What is Essential Facilitation?
A three or four-day workshop that provides practical, proven models and tools for planning and conducting effective meetings through an interactive format that includes a comprehensive manual, practice sessions, discussion and video feedback. Participants will learn and practice a facilitated approach for building understanding and agreement among people. The knowledge gained from this training will contribute to your professional growth and the Division will benefit from your increased capabilities, confidence and skill levels. Interaction Associates, Inc. (IA) pioneered group facilitation over 30 years ago and have shared their extensive experience with hundreds of organizations through the Essential Facilitation workshop. The workshop provides a solid framework and proven techniques for resolving conflicts, creating buy-in and building lasting agreements – skills as valuable in everyday life as they are in an university organization. Hundreds of organizations use the IA methods to generate faster collaborative decisions, and to increase creativity and productivity. The IA facilitated meeting method is rapidly becoming the methodology of choice for more productive and satisfying meetings throughout the Division.
Who provides the training?
The training is conducted by a team of UC ANR “in-house” trainers that have been certified by IA to deliver the Essential Facilitation training to DANR staff and volunteers. There are currently 10 "in-house" trainers who are liscensed to deliver the Essential Facilitation workshops.
Who can attend?
Anyone who leads groups, teams or meetings can benefit from learning the Essential Facilitation mindset and methods. This training will assist you in your current role whether you are a Cooperative Extension advisor, county director, specialist or program representative/assistant, or other support staff, including county-paid CE staff and volunteers. Campus AES faculty and other ANR members will also benefit from this training. The training is also for DANR administrators and support staff including all units in the Office of the Vice President, Communication Services, Research and Extension Centers, and Regional Offices.
When and where are the workshops?
Essential Facilitation training sessions are scheduled and conducted throughout the state and year. Participants are expected to attend the full three-day training session. Look for dates and location information on this site. Essential Facilitation dates and locations are also announced through the UC-ANR Program Council through e-mails to the Associate Deans, Program Leaders and Regional Directors.
How Do I Enroll?
Sign-ups will be taken on a “first-come, first-serve” basis and will be limited to a maximum of 14 participants per session.
What about cost and support to attend the training?
The cost for the training is usually between $500 - $750/person depending on individual travel and overnight lodging expenses. CE Regional Directors oftern cover the costs for CE advisors, county-based and regional staff members to attend the EF training. ANR administrative, campus and other staff need to check with their unit managers to see if funding is available for them to participate in this training.
Next UC-ANR Essential Facilitation Training - October 14-16, 2008 in the Central Valley Contact Linda Marie Manton lmmanton@uckac.edu for more information or Diane Chadwick at dchadwick@uckac.edu to register for this training session.
Essential Facilitation: Core Skills for Guiding Group Interaction and Work