Organizational Excellence
FacilitationFacilitation
Facilitation can be defined as:
The act of engaging participants in creating, discovering, and applying learning insights. In contrast to presentation, which is typically characterized by a “sage on the stage” delivering content to an audience, facilitation usually involves a ‘guide on the side’ who asks questions, moderates discussions, introduces activities, and helps participants learn. (https://www.td.org/talent-development-glossary-terms/what-is-facilitation)
Share your thoughts for how you would define facilitation by sending a note to strategicplan@psu.edu.
Resources
- Learning Resource Network (Penn State)
Search “facilitation” – there are several e-books, audiobooks and short courses on facilitation available for a variety of contexts: teams, meetings, managerial, international, etc. - LinkedIn Learning (Penn State)
Search “facilitation” – this can be further differentiated by types of facilitation (e.g., managers and leaders, workshops, facilitating meetings, graphic facilitation, internal vs external). - Book: Transforming Conflict and Collaboration
Published by World in Conversation faculty Laurie L. Mulvey, Sheffy Minnick, and Michelle Frisby, this book is their answer to “how do I become a dialogue facilitator”! It is available online as a free resource. - Book: Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making
Written by by Sam Kaner. From the description: “This ground-breaking book continues to advance its mission to support groups to do their best thinking. It demonstrates that meetings can be much more than merely an occasion for solving a problem or creating a plan. Every well-facilitated meeting is also an opportunity to stretch and develop the perspectives of the individual members, thereby building the strength and capacity of the group as a whole.” - Training: World in Conversation
These courses focus on developing the mindset and communication skills needed to manage a contentious human environment. - Toastmasters International
Toastmasters offers a variety of free and member resources including learning modules (pathways) which offer participants the ability to learn, practice, and refine their speaking and facilitation skills. - Association for Talent Development (td.org)
Search their website for “facilitation” to locate relevant books, articles, and courses.
Communities of Practice
- Toastmasters International
Toastmasters is an extremely supportive community. There are many clubs across districts that offer both in person, virtual, and hybrid options for engaging.
Professional Organizations
- Association for Talent Development (td.org)
From their website: “Our members and customers are professionals who help others achieve their full potential by improving their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the workplace. They go by many titles: talent development managers, trainers, instructional designers, performance consultants, frontline managers, workplace learning professionals, and more. ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in organizations of all sizes and in all industry sectors.” - Association for Business Communication
From their Vision Statement: “The Association for Business Communication (ABC) seeks to become the foremost authority in the field of business communication by promoting excellence in teaching, increasing knowledge within the discipline, enriching business communication classes to better prepare students, and improving the quality of communication in the workplace. Because we recognize the importance of globalization, the Association seeks to continue to expand its international membership as well as its international point of view. To reach all members, we plan to incorporate many technologies for enhanced communication and provision of the services they most need.” - Toastmasters International
Toastmasters is an internationally recognized organization for improving public speaking skills, leadership skills, and more. - NOTE: Many discipline and field-specific organizations have subspecialties/subgroups in the area of facilitation or experts/mentors you might also find valuable.
Tools
- Undergraduate Certificate for Penn State Students
Offered by World in Conversation
Formal Educational Opportunities
- Pathways (Toastmasters International)
Toastmasters’ Pathways learning experience helps to build up to 300 unique competencies through its online content. There are 11 specialized learning paths to choose from.