Facilitation Fundamentals and Professional Facilitation Training
THE PROBLEM
As a leader in your organization, you’re expected to run meetings that produce clear and actionable results. Unfortunately, in a world of back-to-back meetings, you often lack…
A. The training and tools to design and run better meetings,
B. The time to find the right training and resources to design better meetings,
And as a result…
C. You begin to lack confidence in your own ability to lead productive meetings with little or no time to prepare.
THE SOLUTION
At MG RUSH, we understand there’s nothing worse than a poorly designed meeting that leads to another meeting. That’s why we’ve spent years building and improving curriculum and tools to help you design and lead better meetings.
Whether you take our PROFESSIONAL or FUNDAMENTALS training, our certified workshops provide servant leadership and structured facilitation skills, meeting design, and techniques for creating solutions that by the end of a meeting are owned by all stakeholders.
In short…
We train you to lead meetings that produce clear and actionable results, and you become the respected meeting leader in your organization!
Find out more about
Professional Facilitation Training Workshop
This course includes all our Facilitation Fundamentals curriculum.
Professional Facilitation Workshop
CSPF Certification $3,850
- Public Class 5-Day Workshop Dates
March 10 – 14, 2025 in Nashville, TN
June 09 – 13, 2025 in Phoenix, AZ
September 15 – 19, 2025 in Washington, DC
December 08 – 12, 2025 in Austin, TX
- Students paying more than 30 days in advance of our 5-day class qualify for our Early Bird discount. Available on registration form. Government, non-profit, or group discounts are also available on registration form.
PRO Course Certification
Students who successfully complete our rigorous Certified Structured Professional Facilitation training qualify as Certified Structured Professional Facilitators (CSPF™). They also qualify for the following…
CERTIFICATION CREDITS
- IIBA CDUs – Participants qualify for 40 Continuing Development Units (CDUs) from the IIBA upon completion. We comply with the IIBA BABOK® v2.0.
- FAC CLPs – Participants upon successful completion qualify for 40 Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) based on Federal Acquisition Certification Continuous Professional Learning Requirements using Training and Education activities.
- SAVE CVS PDUs – Participants upon successful completion qualify for 40 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from SAVE International®, complying with VMBOK® Facilitator Definition, Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) and supporting the eight Core Competencies of Team Facilitation, Section 3.1 (SAVE International ® Core Competency Education Objectives and Testing Parameters for VMA and CVS).
- The curriculum also confers 3.2 (or 32 depending on the formula used) Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) for other professions.
PRO Curriculum Highlights
With a strong emphasis on HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think, you will receive everything provided in the Fundamentals course above, including:
- Building Agendas Using the Meeting Pathway and Workshop Canvas
- Duty (Fiduciary Responsibility) of Professional Meeting Participants
- Facilitating “Meaning”, not Words — knowing that meaning can be derived from . . .
- Narrative (verbal)
- Non-verbal (actions)
- Illustrations (drawings)
- Icons (symbols)
- Numbers, and
- Analogy, Metaphor, or Story
- Managing Conflict and Dysfunction
- Meeting Risk Assessment
- Meeting Roles
- Optimal and Sequenced Conversational Questions
- Optimal In-person and Online Seating Arrangements
- Reflecting Rationale (symptoms versus causes)
- Removing Distractions
- Rhetorical Precision (clear language)
- Shaking Paradigms and Groupthink
- Substance Over Style
- The Difference between Goals and Objectives
- The Difference between Mission and Vision
- The Expense of Meetings versus Workshops
- The WHY Before the WHAT
- Tool Selection Matrix
- Tools, tools, and more tools
- Unique Checklists and Templates
- Verbal Disfluencies
- Virtual Meeting Controls and Differences
- Voting Sucks
Plus two additional days covering applied faciltiation and Capstone practice sessions focus on participant needs such as:
- Applied Facilitation—Strategic or Other Planning Workshops Simulation
-
- Why are we here? (using the Coat of Arms tool)
- Who are we? (using the Categorizing tool)
- Where are we going? (using the Temporal Shift tool)
- How do we measure our progress? (using the Scorecard tool)
- What is our current situation? (using our proprietary and quantitative TO-WS analysis to prioritize hundreds of options)
- What to we do to reach our objectives? (narrative conversion of TO-WS above)
- Is it the right stuff to do? (using the Alignment tool)
- Who does what? (using a Roles & Responsibilities tool)
- What are we going to tell others? (using Guardian of Change tool)
- Is everyone clear on assignments and next steps? (using the Review & Wrap tool)
- Applied Facilitation—Analysis Workshop Simulations
- – Why are we in this business area? (using Commander’s Intent tool)
- Who do we work with in support of our business? (ie, Enablers—various tools)
- What do we receive from them in support of our purpose? (ie, Inputs)
- What do we give them in support of our purpose? (ie, Outputs)
- Model and validation (using a Modeling tool)
- The scope defined (narrative conversion from Model above)
- Other Requirements gathering workshops and tools such as . . .
- Plan > Acquire > Operate > Control
- SIPOC and Use Cases (business process improvement)
- Logical Modeling
- Applied Facilitation—Other Robust Meeting Tools
- Ishikawa Diagramming (RCA)
- Real-Win-Worth Product assessment
- Risk Assessment (and FMEA)
- Organizational Design
- Peer Review (PRI)
- Scrum Framework
- Product Release
- Facilitation Of Scrum Events
- Sprint Planning
- Principles Of A Daily Scrum
- Product Backlog Refinement
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
- Unique Agenda Designs
- Consent Agenda Alternative
- How To Facilitate Board Meetings (Or Committees)
- Staff Meetings
- Participant-led Capstone sessions (two recordings for each participant)
Already a Facilitation Fundamentals Faciliator?
The Final Two Days of our 5-day Professional Facilitation Training for students who are already Fundamental Facilitators includes…
Register HERE for final 2 days.
Advanced Tooling: High Performance Support
- Structure Versus Kum-Ba-Yah
- Reasons For Meeting Design (Lunch & Learn)
- Advanced Structured Tools
- After Action Review (Hot Wash)
- DQ (Decision Quality) Spider
- Flexibility Matrix
- Force Field Analysis
- Framing (Is Not — Is or Out of Scope— In Scope)
- Real-Win-Worth
- Root Cause Analysis
- Scenario Planning
- Scorecard (Weighted And Prioritized Criteria)
- Planning Agenda: Riffs And Variations
- Key Measures (KPIs Or OKRs)
- Quantitative TO-WS Analysis
- Requirements Framework
- Activity Flows
- Life Cycle Activities
- Sipoc And Value Stream
- Risk Assessment
- Size Factors
- Complexity Factors
- Political Factors
- Diversity Factors
- Scrum Framework
- Product Release
- Facilitation Of Scrum Events
- Sprint Planning
- Principles Of A Daily Scrum
- Product Backlog Refinement
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
- Unique Agenda Designs
- Consent Agenda Alternative
- How To Facilitate Board Meetings (Or Committees)
- Individual, One-Hour Capstone Sessions
- Facilitating A Workshop (Audio-Video Recorded Session Two)
- Extensive Four-Page Evaluation To Provide Holistic Feedback That Integrates With Each Student’s Growth Needs, Projects, And Organizational Expectations
- Certification And Continuous Improvement
PRO Abstract and Agenda
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Facilitation Fundamentals Training Workshop
3-Day IN-PERSON
Facilitation Fundamentals 2023 $3,050
- Public Class 3-Day Workshop Dates
March 10 – 12, 2025 in Nashville, TN
June 09 – 11, 2025 in Phoenix, AZ
September 15 – 17, 2025 in Washington, DC
December 08 – 10, 2025 in Austin, TX
- Our in-person Fundamentals training runs three full days. Students are responsible for their hotel and transportation. Lunch and snacks are included.
- (*Early Bird pricing is available up to 30 days in advance. Available at registration.)
Course Certification
Students who successfully complete our rigorous Facilitation Fundamentals training qualify as Certified Structured Fundamental Facilitators (CSFF™). They also qualify for the following…
- IIBA CDUs – Participants qualify for 24 Continuing Development Units (CDUs) from the IIBA upon completion. We comply with the IIBA BABOK® v2.0.
- FAC CLPs – Participants upon successful completion qualify for 24 Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) based on Federal Acquisition Certification Continuous Professional Learning Requirements using Training and Education activities.
- SAVE CVS PDUs – Participants upon successful completion qualify for 24 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from SAVE International®, complying with VMBOK® Facilitator Definition, Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) and supporting the eight Core Competencies of Team Facilitation, Section 3.1 (SAVE International ® Core Competency Education Objectives and Testing Parameters for VMA and CVS).
- The curriculum also confers 2.4 (or 24 depending on their calculation) Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) for other professions.
Curriculum Highlights
With a strong emphasis on HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think, expect fresh material about:
- Building Agendas Using the Meeting Pathway and Workshop Canvas
- Duty (Fiduciary Responsibility) of Professional Meeting Participants
- Facilitating “Meaning”, not Words — knowing that meaning can be derived from . . .
- Narrative (verbal)
- Non-verbal (actions)
- Illustrations (drawings)
- Icons (symbols)
- Numbers, and
- Analogy, Metaphor, or Story
- Managing Conflict and Dysfunction
- Meeting Risk Assessment
- Meeting Roles
- Optimal and Sequenced Conversational Questions
- Optimal In-person and Online Seating Arrangements
- Reflecting Rationale (symptoms versus causes)
- Removing Distractions
- Rhetorical Precision (clear language)
- Shaking Paradigms and Groupthink
- Substance Over Style
- The Difference between Goals and Objectives
- The Difference between Mission and Vision
- The Expense of Meetings versus Workshops
- The WHY Before the WHAT
- Tool Selection Matrix
- Tools, tools, and more tools
- Unique Checklists and Templates
- Verbal Disfluencies
- Virtual Meeting Controls and Differences
- Voting Sucks
Requirements and Materials
Fundamentals Live Online
- Desktop computer, laptop, or tablet with access to Zoom application (or Microsoft Teams for private classes if required)
- Video participation is required so the instructor and students may interact. Phone participation solely is strongly discouraged.
- Students receive a printed copy of our Professional Reference Manual filled with facilitative leadership skills, decision-making techniques, meeting agendas, and meeting controls to be used for years to come.
- Additionally, students receive large format Post-It paper, 3-M wall hangers, and Sharpie chisel markers.
- OnLine Access to additional resources—each student receives online access to meeting agendas, checklists, ground rules, scripts, step-by-step guides, templates and audio-visual materials; to conduct their own meetings, workshops, and presentations.
- Evaluation—each student receives evaluations from a certified instructor, with written pages describing students’ strengths and areas for improvement. Certification is issued after successfully completing the capstone practice session.
Fundamentals In-Person
- Reference Manuals—each student receives our Professional Reference Manual with four hundred pages of facilitative leadership skills, decision-making tools, meeting agendas, and meeting controls to be used for years to come.
- On-Line Access—each student receives online access to meeting agendas, checklists, ground rules, scripts, step-by-step guides, templates and audio-visual materials; to conduct their own meetings, workshops, and presentations.
- Evaluation—each student receives evaluations from a certified instructor, with written pages describing students’ strengths and areas for improvement. Certification is issued after successfully completing the capstone practice session.
- Video—each student receives a digital recording of their capstone session where they perform as session leaders in real, yet simulated conditions.
Facilitation Fundamentals Abstract and Agenda
If pdf doesn’t show, click enlarge (+)