Facilitation & training
We work with clients on a wide-range of different solutions to help them unlock the potential of their teams and groups. Whether it is top management teams who need to be more effective in the boardroom; project teams who want to ensure they’re meeting their goals, or department teams who strive to be more cohesive, and operate less in a silo.
Techniques to help unlock the solutions vary but often involve a facilitated workshop, typically 1-2 days. We use our expertise, along with input from key team members to design a workshop solution that really hits the spot. We can then manage the facilitation process, along with any potential individuals (you’ll know who they are if you have them!) to allow you and your team to focus on where you want to get to. Typical workshops we get involved in include:
- strategy & business planning
- sharing learnings & best practice across the organisation
- team building
- improving communications and ways of working
Tailored management development is the other key mechanism for developing and unlocking the potential of groups and teams. Based on robust science our sessions are crammed with pragmatic tools and techniques that you can put into practice back in the workplace. Because the approach is tailored and developed in conjunction with the organisation, the learnings are applicable straight away – a real just-in-time approach rather than just-in-case! Sessions can vary from 2hr skill injections, to day long programmes, through to modular development programmes run over 1-2 years. We use our imagination and professionalism to develop a bespoke programme, working in collaboration with your key team members. Following initial delivery, we then often work with our clients to determine how to transfer the training in-house, so that the they’re not dependent on us as an external provider for any repeat deliveries.
These are just a few examples of our facilitation and training work:
Strategy planning
We have worked over several years with one of the Local Enterprise Partnerships, to design and facilitate their annual strategy planning day involving stakeholders across the partnership. With an audience of 50+ CEOs, local Councillors and Professors, the design needs to be highly interactive, maximising participation whilst ensuring that it is focused on clear pragmatic outcomes and actions. Focus areas for these days typically include key milestones and plans for the year ahead, whilst also thinking about how to improve communications and work together more effectively.
The strong relationships we build with our clients, and the results we get through our design and facilitation means that most of our projects are repeat work with current clients or through recommendations. If you are new to blue acorn solutions these clients are happy to chat to you about what we’re like to work with.
Developing an awareness programme
As part of our making a difference programme we supported the AIDS nutrition programme set up by Butterfly Space in Malawi. When we arrived the design of the programme was a series of scrappy notes in a folder, which meant it was very hard to transfer learnings, or to gear up other volunteers to run the programme. We significantly redesigned the programme, building in key learning objectives for each session, incorporating new techniques for increasing engagement, and developing mechanisms to ensure there was lasting behaviour change. Our support also included train-the-trainer support, helping enhance facilitation skills of the local staff.
Although the content of this training programme was very different to our usual corporate work, we used the same principles to ensure maximum learning and engagement, whilst working to make the client self reliant.