for any problem and provide ways to move into effective implementation.
ToP Action Planning gets groups into effective action quickly and Event Orchestration makes all meetings, including reporting, interesting and productive.
You can choose to take this course In Person (IP) or Live Online (LO). The codes IP or LO show in the course name when you register.
In Person (IP) classes are instructor-led events occurring in the same room on specific dates with one group of people. You have a deep level of dialogue with face-to-face practice in breakout groups, get paper manuals and books, use pen-and-paper worksheets and exercises and enjoy breaks and lunches together. Instructors demonstrate methods using flipcharts, index cards, marker pens and wall chart visuals . The experience for participants can be similar to working with a client in a live setting. There is no practice of online tools.
Live Online (LO) classes are instructor-led events occurring at the same time with the same people, using our learning management system and online platforms, primarily Zoom and Mural. The course covers the same material as an IP course but uses online tools with plenty of small group exercises. Manuals and books are downloadable as PDFs that can be printed out if you want. There are no programs or apps to download. Participants need a computer with a large screen (a cell phone won't work well), a high speed internet connection, and earphones or earbuds. We do not actively “teach” online tools, but participants get so see and experience the ones we use during the course.
Self Directed (SD) courses are sets of “modules” like mini-courses, each containing short videos, readings, quizzes and games and assignments. You take them at your own speed any time from anywhere. You get written feedback from instructors on your assignments. The modules are assembled to resemble the in-person and live online course content. The disadvantage is the absence of collegial interaction, teamwork, and dialogue, which is a key component of facilitation. Participant manuals and materials are downloadable in PDF form.
All course graduates are encouraged to follow-up with some 1:1 coaching and join communities of practice we have set up to help extend and reinforce learning.
