Buckinghamshire (UK), February 2013 - APMG-International, a provider of specialist qualifications for knowledge-based workers, including PRINCE2® and ITIL®, has launched a new certification scheme in Facilitation skills.
Facilitation is a professional skill that can be used in the workplace to identify and resolve issues, encourage productive interaction, develop accurate objectives, and define the scope of change projects. Good facilitators empower and encourage teams so they get the most out of strategic planning exercises.
Based on methodology written and developed by Tony Mann, director of Strategic Resource Change, the scheme will teach candidates how to design, apply, and use specific processes and tools in order to increase the success of programmes and projects.
"Effective facilitation helps identify issues and resolve problems through productive interaction," Tony says. "This then defines the scope of projects and allows accurate development of objectives through communication, engaging stakeholders and encouraging team members to contribute. Because project objectives are clarified, constructive solutions can be drawn out of discussions resulting in higher rates of project success."
APMG's scheme offers facilitators the opportunity to be trained, assessed, and certified in a similar way to project managers with a Foundation qualification and - coming soon - a Practitioner qualification. It offers training organizations the chance to be accredited to offer the new Facilitation courses and qualifications.
"Effective facilitation can make the difference between a solution that has all kinds of hidden problems and one that is robust and can be made to work. It helps people work collaboratively on key issues and also to make fundamental decisions," Tony says.
The Facilitation qualifications complement all other APMG-International certifications, as qualified facilitators have skills and methods that can be transferred into any business context, industry, or sector.
Richard Pharro, CEO. APMG-International, says, "Being an effective facilitator helps any manager achieve higher levels of success. Too often, confusion among team members leads to late, over-budget project delivery; the processes taught in Facilitation could help eradicate this problem."
