Leadership Strategies offers free online classes or "webinars" to anyone interested in learning more about facilitation and consulting. These 90-minute sessions are full of energy and extremely interactive, ensuring you retain as much valuable, practical information as possible.

Upcoming Webinars

"Excellent content. Practical information delivered in concise and engaging manner." -Mary R, FL

Click on a webinar title from this list for more information.

Introduction to Facilitating Groups
Discover practical facilitation techniques to elevate your group handling skills and help you achieve amazing organizational results.  Adapted from our flagship course, The Effective Facilitator.

Keys to Facilitating the Strategic Planning Process
Understand the key components of a strategic plan, the steps in the strategic planning process, how to gain buy-in, the 10 facilitation pitfalls to avoid and more!

Facilitative Training Skills: Creating the Dynamic Experience
Learn cutting-edge tools designed to make training sessions more facilitative and engaging. (For training managers, consultants, or anyone who participates in training sessions.)

Becoming a Certified Facilitator - Is Certification Right for You?
Learn the benefits of getting certified in facilitation, certification options and how to prepare for certification. (For experienced facilitators in preparation for certification.)

Strategic Planning for Success
Understand the components of a strategic plan and the role they play.  By having the right process in place, you’ll gain buy-in from the group to help you put the plan into action.

Effective Consulting
Receive an overview of our structured framework for effective consulting with client handling strategies and techniques for meeting challenges at each stage of the consulting process. (For internal and external consultants or anyone whose role requires a consultative style.)

(NEW) Virtual Facilitation: Applying the Facilitator's Methodology from Anywhere
Learn how to facilitate meetings virtually for powerful group engagement and results – as if you were in the same room. Maximize group efforts with technology while minimizing common virtual meeting challenges.

An Introduction to Facilitating Groups

At some point, even experienced trainers, facilitators and managers find themselves standing before groups whose dynamics are all over the board. Everyone is expressing an opinion, ideas are flying at warp speed, emotions are high, disagreement is rampant, and some people are shutting down while others are rebelling against the process. Wouldn’t it be great to have the tools that allow you to regain control and confidently lead the group to effective results every time?

Join us in this free, 90-minute webinar and learn practical facilitation techniques to elevate your group handling skills and help you achieve amazing organizational results. Whether you facilitate meetings like strategy sessions, focus groups, executive sessions, community gatherings or task forces, this webinar will give you a comprehensive approach for working with any type of group. You will discover the facilitative approach that is proven to work in critical activities like strategy development, issue resolution, requirements analysis, process improvement, action planning, and more.

**This web seminar was adapted from The Effective Facilitator - the first course accredited for covering the 30 Certified Master Facilitator (CMF) competencies.

LEARN HOW TO:

• Prepare for a successful engagement/meeting
• Gain the groups interest and support from the start
• Get executives to transfer their power to you
• Keep the group focused
• Handle dysfunctional behavior
• Guide groups to effective business solutions
• Reach consensus decisions
• Close the session with commitment

IDEAL FOR: Training and HR Professionals, Consultants, Facilitators, Functional Team Leaders/Managers, Executives, Project Managers, Sales Professionals, Analysts, and more

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Keys to Facilitating the Strategic Planning Process

As a leader, you understand how important a strong strategic plan is to the success of an organization. But, any plan is only as good as the information you use to build it, and it will only go as far as the team will take it. This is why your role as the facilitator is so crucial during strategic planning. The facilitator must know the critical components to include in a strategic plan, how to guide the strategy team easily through the planning process, and how to build the team’s buy-in and commitment to implementing the plan. It’s a big task, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

In this webinar, Richard Smith, Certified Master Facilitator and Director of Facilitation at Leadership Strategies, will break down the planning process for you in an approach that is easy to understand and apply. (This webinar is adapted from the Secrets to Facilitating Strategy three-day course.)

YOU'LL LEARN:

• The key components of a strategic plan
• The steps in the strategic planning process
• How to gain buy-in and commitment from your strategy team
• How to make the plan actionable
• The 10 facilitation pitfalls to avoid during planning sessions

IDEAL FOR: Professional facilitators, organizational leaders, and representatives of all types of organizations - non-profit, government, and commercial - seeking to develop viable action plans for accomplishing growth objectives or improving current processes

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Facilitative Training Skills: Creating the Dynamic Experience

Even experienced trainers at one time or another find themselves standing before groups whose dynamics are all over the board. Wouldn’t it be great to have the tools to regain control of the room every time? Everyone has an opinion, ideas have to be handled, varying learning styles must be taken into account, and you’ve got to delineate difficult questions being thrown at you at warp speed. How do trainers handle these challenges in an efficient, effective and enthusiastic manner?

In this 90-minute webinar, we introduce you to a training approach you can use right away - the facilitative approach to training. Learn about cutting-edge tools designed to make sessions even more engaging. These proven techniques will transform the way audiences receive and apply your training material. Whether you are a training manager or consultant, a subject matter expert who relays information, or someone who regularly leads training sessions, this webinar will give you a comprehensive approach for powerfully influencing group learning.

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Becoming a Certified Facilitator - Is Certification Right for You?

Are you a seasoned facilitator looking to set yourself apart from the crowd? Have you considered getting certified, but aren’t really sure if facilitator certification is right for you?

Join us in an upcoming, 60-minute web conference, “Becoming a Certified Facilitator”. During the session you’ll have opportunities to ask questions and will be provided with an overview of:

• Benefits of getting certified
• Various certification options available for facilitators
• Skill level and experience requirements
• The certification process
• How to prepare for certification

Prior to the session we encourage you to review the details about Master Facilitator Certification, and the Certified Master Facilitator FAQ's.

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Strategic Planning for Success

Are you looking for ways to propel your organization or department to the next level? This 90-minute webinar will reveal the secrets to creating your own strategic planning roadmap to success.

Certified Master Facilitator Richard Smith will lead you to understand the components of a strategic plan and the role they play. He’ll then discuss choosing the right strategic planning process. By having the right process in place you’ll gain buy in from the group to help you put the plan into action. And finally we’ll show you how to choose the right facilitator – the plusses and minuses of having an internal person or a professional facilitator lead the session.

For those that attend the event and fill out a short survey at the end of the webinar, you’ll receive a white paper explaining the Leadership Strategies’ proven planning methodology, The Drivers Model, and be entered into a drawing to receive a review of your current plan to see how it measures up.

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Effective Consulting

Whether you’re an independent consultant, internal project manager or business service provider, the ultimate goal is the same – client satisfaction. You must maintain trusting relationships with internal customers and senior managers, understand their business needs, recommend powerful solutions, and inspire your project team to remain committed and take ownership.

But, the challenges you frequently face can hinder your ability to deliver results – poorly-defined vision and goals… ineffective project teams… unrealistic time and cost estimates… scope changes… ineffective communication… poor time management… unengaged customers and end users…

In this 90-minute webinar, you’ll receive an overview of our structured framework for effective consulting with client handling strategies and facilitation techniques for meeting challenges at each stage of the consulting process. Whether you’re a consultant or an individual whose role requires a consultative style, this webinar will give you a comprehensive approach for increasing client satisfaction.

TOPICS COVERED:

• Interviewing the Sponsor
• Setting and Maintaining Scope
• Writing a Winning Proposal
• Building Trust / Closing the Deal
• Managing the Project
• Managing Client Relationships
• Understanding DISC Communication Styles
• Making Recommendations

IDEAL FOR:

Consultants, Project Managers, Analysts, Independent Contractors, Service Providers, and any professional whose role requires a consultative style

*This e-course was adapted from our course, The Facilitative Consultant

**Organizations that have benefited from The Facilitative Consultant: Abbott Labs, Allstate, AutoTrader, Centers for Disease Control, Cisco, Comerica, Cox Communications, Georgia-Pacific, Lucidity Consulting Group, New York Life Insurance, State Farm, US Coast Guard, Wachovia (Wells Fargo), and more…

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(NEW) Virtual Facilitation: Applying the Facilitator's Methodology from Anywhere

Virtual meetings are the norm today. Sure, you may know how to facilitate group meetings, but how are your virtual facilitation skills? Do you know how to use technology effectively to achieve maximum group results even when you’re not in the same room? How do you minimize the common challenges?

Facilitation skills are essential to keeping your group engaged in virtual meetings. Too often, participants face the glaring temptation to multi-task behind the scenes. Dysfunction may erupt and slow down the productivity of a group without your knowledge. Participants feel they are either limited or without structure, process, or tools necessary to conduct work and make critical decisions. How do you, as the meeting facilitator, rally the group to deliver results when you encounter these challenges?

In this 90-minute webinar, learn how to adapt facilitation skills to the virtual environment. Discover critical components of virtual facilitation, how to overcome common dysfunctions in virtual meetings, and ways to accomplish full group participation – as if you’re in the same room.

TOPICS COVERED:

    •    The 6 Ps of Preparation – How to set up your “room”
    •    Keeping participants involved – not multi-tasking
    •    Ground rules for virtual sessions
    •    Virtual engagement strategies
    •    Managing dysfunction and disagreement in virtual sessions

IDEAL FOR:

Project managers, analysts, IT professionals, managers, sales professionals, consultants, individuals who travel frequently, and individuals who regularly utilize virtual meeting solutions and/or want to utilize virtual meeting solutions

*This webinar was adapted from our course, The Effective Virtual Facilitator.

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