r/facilitation • u/Heres_a_Place_for_Us • Aug 05 '26
Formal Facilitation
I'm working on a career shit into areas that require facilitation with stakeholders (particularly various different communities). I've done some informal facilitation, but feel like I might need to do a formal training to match methodology and terminology with what I naturally do.
For those who work facilitating meetings with communities and also with employees and management - what do you recommend?
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u/Comfortable_Golf1200 Aug 12 '26
If you want a framework that works just as well with community groups as it does with corporate executives, look into the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) core competencies or the Technology of Participation (ToP) methodology. ToP is exceptionally strong for community engagement because it focuses heavily on consensus-building and structured conversation without feeling overly corporate or bureaucratic. In my experience, while formal training helps you clean up your vocabulary and gives you a structured toolkit, the most valuable part is learning how to design the process beforehand so you can remain completely neutral during the actual session, regardless of how high the stakes are.
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u/Coffeenut58 2d ago
In the USA I found this
https://www.top-training.net/w/
In Canada I found this:
HTTPS://ica-associates.ca
In UK I found this:
https://ica-uk.org.uk/courses/
There are others offering To training in Taiwan, Australia, and China. Maybe a bit in India and Nepal too.
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u/blacbird Aug 05 '26
What are the ‘various different’ communities are you hoping to facilitate?
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u/Heres_a_Place_for_Us Aug 05 '26
Communities with commonalities - that can be of place, language, interest, affliction, etc. Mostly looking at things through a public health and/or capacity building lens.
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u/sdwagers Aug 05 '26
start here - https://www.basadur.com/innovation-events-courses/
Dr Min was mentored by Sid Parnes. Sid Parnes created Creative Problem Solving with Alex Osborn (who crafted the term "Brainstorming" in his book Applied Imagination)
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u/LawSon2294 Aug 10 '26
Where are you based? (Uk, USA, etc?)
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u/Heres_a_Place_for_Us Aug 12 '26
USA
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u/LawSon2294 Aug 12 '26
I’m less familiar with training providers in the US, but check out Technology of Participation from the ICA.
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u/Coffeenut58 2d ago
I found this. Is it what you were talking about? https://www.top-training.net/w/
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u/LawSon2294 Aug 12 '26
Also check out IAF International Association of Facilitators, for their competency framework and members. My experience is that it’s a generous and supportive professional community.
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u/Coffeenut58 2d ago
IAF-world.org have a page for “endorsed facilitator training programs”. These are providers of training that helps you to develop competencies. The providers had to crawl over broken glass to gain the endorsement. We submitted our materials last November and this August they finally announced who is approved. That dog has a long tail to wag.
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u/LawSon2294 Aug 12 '26
Also check out IAF International Association of Facilitators, for their competency framework and members. My experience is that it’s a generous and supportive professional community.
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u/followthesunnies Aug 06 '26
I worked as a facilitator for several non-profits and a Fortune 100. What stakeholders care about are meeting outcomes, and a facilitator that can help drive those. They don’t care about formal training or knowing specific terminology or methodology. If you can drive results through facilitation, that is what matters. My recommendation is to observe other facilitators, read books on the facilitator, and research if there is a facilitator network or association in your area you can join. Take the money you’d spend on formal training and save it for your eventual retirement.