I’m delighted to announce a project that’s been underway for several months now: a new online workshop developed in collaboration with TeamCatapult called Virtual Team Facilitation. The workshop is hosted by TeamCatapult and will be co-taught by their CEO Marsha Acker and myself.
It’s offered in a two-day online format and includes a mini team intensive that gives participants an opportunity to really practice what they’ve learned. The workshop focuses on creating and facilitating effective team engagements in virtual settings. It’s different from my current Grove workshop Facilitating Virtual Collaboration in that the new workshop is framed within the context of agile teaming methodology and taking agile practices into virtual settings. Some experience with agile team facilitation is required. We review key tenets of agile facilitation but don’t cover it in depth — TeamCatapult has another course for that. Learn more about Virtual Team Facilitation and/or register here.
Here’s the official press release:
TeamCatapult and The Grove Consultants announce Partnership for Virtual Team Facilitation Course
July 27, 2017 – TeamCatapult and The Grove Consultants International have formed a partnership to co-deliver the Virtual Team Facilitation course. The partnership leverages TeamCatapult’s proven core curriculum for agile coaches and leaders and The Grove’s expertise in virtual environments, graphic facilitation and team development. The launch of this class takes the foundational mindset and skills of agile team facilitation to the virtual environment.
The partnership addresses the daunting task many agile coaches face to effectively facilitate teams in the ever-increasing virtual working environment. Nearly 3% of the workforce, or 3.7 million people, work remotely (Global Workplace Analytics, Jan. 2016). “So much of our work today takes place virtually and yet people cringe when they are invited to virtual meetings. We want to help facilitators transform virtual meetings to a place where people are engaged and productive. We have long been users of the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance model by the Grove and are excited to partner with them on this new course,” Marsha Acker, CEO of TeamCatapult, the first company in 2012 to offer the ICAgile accredited Agile Team Facilitation.
Rachel Smith, Senior Consultant and Director of Digital Facilitation Services at The Grove Consultants, and author of the soon to be released book Beyond Virtual Meetings, notes, “We are thrilled about this partnership and excited to be part of launching the program. I am really looking forward to the course and the new insights it will bring in this area.” Rachel brings in-depth experience and expertise of group process in a virtual environment, having successfully facilitated large scale, multi-month, remote organizational change initiatives.
The virtual team facilitation program continues TeamCatapult’s mission of providing a learning journey for 21st century collaborative leaders who want to grow their capacity of working with agile teams. The Grove Consultants are experts in team development and visual facilitation. The co-leadership of the virtual facilitation course will enhance the facilitation mindset with a very real opportunity to lead virtual teams with measurable success. “…remote collaboration can be absolutely painful, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s also not going to go away.” — beyondvirtualmeetings.com
About Team Catapult
TeamCatapult is a leadership and team development firm. TeamCatapult offers a range of services from workshops to individual and leadership team coaching that support agile leaders seeking to lead change in their team or organization.
About The Grove Consultants
The Grove Consultants International is a San Francisco-based consultancy, founded in 1977 by David Sibbet. Our consultants and tools support organizations, teams, and individuals to envision and achieve change. The Grove offers a complete range of services: visual facilitation, strategic visioning, trainings, and communication design. We are leaders in using large-scale visualization in real time for strategy, leadership, and team development.
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