Course description and syllabus

Gain the confidence and skills you’ll need to facilitate your group, team or community towards greater effectiveness and cooperation. Groups often get bogged down by their decision-making and meeting process. Poorly held processes can diminish energy for the work of the group and undercuts the sense of joy and identification among members. The secret of happy and productive groups is great facilitation.

In Facilitation in Community, you’ll unpack the essential elements needed to be an effective facilitator in cooperative culture. You’ll gain an understanding of what cooperative culture is and how you can build more of it through your facilitation work.

Distilled from more than three decades of work as a professional facilitator and trainer for cooperative groups, Laird Schaub will cover what you need to know to be the best facilitator you can be for the groups you care about. 

Classes and topics in Facilitation in Community syllabus include:

1st Class: Working in cooperative culture & with content

• an understanding of the essential differences between competitive and cooperative culture
• skills to manage both content (what people are saying) and energy (the way they are saying it)
• an Operator’s License (the authority facilitators need to do their work)
• how to sequence facilitation work on an issue for maximum efficiency

2nd Class: Formats and spectrums (how people are different)

• the ways in which people differ and how to work creatively and inclusively with those complexities
• an understanding of the myriad ways in which people differ and how to respond creatively

3rd Class: Working emotionally

• how the expression of strong feelings can be harnessed rather than harmful
• the advantages of opening up to non-rational input
• knowledge of unexamined assumptions that get groups into trouble

4th Class: Working inclusively (understanding consensus)

• how to efficiently tackle issues that are worthy of whole group attention
• how to give and receive critical feedback

5th Class: Delegation (right relationship with teams & whole)

• when to hand work off to teams
• a clear understanding of how to delegate effectively

Your instructor

Laird Schaub

Laird’s specialty is up-tempo inclusive meetings that engage the full range of human input, teaching groups to work creatively with conflict and diversity—all the while being ruthless about capturing as much product as possible. He lived for four decades at Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing rural community that he helped found.
Laird also helped found the Foundation for Intentional Community, where he served as the main administrator for 28 years. In 1987, he created a self-insurance fund for healthcare among income-sharing communities called PEACH (Preservation of Equity Accessible for Community Health) that he ran for 22 years.
In addition to his expertise in community living, he’s parlayed his passion for good process into a consulting business focused on cooperative group dynamics, styled CANBRIDGE (Consensus And Network Building for Resolving Impasse and Developing Group Effectiveness), since 1987.

Read his blog Laird’s Commentary on Community and Consensus

Testimonials

“This course was a great overview of not only effective facilitation, but also a group governance using consensus. I gained a deeper understanding of both of these topics, and had insights that I know will make me a better facilitator. I am also taking a way valuable information about how to shepherd the developments of ideas, projects and policies in my community in ways that are both inclusive and effective.”

-Leslie Thomsen

“This was a great overview of facilitation tools and skills. Great for anyone interested in the field to take a look at how deep it can go, and see if it’s a good fit for them. Laird’s experience and knowledge are immense.”

-Thea Hart

“Excellent course for facilitators of intentional communities. Laird brings a wealth of knowledge with excellent handouts and teaching style. He addresses the challenges specific to intentional communities where we are committed to moving from an “I” context to a “we” community. He offers specific information on all aspects of facilitating. I am putting his ideas to use immediately with my facilitation team in our community.”

-Martie Weatherly

“Content sequencing was clearly considered and helped me absorb information. The instructor, Laird Schaub, offered many powerful stories from their own facilitation experience that I found illuminating. If I were in the position to recommend the course to a friend, I would say this is a strong intro course to get someone up and running with a skillset attuned to cooperative culture.”

-Devon Kehler

You might also be interested in

• Skillfull Facilitation for Any Situation (Inside Community Podcast episode with Laird Schaub)
• Facilitation and Politics (Inside Community Podcast episode with Yana Ludwig)
• Consensus for Communities (10-hour pre-recorded course)
• Power & Leadership in Community (10-hour pre-recorded course)