The Learner's Guide for Facilitation and Workshop Design for Systems Interventions

Learner Guide

Facilitation and workshop design for systems interventions

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This session blends two previously separate courses – Facilitation and Workshop Design.Facilitation for Systems Practice InterventionsThis section provides learners with an understanding of the facilitation relationship in the context of systems intervention, and of the challenges it brings. It introduces a range of tools and practices for facilitation and provides guidance on workshop planning. Finally, it compares various approaches to facilitation, enabling learners to develop a stronger sense of the kind of facilitator they want to be.Facilitation is the act of making a process or activity easier or more efficient (International Association of Facilitators). The word comes from the Latin facilis, for ‘easy.’ It means to make something easier or more likely to happen.‘The provision of opportunities, resources, encouragement and support for the group to succeed in achieving its objectives and to do this through enabling the group to take control and responsibility for the way they proceed.’ (Bentley, ‘Facilitation’)It involves helping a group of people work together effectively and efficiently to achieve their goals (Gill, ‘Facilitation: A Practitioner's Guide’).A facilitator is ‘One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high-quality decisions. A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they pursue their objectives.’ (Bens, ‘Facilitating With Ease!’)It is a key leadership skill that fosters collaboration, creativity, and innovation (Robert &amp; Bloch, ‘Facilitation: A Key Leadership Skill for the 21st Century’).The learning covers:<ul><li>What facilitation is</li><li>The power the facilitator holds, and the risks involved in facilitation</li><li>Roles facilitators adopt</li><li>Designing, planning, and running a facilitation session, with models and templates, including the importance of the space in which a session is facilitated</li><li>Facilitation tools, core and conceptual</li><li>The importance of reflection</li></ul>Workshop Design for Systems Practice InterventionsThis section provides learners with an understanding of the design of workshops and relevant considerations, taking into account the potentially very different contexts and definitions of what a ‘workshop’ is. It introduces a range of tools and approaches for workshop design, building on the facilitation module. It gives tools to consider evaluation and learning about workshop design, and compares various approaches, enabling learners to better select and apply appropriate workshop design approaches to their context.The word shop probably comes from shed or barn, as in a lean-to or cowshed, and later took on the meanings of a place for production and sale, and the word work from similar proto-Germanic roots, meaning pretty much what you’d expect, though we should remember that work can mean labouring or physical activity, but also a range of things from labour for sale to expended energy, to military defences and embroidery, as well as being used extensively in metaphor.Workshop, then, refers to an enclosure (usually both space and time) where there is a focus on particular work to be done – originally, of course, physically, and distinguished from ordinary, run-of-the-mill, standard work by being unusual, specific, and/or diverse. A workshop is different from a factory and, in organisational terms, undertakes work different from the ordinary business of the organisation.A workshop can be distinguished from a meeting (though the boundaries may be blurry at times), by some of the following indictors:<ul><li>intensive discussion and activity, designed to progress thinking and planning</li><li>intentionally designed activities (rather than simply an agenda), or flow</li><li>an impact focus, usually above and beyond just a discussion or decision – some kind of output taking an intervention or initiative forward</li></ul>An alternative use of the work, to workshop (something), refers to taking a product or idea into a period of intense focused experimentation and development, often bringing in fresh or different perspectives than the original developers of the product or idea. This is of course closely related, but implies some partly-developed ‘content’ as the workshop focus, as opposed to simply a product or idea. In either case, some input is expected to a workshop, whether process, content, or both.The learning covers:<ul><li>What a workshop is</li><li>Where and when we might use a workshop</li><li>A range of tools and approaches</li><li>How to appropriately select an approach, and design a workshop to fit the requirements in context</li><li>The importance of reflection and how to evaluate and build a learning loop</li><li>Workshop design tools, core and conceptual</li></ul>Trainer This course is delivered by&nbsp;Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.

This "full day" course - Facilitation and Workshop Design for Systems Interventions -  blends two previously separate sessions – Facilitation and Workshop Design from the  the Influencing Stakeholders courses in our intervention skills course set. 

Facilitation and workshop design for systems interventions

Systems Thinking practitioner

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