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This training series is designed to help you...

•  build stronger dynamic groups

•  run more effective meetings

•  have increased confidence

•  practice techniques you can use

•  increase your awareness of what & who makes your group work

As a team member or chair, we are expected to produce results in collaboration with others.  This is not always easy, and the skills of facilitation are not routinely learned or practiced to be effective in our work. 

What is facilitation?  It is the design and management of structures and processes that help a group do its work and minimize the common problems people have working together.

Facilitation is therefore a neutral process (with respect to the content and participants) that may focus on:

•  what needs to be accomplished

•  task design, flow and sequence

•  communication patterns

•  appropriate levels of participation

•  group energy, momentum and capability

•  the physical and psychological environment

By participating in Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills, Level 1, you will:

•  Learn facilitation skills identified by you and other participants

•  Observe facilitation challenges, such as constant change, competing priorities, changing team members, limited time and carefully guarded resources;

•  Practice skills in an experiential setting and receive feedback in a safe environment;

•  Complete a self-assessment;

•  Receive a resource notebook; and

•  Commit to building the capacity of your community by donating three hours of facilitation time to a group of your choice.

Objectives

Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills, Level 1 training series allows you to:

•  Observe facilitation changes such as constant change, competing priorities, changing team members, limited time and carefully guarded resources

•  Lean and practice skills in an experiential setting and receive feedback in a safe environment

•  Receive a basic facilitation tool kit

Meet the Presenters:

Jane Haskell Extension Educator University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Gabe McPhail Community Group Facilitator, Professional Illustrator and Graphic Designer

Jane brings nearly 20 years of experience in the design and implementation of experiential community development programs for youth and adults. Over the years she has launched several innovative Extension programs, from Voices, a school-based enrichment program for teens, to the Mid-Coast Home-Based Business Conference, the first statewide conference for home-based business owners in Maine, to producing and hosting Doing Business, a live, public affairs radio show. As a result of her community facilitation work, her latest innovation is the collaborative creation of Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills, Levels 1 and 2. Jane is working collaboratively to research the societal impact of having skilled community facilitators. She is a member of the International Association of Facilitators and the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals.

Gabe is a graduate of both Level 1 and Level 2 Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills. She is an active community volunteer and worked with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for six years as an Executive Committee member. Since completing her SYFS training, Gabe has facilitated meetings for several non-profit organizations throughout Maine. Since 2004, she has co-facilitated the SYFS Level 1 training with Jane Haskell. Gabe is a professional illustrator and graphic designer and co-owner of Workshop 31, a multimedia arts studio in Jackson, Maine.

Participants have said:

• “I invest more time in preparation and to better identify those people with personal agendas.”

•  “I have more confidence in my facilitation skills.”

•  “I liked being with others . . . who are fun and inspiring and having specific ideas to put into place and a time to practice.”

•  “ I learned how to clarify assumptions, listen and then ask the right questions.”

•  “The training offered me tools I was oblivious to before and gave me creative ways to work with tools I already had.”

For more information, email jhaskell@umext.maine.edu or call UMCE Waldo County at 1-800-287-1426

Putting knowledge to work with the people of Maine

A Member of the University of Maine System
Last Modified: 09/19/08
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