What inspires you to be a better leader? Is it when you witness leadership in action? Maybe you've seen a dramatic turnaround in a sports team due to excellent coaching or a meeting of minds during a high- conflict team session at work. In today's environment of extremely fast change, being able to unify diverse groups is imperative to success. That's why having excellent facilitation skills is a major asset in any career. Acquiring the competencies of a top facilitator is both an exciting and challenging process. The objective of this book is to get you started on the path to being a facilitative leader. You will become skilled to perform several tasks: define facilitation, explore the skills and characteristics associated with facilitation, gain awareness of the responsibilities of a facilitator, identify the facilitative factors that cultivate group success. Whether you are facilitating your own work, managing a one-time event, or coordinating within your own work group, improving your skills in this role is a critical building block to career excellence.It's time to move forward in the facilitative process, beyond preparation and into your first direct communication with the entire group of participants. This journey plots the entire book of a meeting from the opening chapter to the final page. The section helps you separate meeting fact from meeting fiction, all the while telling the story of dynamic facilitative processes. The topics explore: five fundamental principles for beginning a meeting, strategic intervention: when, why, and how action planning and ending procedures. If you master the principles and practices in the next three topics, you are well on your way to effective facilitative leadership. Take advantage of the "how to" segments in the section. Each requires a level of mastery to guide others to accomplish their mission.A wise person once said, "The only way out is through." At some point as a facilitator, you will have to deal with challenging situations. In fact, periods of frustration, confusion, and even conflict are normal when working with a difficult problem or a lot of change. The degree to which you, as a facilitator, are willing to help a group through the tough stuff, is directly related to the success of your meeting or work group. In fact, it is one of your key functions. When people see a storm coming, they could: take cover and wait it out, change direction to move around the storm, put on rain gear and stay the book, get wet, and then decide on a book of action, complain about the weather.Have you ever used a shoe heel instead of a hammer to put a nail in the wall? Both work eventually, but which is most effective? Which takes less time? Which is less frustrating? Which is easier to use? While improvising is necessary at times, an effective facilitator wants to get the job done quickly without sacrificing quality. He knows which tool is best for each situation. He also knows what is in his toolbox. In this book, you will explore a variety of facilitator's tools and formats designed to help your team or work group achieve its goal. See each section for a brief description of it. Co-facilitation Techniques In Co-facilitation Techniques, you will explore the value of working with a partner to achieve team goals. Breakout Groups The Breakout Groups section demonstrates techniques to maximize individual participation and generate better solutions. Alternative Formats and Tools Alternative Formats and Tools provides some tips on interactive exercises to heighten team creativity and have some fun in the process.