Facilitation for teams, Boards and partnerships

Create more impact

When designing workshops or discussions I use a systematic approach to ensure that your objectives and the interests of your participants are met.

I tend to use a mixture of food for thought, discussion, sharing of best practice and practical tools. I usually include time for attendees to learn from each other and to draw up an (individual) action plan.

I work in collaboration with Amanda Heenan, founder of Arc of Inclusion, an expert in equality, diversity and inclusion. Together we facilitate safe and inclusive discussions where people feel empowered to share their views and be open and honest.

I can help your team/Board/partnership with:

Improving team dynamics

• Establishing common ground and alignment
• Addressing pain points in group dynamics
• Having open and constructive discussion

Developing a shared vision and action plan

• Collaboratively developing a vision for the team
• Turning the vision into a team strategy and plan
• Prioritizing and planning of work

Working more effectively together

• Becoming a high-performing team
• Establishing constructive working agreements
• Facilitating effective partnership working

Methodology

Depending on your needs, I can design a one-off workshop or work with you and your team, Board or partnership over a longer period of time.

• As a starting point, we have an in-depth conversation about what you want to achieve. We agree objectives for the facilitation.
• If possible, I have a confidential conversation with each member of the team/Board/partnership to hear their perspective. This helps to build rapport and to make sure everyone feels heard.
• Based on an analysis of the themes and issues arising from the conversations I carefully design a workshop/discussion that meets your objectives. Core elements will be encouraging people to share their perspectives and ideas in a safe space and structuring these into insights.
• Together we create a pragmatic action plan that people buy into.
• I follow up with further discussions/workshops as required to guide the team on their journey.

Testimonials and examples

Board Strategy day for Scottish Mediation

“Catherine facilitated our Board strategy day. We wanted to integrate a conversation about our purpose and values, aligning with our equality and diversity objective, and at the same time identify key issues for the next three years. Catherine delivered a balanced workshop that met all of those objectives. The overall experience worked well and everyone has mentioned the need to ‘keep the momentum’ developed during the strategy day as we refine objectives arising from the day. What Catherine achieved was develop that momentum in an online event, which is not an easiest thing to do.”
Graham Boyack, CEO, Scottish Mediation

"From Vision to Strategy to Action": workshop for the Macrobert Arts Centre Management Team

“Catherine carried out one-to-one conversations with each member of Management Team, then curated and facilitated a full-day workshop for us. The day was thought-provoking, practical and highly engaging, and it was extremely useful to have an external facilitator to enable us all to participate in the process, as well as to bring new perspective and tools to inform our conversations.”
Kathryn Welch, Operations Director, Macrobert Arts Centre

Read the full Macrobert Arts Centre case study