Facilitation for Engagement & Stakeholder Management

Throughout the past decade or more, decision-making in organisations has become more complex and difficult. Organisations are expected to adapt to change, respond quickly to emergent trends, and manage complex issues across multiple disciplines. They are increasingly expected to engage with internal and external stakeholders. This can bring real benefits to organisations in gaining support for change initiatives, but it can also result in real headaches.

Too often, leaders generate resistance to their most desirable initiatives by failing to engage staff and stakeholders in smart and effective ways. They assume that people can be compelled to subscribe to a pre-decided course of activity. They fail to harness the skill and enthusiasm that naturally emerges when people feel strong ownership of an initiative.

In a digital world, it is becoming clearer that face-to-face ‘live’ events are a ‘premium’ methodology for getting deep buy-in and solutions in complex, often heated, circumstances. There are some challenges that won’t be solved on email or facebook.

The course acknowledges the reality of stakeholder challenges. While we invite and encourage deep collaboration, we also acknowledge that there are many constraints (political, economic, social) on open dialogue and strong alignment. We offer well-tested and practical approaches across a wide suite of high-stakes meetings.

While this course will consider the planning and preparation phases for live events, it will not address in comprehensive detail the full range of risk-assessment and communication strategies for different stakeholder groups ‘outside the room’.

The main focus is on the sharp end of facilitation – planning and conducting events where stakeholders come together in face-to-face meetings.

Leaders can no longer rely only on formal authority or a chain of command to achieve ambitious change initiatives. They need to leverage more informal ways of exercising leadership, building trustful relationships with staff and colleagues.

For more information and discounts, please contact Sushil on 02 9080 4395 or email us at [email protected]

The ‘what and why’ of facilitation

• Why groups are important: the power of the group (for good or ill)
• The role of a facilitator in shaping stakeholder engagement
• Leading in ‘unknown’ territory and in volatile, uncertain, complex times
• Shifting from discussion to dialogue
• The history and politics of facilitation for stakeholder engagement
• The fundamental distinction between content and process. Why facilitators don’t have to be subject experts (and good news for control freaks).

Design it: Planning and preparation for group events using the 3 P’s

Purpose

• Designing for purpose – starting with success in mind
• Getting real: clarifying what is to be achieved through appropriate organisational consultation
• Creating a purpose statement that is clear and compelling
• Shaping and sharing the context for the meeting, in a way that gets everyone in closer alignment before the meeting
• Managing the tension around purpose – too sharp or too loose?
• Positioning for engagement across the spectrum (from mere ‘informing’ to full participatory decision-making)
• Registering the risks

People

• Who should be in the meeting? Stakeholder mapping for influence and alignment
• Catering for different preferences and styles
• Addressing difference in power and status
• Difficult people – dealing with disagreement, domination and  disengagement
• Getting ‘buy-in’ and ownership for decisions

Process

• Reliable tools and tips for generating spirited involvement and robust interaction, using experiential techniques
• Specific ‘structured stimulus activities’ to address particular challenges
• Crafting questions – building a robust Question Bank
• Creating agendas using planning templates for (almost) all meetings
• Generating and sorting multiple ideas – brainstorming, brainswarming, affinity mapping
• Prioritising choices
• Decision-making tools and methods
• Audit your current approaches using our Engagement Index

Do It – going live with groups
Starting strong – warming people up in the first few minutes: to the facilitator, to each other, to the purpose, to a positive culture.

The skills

• Posing Questions – good questions and great questions, exploring hidden assumptions, exposing ‘the elephant in the room’, dealing with silence
• Active Listening – an intensive focus on listening skills
• Generating Interaction – encouraging different voices and opinions without wasting time, moderating the ‘dominators’, enhancing dialogue between participants and finding common ground
• Observing – monitoring the pace and quality of the discussion, to keep everyone involved and on track, managing time

Digging deeper

• Assertiveness in a spirit of co-operation
• Harnessing conflict for good
• Managing time
• Creating group meaning – synthesising and summarising
• Noticing and shifting patterns of behaviour that support quality  interaction
• The language of facilitation: framing, shaping meaning
• Managing your own anxiety

Following up and following through

• Getting traction from your meetings
• Shaping ‘artefacts’ that create a memorable legacy

Addressing specific needs of participants

Participants will be invited to complete an online survey to highlight specific needs and interests, in order to fine tune the course for specific contexts. They will also be invited to identify relevant challenge scenarios that could be explored further in the course. Depending on participant numbers, some participants may be invited to experiment with specific live role plays on the second day of the course.

Ian Colley is Owner and Director of make stuff happen, a consulting practice specialising in change and learning. He commonly deals with ‘tricky’ issues – building common ground between multiple stakeholders, solving difficult problems, creating clarity about uncertain futures, and team development. Ian is an expert facilitator who has honed his craft through the design and facilitation of hundreds of projects in business, government and community settings. He has an infectious enthusiasm for collaborative approaches to business and community development.

His confidence comes from a rich background in senior public policy roles, along with hands-on experience in ambitious practical reforms. Before setting up his consulting practice in 1996 he was a senior Ministerial advisor on education and training, then Program Director for the Dusseldorp Skills Forum. One of Ian’s projects won the Global Best Practice Industry Education Partnership Award, another project won a Premier’s Public Service Award.

Ian teaches training and leadership courses at the University of Technology, Sydney and holds the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Clients have included organizations such as ING, IBM, Reserve Bank, Clayton Utz, Legal Aid, American Express, Brambles, Department of Housing, State Rail, Fairfax, Department of Family and Community Services, Sydney Water, Ageing and Disability, Department of Education and Training, Telstra, TAFE, Tourism Australia and Westpac.

He has designed and developed his own courses in facilitation, and delivered these to numerous clients such as NSW Premiers and Cabinet, Sydney Water, Legal Aid NSW, , NSW Industry and Investment, Ogilvy, SA Department of Primary Resources, St Vincent de Paul Society.

Ian has also chaired a number of long-term community and stakeholder liaison groups including for the Barangaroo Development Authority, Taralga Wind Farm, Orica, and Sydney Ports.

Ian is a Certified Professional Facilitator with the International Association of Facilitators, and a leading member of the Sydney Facilitators Network.

Sydney // 23-24 Nov 2017
Super Early Bird rate: $1,895 (Save $200 + GST). Use code P17GC11SY. Expires by 13 October 2017.
Early Bird rate: $2,095. Expires by 3 November 2017.
Standard rate: $2,195.

Brisbane // 28-29 Nov 2017
Super Early Bird rate: $1,895 (Save $200 + GST). Use code P17GC11BR. Expires by 20 October 2017.
Early Bird rate: $2,095. Expires by 10 November 2017.
Standard rate: $2,195.

• Special rate $1,676 (per person) when you book for four or more participants, please call us today on 02 9080 4307 or email [email protected] to take advantage of this offer.