The 21st century way of getting things done is facilitating collaboration

ICA's Core Facilitation Skills Courses provide you with proven tools for high participation

Issues and organizations are just too complex for any one person to have the "right" answer. Command-and-control systems are not standard operating procedure any more. The 21st century requires collaboration among diverse people to create breakthrough thinking.

We have lots of great ideas. There are many groups who can genuinely say, "We are poised on the tip of innovation and ready for a breakthrough." Ideas, even really good ones, are all around us. Where many organizations run into the wall is the meeting set up to discuss and move forward.

These courses will equip you to

- Engage people
- - Maximize their contributions
- Enhance their performance
- - Build consensus
- Resolve disputes

Get the benefits of

-Fuller participation
- - Stronger collaboration
- Increased levels of responsibility
- - A deeper commitment to results

Courses in Halifax

International Association of Facilitators
North America Conference
May 9 - 10, 2012
Dalhousie University - Halifax

- - Group Facilitation Methods
- - Meetings That Work

Register directly with IAF for these courses
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Transferable to every job and situation

Facilitation skills can be used to:

• Lead an organization or department through change

• Create strategic, operational or project plans

• Get multistakeholder groups up and running

• Generate new thinking and perspectives in large groups

• Move a dysfunctional group to a high performing team

Practising facilitation makes one known, needed and respected within an organization or network. All the skills are transferable to other areas of life, and can become a key approach as a consultant or coach.

Technology of Participation ToP®

ToP® are the tools, methods, processes and understandings developed by ICA since the 1960s. Using ToP® methods a skilled facilitator can
• Draw out contributions from diverse participants.
• Help a group deal with a large amount of data in a short period of time.
• Pool participants’ contributions into larger, more information-rich patterns.
• Deal with polarization, conflict and diversity.
• Enable a group to make well-considered decisions.
• Motivate commitment to action.

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I make plans, hold meetings and conduct research using ICA’s methods of participation. They are the best methods around to involve people in groups in making sense of lots of information and making decisions about action.
Dr. Suzanne F. Jackson, Executive Director,
Centre for Health Promotion

Hands on demonstration, theory, application and practice of facilitation skills

ToP® facilitation methods are used by thousands of people worldwide and are available in ICA's comprehensive curriculum. Courses are taught only by certified professional and master facilitators who use the methods and tools themselves with their own base of clients in public, private and not-for-profit sectors and in communities.

All ICA courses are designed to show you HOW to use the best methods, skills and techniques, not simply tell you what they are. You'll see master facilitators demonstrate how things are done, why they work, when to use them and you'll get to practice them yourself. Participants regularly say, "This is the best training I have ever had. It is so practical that I can use it tomorrow." 

All courses come with high quality manuals, often with resource books, and free coaching or mentoring after the course.

Our experience over thirty years has been that once a person takes an ICA facilitation skills course, they keep coming back to learn those special skills for working with more complex and more difficult situations.  You get to meet more and more our our internationally known trainers and staff, feel right at home, and begin forming a network with other participants.

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My thanks for providing such good instruction.   I do quite a bit of facilitation and thought it would be a refresher but I learned a lot that hopefully will make me a more effective and versatile facilitator.

Nancy Balcom, Alberta Education

Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and Certified ToP® Facilitator (CTF)

IAF CPF - a certification of a core level of competence

The International Association of Facilitators, the professional association of many facilitators, assesses the core competency of facilitators in a performance-based process, and awards the designation Certified Professional Facilitator CPF. Several assessments are held annually in different parts of the world. Application must be made several months in advance, a portfolio developed and sent to IAF for assessment, and a short event facilitated with your peers at the IAF assessment location. Membership must be maintained with IAF, and reassesment done every three years.

ICA CTF - certification of your mastery of ToP facilitation.

ICA, one of the world's largest networks of facilitators, assesses Technology of Participation ToP® facilitators at an advanced mastery level of facilitation. ToP® facilitators employ a special suite of methods developed by ICA and used worldwide for strategic planning, public consultation, curriculum design, conferencing, workshops, retreats and thinktanks, mentoring, coaching and personal development. The competencies assessed for CTF certification include all of the CPF competencies, and several more. ICA Associates Inc. holds CTF assessments.

Certificate programs

Professional Facilitator Program (PFP) - 10 days that address all the facilitator competencies measured in the CPF assessment

Facilitative Leadership Program (FLP) - 13 days to transform your leadership capacity

Advanced Facilitator Program - PFP + FLP - to become the very best you can be

ToP® Trainers in Canada are also ICA Certified ToP® Facillitators.

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ICA Associates Inc. provides the best training I have come across. Their decades of learning and development have resulted in methods unsurpassed by anyone else in the field.
Dr. David Burman, Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

All Public Courses are available in-house at your location

Your own group of facilitators within your organization can smooth company transitions, handle conflict within and between departments, facilitate important planning events, lead team building and generate creative solutions. There are also many courses available for inhouse training that are not available publicly. In addition, all courses can be fine-tuned for your specific needs, often with no expense. ICA Associates can also develop curriculum for your special situation.

Substantial Savings up to 50%

You can achieve substantial savings (up to 50%) and many organizational benefits by holding in-house Group Facilitation skills training or other courses for your staff. An in-house Group Facilitation course includes demonstrations of powerful methods in diverse situations, theory of how the methods work, practical examples of daily applications, practice sessions for participants, and manuals, with optional books and support for participants after the course.

Benefits to your organization

• Generate new options for working with issues
• Improve communication skills
• Rely less on outside consultants
• Have a permanent core of trained facilitators
• Get maximum participation and creativity from your staff
• Implement organizational changes more smoothly
• Enhance team development
• Have common language and methods for participation.

Combine our facilitation and training services to kickstart a participative environment. Solve difficult challenges, then support changes with a trained, in-house team. We will custom design the course to suit the specific needs of your group. You can use the training to support organizational transformation.

There is a no-risk cancellation policy for in-house courses.

Pre-approved facilitation and training agreements with several governments

Public Works Canada

ICA Associates Inc. is a Vendor of Record for Public Works Canada for Facilitation and for Organizational Management. Supply Arrangement No. is E60BQ-01ISSA/353/ST.

Government of Ontario

ICA Associates Inc. is a Vendor of Record, Reference Number SSB-074043, to the Ontario Public Service (OPS) for Learning and Training Services. As an OPS Vendor of Record some ICA courses are scheduled by the OPS for employees in all ministries. Dates are available online through the Centre for Leadership and Learning for:
• Facilitation Skills: Basics
• Facilitation Skills: Advanced

Government of Alberta

Alberta Culture and Community Spirit: ICA provides two courses through this department.
• Group Facilitation Methods
• Facilitating Decisions at Work

Alberta Education: ICA is a prequalified vendor.

Yukon Government

The Group Facilitation Methods course is regularly scheduled internally for Yukon Government employees. ICA Associates Inc. is also a Vendor of Record for Facilitation and Training.

With companies, survivors and advocates all in the same room, we needed serious expertise in designing the major planning session to launch our new organisation. ICA Associates helped us put the whole enterprise on a very solid foundation.

Pat Kelly, Founder
Canadian Cancer Advocacy Coalition

Thank you again for contributing effectively to our training curriculum aimed at developing the interpersonal skills of both staff and management.
Mary-Jane Jarvis-Haig

Director, Development Support, Iinformation Services, Hudsons Bay Company

In only three days, we had a way for our managers to move the entire organiization toward team-based operations, and an action plan to get it done.
Deborah McLeod, Director
Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board

A clear focus and structure for participation. Everybody felt that their ideas were held there.
Corrine Gilligan
Regent Park Parents for Better Beginnings

Each participatory process ICA Associates Inc has designed for us, including board strategic planning, a large-scale Inuit community priority-establishing project, and the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada consultation, has been respectful and productive with powerful commitment to results from diverse groups.
Richard Jock, Executive Director
National Aboriginal Health Organisation

I use ICA facilitation skills all the time with our board, and numerous teams and workgroups throughout the hospital. In addition, the skills have transferred easily to my personal life and have added new dimensions of understanding.
Doris Shirriff, Vice-Chair, Simcoe York District Health Council
and Executive Director, Penetanguishene General Hospital