Articles & White Papers
Contact: Michael Wilkinson
Leadership Strategies, Inc.
Phone: 770-454-1440
Email: mwilkinson@leadstrat.com
WILKINSON NAMED "FACILITATOR OF THE YEAR"
ATLANTA, December 15, 2003 - It is one thing to be told by clients that you have done good work. It is another to be honored by your own peers. Michael Wilkinson, the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company, was named "Facilitator of the Year" for 2003 by the Southeast Association of Facilitators. The award honors the facilitator who contributes the most to advancing the field of facilitation over the prior 18 months.
Facilitators are experts at focusing groups on getting results and reaching consensus. Organizations use group facilitators to lead, among other things, executive strategy sessions, customer focus groups and task forces. Over the last 18 months, Wilkinson has facilitated over 90 such sessions for private and public sector organizations including Storehouse Furniture, Centers for Disease Control and the United Way.
"Michael is clearly one of the leaders in the facilitation field today," said Bill Treasurer, head of the SEAF Awards Committee and author of the book, Right Risk. "The Committee was impressed with Michael's client work, as well as with his support of both the facilitation industry and the community at large."
Wilkinson serves on the Board of Directors of the National Institute for Facilitation. He is the primary author of The Effective Facilitator, a manual used worldwide for training facilitators. He has published over a dozen articles on facilitation and recently published a study on "Facilitator Competencies" based on information gained from 450 clients and facilitators.
"Some people think of facilitators as passive meeting managers: they set the ground rules and make sure the meeting stays on track," says Wilkinson. "Great facilitators do much more. A great facilitator helps a team capture a vision of what they can accomplish, engages the team in a way that gets them excited about the result, and builds consensus for action and commitment to follow through."
Wilkinson is a much sought-after speaker and trainer. He has led sessions internationally in Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Singapore and Sydney. While he has worked with executives from such large organizations as Shell Oil and Unisys, he also discounts and donates time to smaller non-profit organizations. This past year, he provided facilitation support to over 20 non-profit organizations, including Families First, Bobby Dodd Institute, Atlanta Youth Academy and Butler Street YMCA.
Wilkinson heads up Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company (www.leadstrat.com), an organization that trains facilitators around the world in a structured methodology for facilitating groups. The company also provides training services in other soft skills areas as well, including leadership development, consulting skills, strategic planning and communication. Recently, Leadership Strategies launched NFDB.com - the National Facilitator Database. Through NFDB.com, clients can find facilitators with the expertise they need for sessions anywhere in the country.
About SEAF
The Southeast Association of Facilitators (www.seaf.org) exists to promote and improve group facilitation techniques. The Association meets bi-monthly to share facilitation experiences and advance the tools and techniques of the profession, expertise and related information about methodologies, tools and techniques. SEAF is an affiliate of the International Association of Facilitators, a network of 1300 facilitators in 20 countries.
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