The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results With Groups

The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations.

Using this resource as your guide you will learn how to

• Ask questions that ignite a bonfire of responses
• Dynamically address the three reasons people disagree
• Resolve dysfunctional behavior in four stages
• Build consensus in meetings with five strategies

In addition, The Secrets of Facilitation is chock-full of real-world learning from myriad case studies and sample dialogues. Written as a practical resource, the book's numerous tips and checklists can be put into immediate use. Keep The Secrets of Facilitation handy to help you

• Get people excited and participating right from the beginning
• Use specific follow-up questions to challenge or probe responses
• Float an idea without disempowering the group
• Keep the energy high over a multi-day session
• Develop a custom process to meet a specific need
• Gain commitment to action and not just involvement in the discussion