Group Facilitation
Our group development and meeting facilitation services release group potential and expedite group achievement. Bringing in a Harley Consulting & Coaching facilitator can transform a meeting from a routine to a milestone event. Our facilitation services assure the success of:
Strategic planning meetings
Complex group decisions
Controversial group decisions
Efforts to resolve conflict & enhance collaboration
Customer focus groups
Focus group studies
Board meetings
Retreats
Appreciative inquiries
Efforts to create unity of purpose in whole systems (involving multiple organizations)
Situational assessments
Large-scale group meetings
Annual meetings
Coaching & action-learning circles
Forging agreement among organizational leaders
General problem-solving & decision-making meetings
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“Bill Harley has an exceptional ability to work with diverse groups of people with differing viewpoints and help them reach consensus on direction and mission. He facilitated 14 meetings statewide in 2001-2002 with over 200 diabetes stakeholders throughout the state. He also facilitated 10 work group meetings with five different topic areas and five Minnesota Diabetes Steering Committee meetings as part of the whole State Diabetes 10-Year Plan development process. The key element that Bill Harley brings to his work is a highly professional, open-minded, low-key facilitation style, which encourages diverse groups of people who have strong and divergent opinions to respect each other and work towards achieving a common goal. Bill is also very flexible and can adapt to the changing needs of an organization or system as they arise.”
Martha Roberts, Coordinator, Minnesota Diabetes Program
Minnesota Department of Health
St. Paul, Minnesota
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How Group Facilitation Works
The Oxford English Dictionary defines facilitation as the action or process of facilitating or rendering easy. Therefore, facilitating a group is the process of making the group’s way easy or, at least, easier. When a group member says at the end of a group decision-making session, “That wasn’t as painful as I expected it to be!” it is probable that some effective facilitation has occurred. The role of facilitation entails skill in the design and delivery of participatory group processes.
Specialized Knowledge & Skills
The profession of facilitation is a highly developed craft and we have developed our skills over many years. While anyone can attempt to facilitate a meeting, to do it with excellence, which involves drawing the best out of the group, requires specialized knowledge and skills. Among the attributes and skills our facilitators possess are:
Believing in the group’s potential
Assessing the client’s needs
Co-designing and tailoring applications with the client
Guiding the group to desired outcomes
Modeling effective communication skills
Knowing a variety of processes
Being a master of consensus
Maintaining neutrality
Mediating conflict
Accessing all thinking and learning styles
Seeking unity in diversity
Being inclusive
Fostering group creativity
Employing multi-sensory processes
Fostering group self-awareness
Managing logistics, time and space
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“Bill Harley skillfully facilitated sessions with our staff members who are very diverse in age, ethnicity, experience, and in their professional expectations. Through authentic and respectful interactions, Bill earned the trust and confidence of our staff enabling us to work together productively while retaining and even celebrating our differences. With Bill’s guidance, our staff created a set of common core principles to guide our professional interactions and to utilize our differences in productive ways. More than a year later we utilize the same core principles as a powerful uniting tool for accomplishing our mission.”
Dr. Robert Poch, Director
Minnesota Higher Education Services Office
St. Paul, Minnesota
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