Facilitator Mentoring

Facilitator mentoring is ideal for people who have been thinking about becoming a professional facilitator or more skilled at the process of facilitation. At North Star Facilitators, we believe it is important to work with someone who has a wide range of experience in the field and has a respectful, interactive coaching style that honors all the skills you are bringing to the table. We have a program for you that will help you assess what your current facilitator competencies are and help you take the journey to becoming more confident, present and skilled at working with groups.

This program is beneficial for:

• People who have been facilitating in their organization and want to deepen their understanding of how to work with almost any situation where they are called on to help the groups in their organization
• Students and organizational development (OD) consultants who understand the concepts of OD but are still not completely confident in their ability to use facilitation skills in their OD work
• Others who are regularly called on to facilitate groups but sense they may be lacking certain tools or methods, or simply want to become more present with the group
• Leaders who want to take a more facilitative approach with their peers and direct reports.

This mentoring package takes place over six to twelve months and is customized to meet your needs as you move forward in the field of professional facilitation.

Your mentor, Barbara Mackay, has been a professional facilitator for over 25 years and is a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF©) with the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). From 2004 to 2007, Barbara was in charge of the worldwide certification program for the IAF. In this role, she was able strategize ways to make facilitation a more accessible skill to people all over the world. She continues to certify facilitators and since 2002, has participated in assessing the competencies of hundreds of professional facilitator candidates from six different continents. She is also a certified Technology of Participation (ToP®) facilitator with the Institute of Cultural Affairs in the USA and Canada for those interested in honing their skills in this highly participatory way of facilitating. Barbara has mentored dozens of highly respected professionals to become better facilitators. She has also been certified in the OneSmartWorld system including smart meetings processes. These have proven to be highly effective in helping people design their meeting agendas and build "total intelligence" in organizations.

What mentoring includes:

• Facilitator Competency Assessment - At the beginning and end of the program we review your self assessment for the IAF facilitator certification competencies and help you set goals and plan for continued improvement in all areas where you would like to improve.
• Monthly Mentoring Calls - We talk on the phone, online or in person to review your progress toward your stated goals. We also offer coaching to help you design particular events for your clients.
• Shadow My Events - You will have at least three opportunities to observe, assist, possibly co-facilitate and co-design where practical. There will be time to debrief and answer your questions. You will have the opportunity to practice preparing the written documents for any of these events. DVD's of facilitated events can be made available for those living outside the area.
• Observation and Feedback - Barbara will observe one of your facilitated events (three - four hours) and provide affirming and helpful feedback on how you can continue to improve as a facilitator and/or prepare for IAF certification.
• Discounts on Products and Workshops - When you buy a mentoring package, you can purchase any of the facilitator café handouts at half price. You will also get a 20% discount on all our facilitator training workshops with an opportunity to hone some aspects of your facilitation skills by assisting at the workshops. Click here to view our facilitation courses.