Facilitating Groups & Leading Collaborative Teams

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Course Description: High-performing professionals, whether they be in law, business, government, education, or non-profit sectors, are called upon to facilitate groups and to lead teams in collaborative projects. Most professionals find themselves working on matters that require groups of people to work together in order to solve problems, reach decisions, and resolve conflicts. This group work can include collaborating with colleagues to launch a marketing strategy for a new product or with exeuctives and lawyers to develop and legal strategy. Alternately, it could involve building consensus with institutional stakeholders around duties, responsibilities, or a new strategic plan. In many contexts, professionals find themselves working in groups to help them make decisions or improve internal-processes for collaboration. Facilitation includes working with community stakeholders, multiple family members, or local officials to increase understanding, resolve a dilemma, or re-build trust. In the U.S., the average attorney can expect to spend at least 10,000 hours in meetings during their professional career. Despite these realities, few professionals have any formal training in facilitation – the art and science of designing and running processes to help people work more creatively and effectively with each other.

This day-long workshop will introduce participants to the theory and practice of facilitation and is based on the facilitation course that Bob Bordone pioneered and taught at Harvard Law School.

After taking the workshop, participants can expect to have: 

• A cognitive framework for understanding what facilitation is and how to design and run meetings, focus groups, and other group gatherings with purpose, poise, and success;

• A toolbox of specific strategies, skills, and interventions to help keep working groups purposeful and on-track

• An improved individual understanding of their own strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and styles as a facilitator;

• An opportunity to practice facilitation skills with others and to receive feedback from peers on what works and what could be improved. In particular, participants will have an opportunity to:

  -frame an opening

  -design an agenda for a meeting, including opening questions, follow-ups, and summaries

  -practice handling disruptive behaviors in a way that keeps a group on-track; and

• Tools for continued learning beyond the workshop.

This workshop is appropriate for all professionals but might prove particularly useful for team leaders and managers as well as executives who may be facing challenging team dynamics or major projects such as strategic planning, re-structuring, or dealing with group transition and instability. 

This workshop will meet for a single intensive day, from 9:00am to 5:00 pm with an optional additional opportunities for personal coaching and feedback for those who may find it helpful. Given the skills-intensive nature of the workshop, the class will be kept to a small number of no more than 24 participants.