This pre-recorded course of 4h 13 minutes plus exercises originally took a 6h-day to work through and combines modules on facilitation and workshop design, both for systems practice interventions. However, this is an extended version and may take longer to work through.
Facilitation for Systems Practice Interventions
This 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 & Bloch, ‘Facilitation: A Key Leadership Skill for the 21st Century’).
The learning will cover:
- What facilitation is
- The power the facilitator holds, and the risks involved in facilitation
- Roles facilitators adopt
- Designing, planning, and running a facilitation session, with models and templates, including the importance of the space in which a session is facilitated
- Facilitation tools, core and conceptual
- The importance of reflection
Workshop Design for Systems Practice Interventions
This 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:
- intensive discussion and activity, designed to progress thinking and planning
- intentionally designed activities (rather than simply an agenda), or flow
- an impact focus, usually above and beyond just a discussion or decision – some kind of output taking an intervention or initiative forward
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 will cover:
- What a workshop is
- Where and when we might use a workshop
- A range of tools and approaches
- How to appropriately select an approach, and design a workshop to fit the requirements in context
- The importance of reflection and how to evaluate and build a learning loop
- Workshop design tools, core and conceptual
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Benjamin P Taylor (www.antlerboy.com) is a leading figure in public service transformation, systems thinking, and organisational development with over 25 years of experience. He is Chief Executive of the Public Service Transformation Academy, a social enterprise delivering capability-building programmes such as the Cabinet Office Commissioning Academy, and Managing Partner at RedQuadrant, a consultancy he co-founded to innovate and disrupt traditional approaches to public service. With a background in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford, Benjamin has held advisory and leadership roles in local government and international consulting, including with PwC and Capita. Deeply engaged in the systems and complexity community, he is a Director of SCiO, a Fellow of the Cybernetics Society, and a prolific speaker, writer, and educator. He is currently authoring two books and co-hosts two podcasts on systems thinking and service transformation.