Services: Group Facilitation
Generating consensus and a shared commitment to action is at the heart of development effectiveness.
Effective learning and group work within and between organizations requires that groups come together to accomplish certain tasks such as assessing past experience, sharing lessons-learned, planning new activities and developing new ways of working together. Good facilitation adds value by helping groups to accomplish their tasks and objectives more efficiently and by generating creative ideas, results, decisions and commitments that people strongly buy into. The added ownership leads to action and sometimes to group transformation-situations where a group has moved to a higher level of performance.
SI provides creative group facilitation services to help development and social change organizations accomplish their group tasks more efficiently and effectively. We design customized processes that focus on mutual learning and consensus-based decision-making leading to group action and results. Our basic facilitation services help you to accomplish the group task at hand. Our developmental facilitation services help you develop your capacity to manage more effective groups on your own.
Range of Services
- Group Facilitation—-a full range of customized facilitation services, for large and small groups, so that you can accomplish group tasks efficiently and effectively to achieve results.
- Facilitation Training-building knowledge and skills of development and social change managers to facilitate groups effectively.
- PROJECT details
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Building Facilitation Skills for HIV/AIDS staff: Family Health International HIV/AIDS Institute, 2005
Staff members of the FHI Institute for HIV/AIDS often need to facilitate meetings both internally and with external partners such as donors, local NGOs and government. SI designed and conducted a Facilitation Skills workshop for twenty-five participants who developed skills in planning and managing meetings, conducting project launch workshops, reaching consensus, and managing difficult personalities. The workshop was based on SI's popular manual Facilitation Skills for Development Managers. As a result, participants became more successful in using collaborative approaches to plan and manage HIV/AIDS programs.
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Strengthening the POLICY Project Team: Futures Group, 2005
Working with the Futures Group POLICY Project Operation Team, SI designed and facilitated a 2-day team building retreat to strengthen relationships between Program Associates and Operations Managers. Through an "appreciative" approach to draw out team resources and assets, the workshop succeeded in improving team coordination, clarifying team roles and responsibilities and building agreement on specific actions to improve team work, including new mentoring relationships between Managers and Associates.
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Facilitation Skills
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Unleashing the power of groups (Impact Note No. 9) -
Building Stronger Collaboration During Transition: FHI Program Support Department Retreat, 2004
SI worked with the FHI's Program Support Department to create a more stable environment for a transition and downsizing process. A major outcome of the workshop was that junior-senior staff relationships were improved and all were able to see their work and contribution to FHI in more positive ways. The results of the workshops that were taken on board by senior management included a set of statements describing the department at its best, guidelines and agreements for how the department will behave during the transition period and a matrix describing roles, expectations and needs at each level to navigate the transition.
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Angola Post Program Lessons Learned Workshop: USAID/OTI, 2004
SI facilitated a 2-day workshop for USAID/OTI and their implementing partner, Creative Associates, to help both partners internalize lessons learned from their program in Angola. Using participatory approaches, both partners agreed on how their individual and shared management structures and practices could be strengthened in order to improve future OTI programs. An important recommendation that was applicable to all OTI programs was to hold regular "check-ins" with all key stakeholders involved, and to maintain a greater degree of transparency amongst the U.S. and field offices for OTI and the implementing partner.
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World Wide Retreat: USAID/OTI, 2001-04
For four consecutive years, SI has organized and facilitated a three-day retreat for sixty OTI staff from around the world. Focused variously on team building, strategic planning and improving operational performance, each of the annual retreats has been instrumental in building OTI's global program and leveraging its rich experience. Each retreat enhanced the knowledge and understanding of OTI program approaches and activities; identified lessons learned and best practices; proposed future goals for OTI; and increased morale, competencies, and commitment.
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New Staff Orientation and Future Orientation Options: USAID/OTI, 2004
SI designed and facilitated a two-day New Staff Orientation for USAID/OTI for new employees, most of whom would be members of the new OTI/Iraq country team. In addition, SI explored alternate approaches to the new staff orientation including "blended learning" packages, web-based modules, mentorships, interviews with current staff, HQ tour and field visits shortly after joining OTI. Based on SI's assessment, OTI developed a blend of new orientation methods that provide timely and cost-effective orientation for new staff joining OTI around the world.
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New Staff Orientation: USAID/OTI, 2001-04
For three consecutive years, SI has designed and facilitated a three-day orientation for USAID/OTI's new staff from around the world. SI conducted a staff needs assessment, developed agenda and curriculum, developed an orientation manual, facilitated the workshops and wrote the final reports. The Orientations increased participants' understanding of OTI's mission, objectives, and procedures required to successfully implement country programs; clarified OTI's role in implementing U.S. foreign policy interests; and promoted greater skills in managing OTI country programs.