Register now in Eventbrite for ToP Group Facilitation Methods training, 1-2 October in Bristol!
Introducing the foundations of the ToP approach, two powerful techniques for structuring effective conversations and building group consensus – 2 days
“Meetings are a key part of what we do. As a diverse, transnational, multilingual membership network, successful meetings are key to our internal and external successes. Many of our staff mentioned Martin’s training as a highlight in their end of year reviews – several said it was the most useful training they had ever attended, and there was a clear consensus that we should work with him again.”
Eve Geddie, Deputy Director at Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
Who this course is for
The course is for all those who want to be able to engage people more effectively to build shared understanding and consensus, including team leaders and managers within organisations, those working with Boards, management teams, partnerships and external stakeholders, youth and community workers and independent facilitators. This course has no pre-requisite, but is the pre-requisite for Participatory Strategic Planning. It is recommended both to newcomers to facilitation, and to experienced facilitators who are new to our approach.
“How can I have more purposeful & productive conversations, bring out the wisdom of a group, encourage feedback between people, and reach shared awareness in meetings? How can I generate and weave together a diverse range of ideas, develop creative solutions and build a group consensus?”
This course provides a structured introduction to the ToP Focused Conversation and Consensus Workshop methods, which form the foundations of the ToP Action Planning method, Participatory Strategic Planning and other applications.
What you will gain
By the end of the course, you will
be able to identify when and how to use the Focused Conversation and Consensus Workshop methods
have gained confidence in the use of these methods
have recognised and explored elements of participation, creativity, teamwork and action
have built links with others to promote future collaboration and support in the use of the methods
The Focused Conversation method provides a structured, four-level process for effective communication which ensures that everyone in a group has the opportunity to participate.
The Consensus Workshop method is a five stage process that enables a facilitator to draw out and weave together everybody’s wisdom into a clear and practical consensus.
These methods have been featured in publications including:
The course presents the two methods in a practical and participatory way. Each method is first demonstrated, then analysed and discussed, and then practiced in supportive small groups with guided reflection & feedback. Finally, participants plan how they will apply each method in their own situations.
What do participants say about this course?
93% of GFM participants rated the course 8/10 or higher. Comments from participants’ end-of-course evaluations included:
brilliant – a must-do if you want better, more effective meetings
provides two practical, easy-to-use methods to discover deep insights from diverse groups – useful tools for any group, organisation or community
benefits for experienced facilitator and novice alike
worth every penny – excellent content & great presentation
Your trainers
I am pleased to offer this course in partnership with ICA:UK.
Are you interested in taking or commissioning ToP facilitation training – but you don’t find any scheduled public courses to suit you, and you don’t have a group large enough to make an in-house course cost-effective?
I’d be happy to talk with you about scheduling a partnership course with you, at your place, wherever you are – please contact me.
If you can provide a suitable space for the training, or perhaps venue & catering and trainer accommodation as well, then you could enjoy a number of free and/or discounted places for you or your delegates. We would need only to recruit enough fee-paying trainees between us by an agreed deadline to make up the numbers and the budget to confirm the course. Depending on the location and the deadline I may be able to recruit those extra people myself, and handle online registrations and payments. If you can recruit more people yourself, from your networks, and if you can handle registrations and payments, then you could have more free or discounted places and maybe a shorter lead time as well.
If you choose one of my regularly scheduled public courses listed below, then we will be better able to confirm the course even if you can’t recruit many people yourself. If you have particular training needs and you can recruit others who share them, then we could develop and schedule a public course tailored to meet your needs.
Group Facilitation Methods – introducing the foundations of the ToP approach, two powerful techniques for structuring effective conversations and building group consensus – 2 days
Action Planning – participatory planning for short-term projects and events – 1 day
Since 2013 when I launched my own public and partnership courses under license with ICA:UK, with whom I have offered public and in-house training since 1998, I have offered dozens of such partnership courses in locations including (most often) Brussels, and Edinburgh, Geneva, Istanbul, Kiev, Moscow, Pisa and online.
I deliver in English and with simultaneous interpretation. I draw on the worldwide network of ICA International to provide ToP training materials in many languages, and to arrange for experienced local ToP trainers to deliver with me (or without me) in many languages.
I particularly welcome opportunities to deliver training within a day or two’s surface travel from London or Barcelona. If I am not tempted to fly to deliver training myself further afield, then I shall be glad to recommend an alternative experienced ToP trainer who is more local to you – see What can I do about climate change, personally and as a facilitator?
As last summer, when I reviewed the year to June 2022, I shall share here in this longer read some data and reflections on the last year of my professional practice, and some insights and implications for my future practice and professional development. It is broadly a four-level ORID reflection again, of course (albeit long on the ‘O’).
In this past year to June 2023 I delivered 14 contracts for 12 clients. That compares with 19 contracts for 15 clients the year before and 32 for 22 the year before that.
This past year’s contracts involved a total of 7 individual online sessions and 10 in-person & 3 hybrid events – in London, Oxford, Belfast, Brussels & Lille. That compares with 76 online and 2 in person last year to June 2022 and more than 100 online sessions and none in-person the year before that to June 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
So clients, contracts, sessions and events have all been markedly fewer this past year compared to the previous two, and contracts considerably fewer also than the 25 each year to June 2019 and to June 2020. I think that reflects my post-pandemic return to largely in-person events, albeit with a great deal less in-person preparation and follow-up, coupled with my post-pandemic choice to work less and more selectively and locally.
I resolved in January 2020 to restrict my travel mostly to places accessible to London without flying, and to try to travel less and work more online. While my work has now returned to more in person and with travel, and less online, I have not found myself tempted to fly and I have not found it difficult not to, so I am glad of that. I am fortunate indeed to be located in London, close and accessible to so many client opportunities.
I was not sub-contracted to colleagues for any contracts this year, but for three contracts I sub-contracted to or licensed one or more colleagues myself. That compares to one & nine last year and 10 & 19 the year before. So my return to more working in-person and with travel has been associated with more working solo again, and less as one of a team, which I do not find surprising. While I was delighted to be able to work more collaboratively when I was working largely online, I have not much missed that this past year of working more in person, so I am glad of that too.
Partners that I have contracted with this past year included again ICA:UK colleagues Megan Evans and Orla Cronin. I have otherwise collaborated also with others of the ICA:UK team and with IAF and other colleagues – some mentioned below.
Clients I have worked with have again included UK charities and international NGOs and devolved government, plus this year both UK and European professional and trade associations and multi-sector partnerships.
Of this past year’s contracts, 10 involved facilitation while 3 involved training and one involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 7 facilitation, 7 training and 6 coaching & consulting the year before, and 11, 18 and 7 the year before that. So the proportion of facilitation to training, coaching and consulting this year has been significantly higher than in recent years, both mid- and pre-pandemic. Perhaps that reflects the renewed appetite that many groups seem to have had to meet again in person this past year, coupled with the tightened budgets for training and development that many have had to contend with, at least in the UK.
Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single half-day or one-day workshop at relatively short notice to 3 days over one or two events, collaboratively designed and prepared over several months:
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a one day hybrid team retreat for the 6 members of the Campaigns and Education Management Team of the International Secretariat in London
with the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, design and facilitation of a 3-day in person meeting in Lille for around 30 delegates to support learning and collaboration on Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe’s Built Environment – see video
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a series of three half-day workshops in London and Brussels for up to around 30 representatives of partner organisations to develop a joint commitment on living wage in Tea supply chains
with EFFA, design and facilitation of a one-day Board & Secretariat strategy meeting for 12 in Brussels
with the Commonwealth Foundation, design and facilitation of a two-part, 3-day retreat for the staff team of around 25 in London
with Girls Not Brides, design and facilitation of a 2-day hybrid Board retreat for Trustees and senior staff in London and online
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a half-day workshop in London, for around 15 representatives of UK retailers to develop a joint commitment on living wages in Banana supply chains
with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Partnership, design and facilitation of a half-day reflective partnership workshop for around 20 partner staff and Trustees in Belfast
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a one day in-person team retreat for members of the global Law & Policy team near Oxford
Amanda Penn, Senior Partnerships Manager at IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative
“The top 9 UK retailers launched a living wage commitment in March. On numerous occasions the CSR managers who attended the workshop you led credited that day with being a pivotal moment in the process and paving the way for the ultimate result. So, thank you!”
Training contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single introductory session for one group, to multiple sessions for multiple groups:
As ICA:UK undertakes an organisational restructure this summer, and prepares to license Associates to offer UK public ToP training instead of offering them itself, I have been working with Trustees and other Associates to develop this new operating model and to offer my own scheduled public ToP facilitation training again in London – watch this space!
Coaching and consulting contracts this past year comprised just one contract of two online sessions and one in person:
with the Ethical Tea Partnership, consulting support for the design and preparation of a hybrid multi-stakeholder dialogue on gender in the global tea sector involving around 70 in London and online.
I also continued to offer free facilitation coaching throughout the year, more or less formally supporting eight mostly young people during the year in their work for climate justice, gender equity or anti-racism.
For IAF, I continued to serve as a volunteer mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, working again with two mentees in parallel this past year.
Siew Onn Wan, Mindset Coach
“With the help of mentor Martin, I have made significant progress in facilitation mastery and business development. To my surprise, he helps me to see new possibilities when I hesitate to take action. I also learn much from mentor Martin on inner work as a helping professional. Greatly appreciate my mentor’s questions and nudges in the journey of professional development as a process facilitator. Here are some details on the IAF mentoring program.”
For the Power of Facilitation, I continued to work with fellow contributors to promote the book, including with colleagues of IAF France in their Facilitation Week session in October, LUNCH LAB “the Power of Facilitation”.
I also continued throughout the year to support more than 80 IAF colleagues around the world to work to translate the book into more than a dozen languages. The first translated edition was launched in November, simplified Chinese. Another three are preparing to launch during Facilitation Week 2023 next week, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.
For SessionLab‘s first comprehensive survey on the state of facilitation, 2023 edition, I was pleased to have the opportunity to share some reflections in the Resources & Communities section on How do (ToP) facilitators keep learning? It is a comprehensive survey indeed, rich with insight and with much food for thought for all of us who are seeking to promote the power of facilitation worldwide.
My free facilitation webinars this year comprised two sessions, both exploring feminist facilitation. The first in January was part of the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series, and attracted around 30 participants.
The second in May was in partnership with IAF Social Inclusion Facilitators and We Are Feminist Leaders as well as ICA:UK. This session attracted 208 participants to share their experience and insights, and no less than 717 who expressed an interest by registering for the session. So we were very excited that the topic and the session generated so much interest.
We met several times since May to consider how we might continue to collaborate together on our own learning journeys, and also to challenge and support others to make their facilitation practice more feminist and their feminist practice more facilitative. We have scheduled a further session for Facilitation Week 2023, on Monday 11 September, so do join us then to connect, share & learn.
I expect the questions raised by all of these sessions to remain a key focus for my own professional development this coming year:
“What does feminism bring to facilitation, and what does feminist facilitation look like? How can I ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive? How can I ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive?”
It was a richly diverse group and a richly diverse programme, featuring numerous sessions focusing on aspects of diversity, inclusivity and lived experience including dyslexia & neurodiversity, power dynamics & protected characteristics and language. Having not attended an in-person conference since 2019, and having stood down as chapter Chair in 2020, I was as excited by the number of new faces, and the youth and diversity of many of them, as I was by the programme.
In my volunteering for the Gay Outdoor Club, I stepped up in October from my marketing & social media and Online Group Co-ordinator roles to join the GOC Board as Trustee and Website & IT manager as well. While I do not regard myself as a specialist in websites & IT any more than in marketing & social media, and I did not join GOC to work on those at my computer screen any more than I did to host online socials, I have enjoyed being able to apply some of my professional skills and experience to a club that I and others have derived so much value from, and to find them valuable and valued.
Being supported by the professional web developer who built the GOC site, my new role is in fact as much if not more about member engagement than it is about the website and IT, and I have approached the role on that basis. A GOC website & IT user feedback survey in January provided invaluable feedback and suggestions for numerous incremental improvements thereafter to the functionality and ease of use of the website, as did a GOC website design refresh & branding survey in July to inform a refreshed GOC branding and design and also a new strategic plan for the club.
Drawing on 5 years of experience of hosting meetups for IAF England & Wales, I have introduced a new GOC Meetup group to attract new members there, and drawing on the IAF England & Wales conference in Birmingham in April, I have been able to recommend consultants to provide training and support as part of GOC’s Inclusion and Diversity strategy. I was interested to take a Stonewall training workshop with other GOC members as part of that as well, and find that to contribute helpfully to my own professional development. I am looking forward to supporting the club further next year in all of those areas, as we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2024.
Thank you for following. If you don’t find me online, or in facilitation, training and consulting, you might find me outdoors!
“How can we bring together 90 diverse stakeholders in a series of six online conversations in a day, to tackle complex environmental topics and have strong outputs – avoiding a ‘talking shop’”?
These were among the questions that led NHC Director Savita Wilmott to approach me in December 2021 to design and lead “Beyond COP26: The Conversations”. Savita was familiar with me, and with ICA:UK and ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP), and knew that ICA’s ToP Focused Conversation method could be part of the answer.
Context
The Natural History Consortium (NHC) is a charitable collaboration of 14 organisations working together on a shared mission: to develop, test and disseminate best practice to engage everyone with the environment and natural world.
Communicate is the UK’s conference for environmental communicators, attracting around 200 attendees to previous in-person events and over 600 to the 2021 online conference ‘Communicate beyond COP26’. ‘The Conversations’ were the final phase of this 3-part online conference, following earlier sessions in June & September 2021.
Six round table Conversations of 90 minutes each were scheduled for one day in January 2022. Each were to have up to 16 different people attending – communication professionals from across the country, invited and/or nominated by NHC members, who may or may not have attended previous sessions in the series.
The overall theme was “What will we learn from COP26, and how will the UK’s environmental communication community translate international declarations into local action, and national programmes?” and in particular ‘has the landscape changed?’ The six Conversation topics were:
Putting nature at the heart of climate change communication
Learning from COP26 about better partnerships with young people
Engaging people with trees, woodlands and deforestation
Transparency, accountability, and avoiding greenwashing
Breakthrough communication techniques and campaigns from COP
From international declarations to local action.
Two people were lined up to give a 5 minute ‘provocation’ at the beginning of each Conversation, and then stay on to participate. Key insights were to be captured and shared with the Communicate community in a series of bite-size reflection papers, audio resources and tool kits.
The Conversations were to be held in Zoom to avoid ‘new platform fatigue’, with the plenary time recorded to support preparation of the ‘insight papers’ by the NHC team but the breakout spaces not recorded in order to encourage candid conversation. The six Conversations will be led separately from each other, however it was felt that it would add value to have a simple asynchronous digital place to which participants from across the conversations can contribute before, during and after the conversations.
Aims
In conversation with Savita, the aims of the Conversations were agreed to be broadly as follows:
To share learning and expertise about the topic between those present, to cross-fertilize ideas across the environmental communication sector after COP26
To generate insights that can be shared with the wider sector through NHC’s marketing channels
For participants to feel like they have had a satisfactory opportunity to share their experiences in a well-structured and safe environment
For participants to feel connected to the Communicate community, and more likely to engage in future events or be active in the network.
Approach
I had arranged for fellow ICA:UK Associate Megan Evans to work with me as co-facilitator, and with our ICA:UK colleague Alice Blackwell and David Linskey to work with us online session producers. I led three conversations in series with Alice, while Megan led the other three with David.
Our approach was to draw on the methods of ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP), and the ToP Focused Conversation method in particular. Pioneered and refined by ICA in over 50 years of experience worldwide, ToP is a proven system of methods and tools that can be adapted and applied to help all sorts of groups accomplish a wide variety of tasks together. The core values of the ToP approach, which inform all of my work, are inclusive participation, teamwork and collaboration, individual and group creativity, ownership and action, reflection and learning.
The ToP Focused Conversation method provides a structured, four-level process for effective communication which ensures that everyone in a group has the opportunity to participate.
I proposed that we use this method to structure a series of questions for each conversation, tailored in collaboration with the NHC team to meet the above aims in respect of each topic. For examples of this approach in action we shared the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series 2020 to which Megan, Alice and I had all contributed, and my own Free facilitation webinars.
Tools
For a simple asynchronous digital place to which participants from across the conversations could contribute before, during and after Conversations, I proposed that consider one of the following – depending on whether only brainstorming or also interaction may be helpful (and likely), and on which (if any) may already be familiar to participants:
Mural, a more complex visual tool for a wide range of online collaboration purposes including brainstorming and interaction – see for example this practice Mural Board.
We agreed to use EasyRetro for its simplicity of use and in order to easily export the data for editing into the insight papers. We agreed to use mentimeter as well for a simple participant feedback survey.
Pre-session communications to participants included:
To make sure that you will be able to join and participate, participants may need to join this Zoom test meeting in advance and then follow any instructions to download and install the Zoom app and configure your settings as necessary – https://zoom.us/test.
Participants will need a stable broadband internet connection with speed of preferably at least 10 Mbps download / upload. You can test yours at www.speedtest.net.
For greater functionality to maximise everyone’s engagement and learning, please use a laptop rather than a phone or tablet and join via the Zoom app not a browser. It is helpful to update your Zoom app to the latest version – see Zoom app upgrade.
Please use your own laptop (one per person), with headphones and a microphone, and join the session on your own from a quiet and well-lit place so that you can be seen and heard without distractions for yourself or others.
To use Easyretro on the same device as Zoom you will need to have a large screen and/or to navigate from one window to another and back again. It is not essential but can be helpful to have a second device or screen, in order to use one for zoom and one for the other tool.
Process
We applied the ToP Focused Conversation method to craft a series of nine ‘ORID’ questions that could be used across all six 90-minute Conversation sessions, for consistency of outputs.
We invited participants to respond to the first three (Objective level) questions in advance of the session in order to familiarise themselves with Easyretro, and then we reviewed and added to those responses at the start of each session. Participants responded to the remaining questions in conversation in small breakout groups, and were able to see the ideas of other groups in EasyRetro as they added their own. That enabled the plenary sessions to focus on discussion rather than reporting.
The three sessions I led started at 9.00, 12.00 and 2.30, and the three led by Megan started at 9.30,12.30 and 3.00. Staggering the start times by half an hour enabled Savita to attend and speak at the opening and closing of all six sessions.
Agenda
Discussion questions
Opening & overview
Introductory conversation, building on responses shared on Easyretro in advance
Objective level questions
1. Please share something about yourself and your work
2. Is there one thing that you hope to learn or gain from this Conversation?
3. What resources or links can you share on this topic?
First breakout groups, followed by plenary feedback & discussion
Reflective level questions
4. How do you feel that your work or views on environmental communication have been affected by COP26?
5. How do you feel that your organisation or the wider sector is responding to the outcomes of COP26?
Break
Second breakout groups, followed by plenary feedback & discussion – with responses captured in Easyretro
Interpretive & Decisional level questions
6. What are some ways that the environmental communication sector could work together more effectively on this issue?
7. What are some of the barriers that we still need to tackle?
8. What is a key ‘call to action’ that we can share from this room to the wider Communicate community?
9. What are any issues that need more attention or discussion, perhaps at the upcoming Communicate conference in November 2022?
Takeaways & next steps
Evaluation & close
Outputs
The BNHC team wrote up the outputs of the six conversations and published them on their website as an insight paper.
What the participants had to say
Savita Willmott, CEO of the Natural History Consortium, wrote in a recommendation on Jun 24, 2022:
“Martin supported our charity in January 2022 to bring together 90 diverse stakeholders into a series of six online conversations in a single day. We were looking to tackle complex environmental topics, and have strong outputs. His advice and support was invaluable to design an effective programme for the day as well as to expertly facilitate the session alongside another facilitator. We achieved our aim of avoiding a “talking shop” – the outputs of the session are informing our strategic work six months later, and the connections made between organisations are thriving. Martin strikes a brilliant balance between flexibility and attention to detail, and we’d recommend him without hesitation.”
What does feminism bring to facilitation, and what does feminist facilitation look like? How can I ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive?
These are the questions that have guided my own exploration of feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive facilitation this past couple of years.
These sessions are free and open for anyone to attend. The session will last 60 minutes and consist of a facilitated conversation using the ToP Focused Conversation (ORID) method, followed by a brief run through of the method used. The sessions are run by different members of the ICA:UK facilitation community, including lead trainers, trainee trainers, and past participants of our courses in their own style, around topics they have chosen.
In addition to participants learning from each other about the topic, the sessions will serve as an introduction to the method for those new to ToP and will be a useful reminder of the method for those who have already attended our popular Group Facilitation Methods course. Participants may opt to go on and take further training (either online or face to face) and/or continue to learn and share as part of a community of people using facilitation.
The session will be recorded, with the recording being publicly available after the session is over. If you do not wish to be identifiable, we will give you the option before we start the recording to turn off your camera and change your screen name.
Join us to connect, share & learn – register now at ICA:UK.
For recordings and other outputs of my own previous online Focused Conversation sessions and other free facilitation webinars, see free facilitation webinars.
I am excited to announce an addition to my 2024 public ToP facilitation training schedule:
Preparing for CPF certification? Meetings That Work, Group Facilitation Methods and Facilitating Client Collaboration together comprise the ICA Associates ToP Facilitation Essentials Program that has been endorsed by the International Association of Facilitators for those preparing to become an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF).
The Focused Conversation method provides a structured, four-level process for effective communication which ensures that everyone in a group has the opportunity to participate.
The Consensus Workshop method is a five stage process that enables a facilitator to draw out and weave together everybody’s wisdom into a clear and practical consensus.
