Facilitating with Ease!

Facilitating with Ease! is an updated version of the best-selling resource that offers easy-to-follow instructions, techniques, and hands-on tools that team leaders, consultants, supervisors, and managers have used to learn the basics of facilitation. Complete with worksheets on CD-ROM that can be customized to fit your personal needs, it's a complete facilitation workshop in a take-home format. Facilitating with Ease! shows you how to run productive meetings with skill and authority and includes the information needed to train others in your organization to become confident facilitators as well. The book is filled with dozens of exercises, surveys, and checklists that can be used to transform anyone into an effective facilitator.

Practical «brain-aware» facilitation tailored to the adult brain Facilitating Learning with the Adult Brain in Mind explains how the brain works, and how to help adults learn, develop, and perform more effectively in various settings. Recent neurobiological discoveries have challenged long-held assumptions that logical, rational thought is the preeminent approach to knowing. Rather, feelings and emotions are essential for meaningful learning to occur in the embodied brain. Using stories, metaphors, and engaging illustrations to illuminate technical ideas, Taylor and Marienau synthesize relevant trends in neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. Readers unfamiliar with current brain discoveries will enjoy an informative, easy-to-read book. Neuroscience fans will find additional material designed to supplement their knowledge. Many popular publications on brain and learning focus on school-aged learners or tend more toward anatomical description than practical application. This book provides facilitators of adult learning and development a much-needed resource of tested approaches plus the science behind their effectiveness. Appreciate the fundamental role of experience in adult learning Understand how metaphor and analogy spark curiosity and creativity Alleviate adult anxieties that impede learning Acquire tools and approaches that foster adult learning and development Compared with other books on brain and learning, this volume includes dozens of specific examples of how experienced practitioners facilitate meaningful learning. These «brain-aware» approaches can be adopted and adapted for use in diverse settings. Facilitating Learning with the Adult Brain in Mind should be read by advisors/counselors, instructors, curriculum and instructional developers, professional development designers, corporate trainers and coaches, faculty mentors, and graduate students—in fact, anyone interested in how adult brains learn.

Praise for Facilitating Group Learning «In this engaging and accessible book, George Lakey draws on a lifetime's experience to provide a highly practical resource to anyone seeking to understand and respond to the complexities of group work. The book will be invaluable to anyone trying to effect social change through groups while striving to stay simultaneously sane and employed.»—Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas «I've been working with forms of direct education for many decades, and I found new ideas and inspirations in every chapter. For anyone involved in teaching, training, sharing skills, or leading groups, this book is an invaluable resource!»—Starhawk, author, The Earth Path, Dreaming the Dark, and Webs of Power «George Lakey has inspired our union to engage in education in a way that challenges us to redefine social justice and equality in new and exciting ways. This book helps us to continue our journey to touch the souls of union members.»—Denis Lemelin, national president, Canadian Union of Postal Workers «Facilitating Group Learning will ease the way of all who venture into the white waters of facilitation. George clarifies the most basic, complex, and nagging challenges of facilitation, while honoring the realities of individual and social power dynamics and providing real-life examples from the path of continued growth and mastery. A rare gift!»—Niyonu D. Spann, founding president, TRV Consulting and Beyond Diversity 101 «This book is a must-read for people who teach adults of any age, no matter what the subject, and care about doing it in ways that yield deep and abiding learning. Wonderfully well-written and rich with psychological and spiritual insights as well as practical strategies, it represents the fruits of a lifetime of transformational teaching and learning by one of the foremost adult educators of our time.»—Parker J. Palmer, author, The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, and The Heart of Higher Education

Of all the skill sets that support the shift from a traditional management role to a more collaborative approach, none is more relevant than that of the role of the facilitator. The beliefs, behaviors, and practices of facilitation are precisely what all leaders need to acquire and put into action. In Facilitating to Lead! renowned facilitation expert Ingrid Bens applies her proven concepts of facilitation to the leadership role and demonstrates that facilitation is an effective work style, not merely a meeting technique. Throughout the book, Bens outlines the organizational and personal benefits of facilitative leadership and includes useful checklists to help leaders determine the situations when facilitative leadership is most appropriate to apply. Because empowerment is a core issue in the implementation of facilitative leadership, the book presents a four-level model that reframes empowerment from a vague concept to a concrete structuring tool.

Step by step, Facilitating the Project Lifecycle guides the project manager/facilitator in making smart choices about when and how to pull key talent together to spell success for the project and ultimately the organization. The authors will help you understand the benefits of using facilitated group work sessions to get real work done during a project and get it done better and more efficiently than more traditional individual work approaches. In addition, the book includes: Recommendations for capitalizing on group knowledge to accelerate the building of key project deliverables and ensure their quality as they are built A work session structure for planning, delivering, and following up facilitated work sessions Guides for building key project deliverables Sample agendas Proven techniques for managing the group dynamics

Written for department chairs and deans, this well-researched resource offers a practical reference for how to create and sustain a more civil and harmonious departmental culture. Filled with useful information, including relevant case law, the book gives readers what they need to know to enhance the climate, culture, and collegiality in an academic department, as well as the university. Praise for Facilitating a Collegial Department in Higher Education «Bob Cipriano has provided a book that addresses department civility—a critical, ongoing problem in higher education. The book is rich in examples, best practices, and strategies for dealing with individuals as well as ways to build collegial departments?. Not only is the book packed with information, the author also has an engaging writing style and wit.»—Daniel W. Wheeler, higher education consultant; professor emeritus and former head, University of Nebraska-Lincoln «Pull out a fresh highlighter before opening this book! Be prepared to immediately collect practical, usable tools for building civility in your department from an experienced chair and successful workshop presenter.»—Sharon Brookshire, director of conferences, Division of Continuing Education, Kansas State University «Department chairs' greatest job dissatisfaction emanates from colleagues in conflict. Bob Cipriano teaches and guides us, first how to deal with toxic colleagues and then how to turn your department into a collegial environment.»—Walter Gmelch, dean, School of Education, University of San Francisco

Praise for The Mindful Coach «Success in business is predicated on eliciting the best from people. The Mindful Coach clearly articulates the essentials of how to do this. As someone who believes deeply in the potential of all people, I found Silsbee's approach both practical and profound. This is a must-read for everyone concerned with people and learning.»—Arthur M. Blank, philanthropist; cofounder, The Home Depot; and owner and CEO, Atlanta Falcons «The Mindful Coach is not just another coaching model. It is a frame of reference for anyone involved in developing people. This highly readable book should serve as a reference for anyone genuinely concerned about helping others. It has had a significant impact on the way I approach coaching and developing others.»—James N. Bassett, M.E?d., employee development, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations «The Mindful Coach digs deeply, offering a lens and structure for understanding the intimate and necessary connection between relationships and human development. No other skill set, knowledge, or awareness is more important to educators, leaders, and managers than what is presented in this precious volume.»—Robert C. Pianta, Ph.D., dean, Curry School of Education, University of ?Virginia «This revised edition provides the structure for presence, through which new solutions become available. This book itself is a practice in the art of 'becoming,' while providing a clear action framework for powerfully engaging others with their own development. Silsbee has provided a gift to leaders, teachers, and coaches!»—Connie Maltbie-Shulas, manager, V-22 Training Systems, Boeing «This book has broad appeal not only for coaches, but also for managers, executives, and consultants. Leaders of all kinds can benefit from Silsbee's clear and caring process for bringing out the best in people. This is a must-read book for anyone who wants to jump-start themselves and others on their journey to their potential.»—Diana Whitney, Ph.D., author, The Power of Appreciative Inquiry «This is the guide for leaders committed to helping others learn. The seven roles will help any leader facilitate more meaningful development conversations. This new edition engaged me instantly, with immediate applications in key relationships.»—Darelyn «DJ» Mitsch, MCC, president, The Pyramid Resource Group; former president, The International Coach Federation