Facilitation and workshop design

Facilitation and workshop design are leadership disciplines that create clarity, energy and shared direction when we need people to succeed together. We help with everything from facilitating development processes, securing constructive dialogue that strengthens a tense working climate and fosters a psychologically safe working climate, to training facilitation skills and building facilitation capacity within the organisation itself. We don't facilitate for you - we facilitate with you.

What is facilitation?

Facilitation is the art of making it easy for a group to succeed with what they've set out to do - whether that's a strategy process, a project kick-off or a development day. A good facilitator creates a safe and engaging space where dialogue can flourish, disagreements are handled constructively, and real progress is made. It takes the ability to connect people across boundaries, to challenge entrenched beliefs and to design a process where everyone's contribution has value. Here we draw on, among other things, the core ideas of self-determination theory, regenerative thinking, tips and tricks from the communicator's toolbox, and organisational psychology. It is a craft where even small adjustments and moments of awareness can create big changes.

How do we work with facilitation?

Effective facilitation involves both a strong process design (before), good in-the-moment facilitation (during) and follow-up (after). A strong process design takes its starting point in the purpose and the desired outcome. It ensures that we reach the decisions, ambitions or needs the process is meant to result in. In the process design we structure activities and choreograph energy and engagement, so that everyone is fully engaged, experiences the value of the process and leaves uplifted. Whether you are a manager, project manager or meeting leader who needs to create the best possible conditions for a group of people and disciplines to succeed well together, the facilitator's toolbox is an invaluable help.

It is the balance between a clear and meaningful structure and the authentic, meaningful and relational way of leading the room that creates life, connection and flow. It is a process with room for ongoing adjustments, with an eye for the group's dynamics, the needs of the process and the desired outcome.

For us, the art of sharp in-the-moment facilitation is to connect people across boundaries, to challenge entrenched beliefs and to design a process where everyone's contribution has value. Here we draw on, among other things, the core ideas of self-determination theory, regenerative thinking, tips and tricks from the communicator's toolbox, and organisational psychology. It is a craft where even small adjustments and moments of awareness can create big changes.

To succeed well with it, we always begin by asking about and helping to articulate the ambition and the desired outcome for the process, as well as getting to know who the participants are, what's on their minds, and what in the context might be brought into the room with them. This helps us together create a runsheet for the meeting, workshop or kick-off seminar that matches your culture, needs and group of participants. In the facilitation we draw heavily on our sense of human dynamics, moods and timing to create the best conditions for the agreed outcome. We secure the longer-term outcome through effective follow-up and/or subsequent assignments. Our backdrop is deeply theoretical, but our approach is pragmatic, practical and immediately implementable in everyday practice.

Examples of facilitation assignments

• Strategy development and process design.
• Team development.
• Back on track - dysfunctions in the team and how we tackle them together.
• Shared focus - project kick-off workshops and progress reviews.
• Communication and collaboration across differences.
• Preference profiling and what it means for collaboration.
• Meeting facilitation.
• Seminar and team development days.
• Merger and reorganisation - what now?
• Together we are strong - a stronger shared culture.
• The facilitating leader - here's how.
• Personal project leadership - reap the potential.

Our backdrop is deeply theoretical, but our approach is always pragmatic, practical and immediately implementable in everyday practice.