The Facilitator’s Skills and Tools (11505) – 2 days – English/Virtual

Course Description

Facilitation is a dynamic, adaptive mindset and skillset enabling individuals to guide groups through complex conversations, build alignment, and co-create impactful outcomes. The Facilitator’s Skills and Tools equips participants with the techniques and practical tools to lead inclusive, effective sessions across virtual, hybrid, and in-person environments.

A great add-on to the core facilitation practices and approaches explored in our The Facilitator’s Mindset workshop, this course covers considerations such as facilitator biases, group dynamics, and working with challenging behaviours, as well as a variety of facilitation processes and tools that can be chosen from, according to a group’s purpose and objectives.

By grounding facilitation in principles such as psychological safety, intentional session design, and awareness of facilitator bias, this course emphasizes the importance of facilitation as both a leadership practice and a driver of collaborative success. From exploring group dynamics to selecting the right process tools and navigating difficult behaviours, participants will develop their ability to lead conversations that matter.

Throughout the course, participants will engage in:

• Practical facilitation exercises and simulations
• Expert-led modeling of techniques and behaviours
• Small group and paired discussions
• Peer feedback

A comprehensive reference manual will be provided for continued learning.

Course Duration

2 days : June 17 and June 19, 2025

Course Format

Virtual – English

Target Audience

This course is designed for individuals—leaders, team members, managers, and emerging facilitators—who are ready to expand their facilitation toolkit and lead high-impact discussions across a range of settings.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will have built a practical and versatile facilitation toolkit to design and lead engaging, outcome-driven conversations. They will be able to confidently apply tools such as issue analysis, decision-making frameworks, and action planning methods. Participants will also develop a stronger understanding of group dynamics and learn how to encourage participation, navigate facilitator bias, and manage challenging behaviours with clarity and confidence. Most importantly, they will be able to design and deliver sessions that balance structure with flexibility, purpose with process, and dialogue with results.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Adopt facilitative approaches
2. Ask powerful, purposeful questions
3. Facilitate effectively based on group dynamics
4. Apply core facilitation tools and techniques
5. Choose and adapt the right tool for the right purpose
6. Maintain engagement across various formats
7. Manage difficult behaviours with confidence

Modules

• Core Principles of Facilitation – Understanding facilitation and when to use it.
• Understanding Group Dynamics – Exploring team performance factors and a group development model.
• Identifying the Right Tool for the Right Purpose – Learning key group process tools for
• What Makes an Effective Facilitator? – Developing questioning, listening, and bias-awareness skills.
• Framing a Facilitated Discussion – Techniques for structuring discussions and guiding productive conversations.
• Facilitating for Continued Engagement – Strategies for managing challenging behaviours and sustaining participation.

Course Instructor

Marc Valois is a Principal and Senior Consultant of the Intersol Group, he is an extremely dynamic and effective group “architect”, facilitator and “enabler” for Executive dialogue in both official languages. He has over 25 years of experience in a variety of projects including the provision of engagement strategies in support of multi-stakeholder expert advisory committees, strategic planning, change management, organizational transformation and program and policy development for clients at the most senior levels of government. Marc has incorporated the use of online engagement technologies in his work. These online spaces have offered his clients the potential for greater reach and higher levels of engagement as participants enjoy a high degree of flexibility to connect “anytime, anyplace”, and can connect with a broader range of perspectives and ideas than they would through traditional face-to-face interaction.

Laïla Ouazzani-Touhami is the Learning advisor and a bilingual intermediate trainer at Intersol, with a focus on communication, leadership, emotional intelligence, and foundational facilitation skills. She approaches every training project with the goal of helping clients achieve their potential by responding to their professional needs and objectives. Her strengths are creating courageous environments for people to express their ideas and ask questions. She considers every topic with an open mind and welcomes all thought processes.

Luc is an award-winning bilingual professional with over 18 years of experience spanning Human Resources, Corporate Planning, Journalism, and Public Relations. Known for his ability to help organizations navigate complex cultural and operational transformations, Luc specializes in facilitating team alignment and developing strategies that address emerging challenges effectively.With a proven human-centered approach, Luc ensures teams actively participate in shaping solutions they can understand, embrace, and implement. His facilitation style fosters engagement, collaboration, and ownership – key elements for achieving measurable and sustainable results. By combining strategic foresight with tailored facilitation, Luc helps organizations and individuals alike align their vision with actionable outcomes.

Questions

To find out more, please contact info@intersol.ca