FACILITATION SERVICES
Strategic Planning | Focused Conversation | Consensus Workshop | Action Planning Workshop | Contact Us

Facilitation is:

• A process used to help a group meet a collective objective in an environment that fosters the productive exchange of knowledge.
• A consulting service provided by The Center for Biopreparedness Education.

A Facilitator is an expert in using specific processes to create an environment that allows participants to more productively exchange the knowledge they hold. Facilitation is the practice of applying that process expertise to help a group meet its collective objectives. The members of the group are the content experts; the facilitator is the process expert.

Strategic Planning (4 Sessions of 3 - 4 Hours)

A four-step process that includes:

• Vision Workshop - What do we want to see in place for this organization ___ years from now as a result of our actions?
• Obstacles Workshop - What obstacles and underlying contradictions prevent us from reaching that vision?
• Strategic Directions Workshop - What strategies will be effective in helping us circumvent those obstacles so we may reach our vision?
• Implementation Workshop - What actions are we ready to commit to taking in the next 12 months to move us in those strategic directions?

These four steps are complimented with an environmental scan and gap analysis that help set a more complete context for the project. (Note: An abbreviate version can be done in 6-8 hours, but with sacrifices that should be discussed in advance.)

Focused Conversation (45 - 60 minutes)

A process used to create shared awareness among members of a group about a given topic. The tool to use when you need to "get everyone on the same page". May be used alone or to set the stage for other processes.

Consensus Workshop (2 hours)

A process used to establish consensus opinion of a group. Involves blend of individual, small group, and large group work to elicit a consensus answer to a pre-established question that addresses the group's objective.

Action Planning Process (4 - 4 1/2 hours)

A process used to coordinate tasks for a project or activity around which there is already group consensus. At the conclusion, the group will have outlined all associated tasks, formed task teams, coordinated budget and calendar considerations among task teams, and set a meeting schedule for remainder of the project.

For More Information

Lea Pounds at 402-552-3112 or lpounds@unmc.edu