Beyond Facilitation: Develop Your Group Process Consultation Skills

January 17–21, 2011, at the Westford Regency Hotel and Conference Center in Westford, Massachusetts

Working in groups, teams, or task forces to solve problems, develop plans, address issues, identify opportunities, and increase productivity is the way of organizational life. Most training for facilitators, consultants, managers, group leaders and group/team members provides tools, techniques and skills for applying problem solving models, developing agendas and staying focused on the tasks of the group. Still, many groups fail to reach their potential, or fail completely, most often because of unaddressed group or interpersonal dynamics. These are the maintenance issues of group process.

Leaders, managers and facilitators are often unaware of or unequipped to address this important dimension of groups and teams. This dimension is often the difference between success and failure. To be successful in helping groups to reach their potential, individuals charged with helping groups reach their potential need to understand and be able to help the group access their core issues, needs, and motives to unlock the group’s energy, creativity, and commitment. The challenge is to support both the task and the maintenance work of the group to help the group fulfill its purpose, build its capacity, and to further its development.

Objectives

This workshop provides training in diagnostic and intervention models, builds an understanding of when and how to apply these models, and supports participants in developing the skills of group process consulting. The purpose of this workshop is to increase the skill and ability of participants to develop and enhance the performance and effectiveness of groups and teams through interventions which are powerful and appropriate.

Specifically, participants will:

Learn a practical integrated model for acting as a process consultant to groups;
Examine their facilitator/process consulting style and orientation and assess their own effectiveness;
Practice diagnosing group or team behavior in order to focus interventions appropriately;
Develop a repertoire of interventions and the confidence to know when and how to use them;
Learn when to intervene in the task process vs. maintenance process of a group — and when not to;
Receive on-going directly applicable feedback and coaching on the impact, appropriateness, and effectiveness of chosen interventions;
Enhance their confidence and ability to effectively intervene through greater self-awareness;
Integrate learning’s from the workshop with existing skills and knowledge.

Content areas and topics include:

An integrated model of group process consulting and intervention;
A typology of interventions and a model for linking to various depths of group dynamics;
The link between group process consultation and team, group, and organizational effectiveness;
Theories of group development and the life cycles of groups;
The component parts of task and maintenance;
The use of group process consultation in various settings — team-building, meeting management, mediation and conflict resolution;
Use of self as an instrument for diagnosis and appropriate intervention; and
The broader application of effective intervention skills.

Facilitators: Jan Williams and Chuck Phillips

Target Audience: Internal or External Organization Consultants, Human Resource Business Partners, Facilitators, Trainers, Leaders, and others interested in learning to create or support high performing groups or teams.

Workshop Information: January 17–21, 2011, Westford Regency Hotel and Conference Center, Westford, Massachusetts. The workshop will convene at 9 AM on Monday January 17 and close by 3 PM on Friday, January 21.

Tuition: Early bird registration is $1950.00 before December 15, 2010 and $2100.00 after December 15, 2010. Fees include workshop notebook, continental breakfast, daily lunches, and breaks. Two participants from the same organization will receive a 10% discount. Three or more receive a 15% discount. Individuals who sign up for two or more workshops received same the percentage discounts.

A 20% discount ($1680.00) is available to ODN members and AU/NTL graduates. To received the 20%, ODN and grads must pre-register.

Sign Up Here or for questions go to Contact Us on this Website or contact us directly: Jan Williams @ 603-775-7725 or Chuck Phillips @ 603-823-9957.