Dialogue Facilitation

Dialogue Facilitation Training: The Basics

New dates to be announced!

Would you like to help people engage in group dialogue? Do you want to learn how to facilitate a dialogue? Would you like to learn how to organise and lead a dialogue? Then we invite you to participate in this two-day training on facilitating dialogue.

During two days you will developing basic skills to organise and facilitate group dialogues. With these skills you can contribute to a more open and interactive culture of communication and participation. You will also help to build trust among people and within groups and organisations by creating an environment that encourages conversation.

Dialogue

Group dialogue is a conversation format that empowers people to discuss complex issues, without having to take standpoints or the pressure to make a decision. A dialogue is a form of collective and creative thinking about subjects or questions that concern all participants. Dialogues allow people to talk about these issues, both from a personal and from a conceptual perspective.

Training

This training covers the fundamentals of group dialogue, including how to structure and facilitate it. Dialogue is an excellent conversation format for exploring fundamental questions within teams and organisations.

Examples of such questions are: ‘What are our core values as a team?’, ‘How do we define effective collaboration?’, ‘What does success mean to us?’, and ‘What does it take to trust each other?’

As a facilitator, you boost the quality of a dialogue by creating a safe atmosphere, you support everyone to participate equally, and you keep the focus on the central question.

Focus of the training:

  1. Understanding the background and values of dialogue
  2. Preparing and choosing the appropriate form of dialogue
  3. Selecting and inviting people for dialogue
  4. Opening, facilitating and concluding a dialogue
  5. Strategies for reading and steering group dynamics

Included aspects:

  • The benefits of dialogue for individuals, communities and organisations.
  • Key differences between dialogue, discussion and debate.
  • Different types of dialogue: small group, medium group & public dialogue.
  • Ways to support everyone to speak and build a constructive conversation.
Output

1) You can implement these skills in your own work, your organisation and community. You will also be able to join future in depth trainings.

2) We are starting a pool of dialogue facilitators. This pool is there to help both with our own projects as with projects we run in collaboration with partners. After the training you can join this pool.

Practicalities
  • Days: Saturday & Sunday
  • Times: 9:30 – 12:30, 1 hour lunch break, 13:30 – 16:30
  • Location: In our training room, Telliskivi 60a, Tallinn, 3th floor
  • Working language: English
  • Group size: minimum 7, maximum 12
Trainer

Bart Cosijn is a trainer, teacher and facilitator. He is the founder and CEO of the Estonian Dialogue Academy. He has been training facilitation and moderation skills since 2011. He has given facilitation trainings for cultural institutes, universities, journalistic outlets and public organisations. As a trainer Bart worked in Europe, the US and Japan.

In 2019 he published the booklet ‘On the Art of Moderating’. He is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, writing about the importance of dialogue, empathic leadership, and deliberative democracy. Before moving to Estonia, Bart worked for 15 years in the Netherlands and abroad as a participation specialist, facilitator and moderator.

Reviews

“I strongly recommend the Dialogue Facilitation training as it is useful for anyone who is leading or working in groups. The skill is also benefits as an education on what does a quality dialogue require and how to make it happen, even when having lunch with family.”

“The practical exercises are excellent. You can participate both as an observer and as a facilitator, which allows you to learn from different contexts and scenarios in a short amount of time. I will definitely join Part Two. Very happy to have participated. Totally worth it.”

“Great experience and even if you don’t plan on being a dialogue facilitator in the direct future. I feel like this weekend taught me how to be a more attentive listener and how to participate in a conversation more meaningfully.”