"The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy" provides executives, leaders, and facilitators with a step-by-step resource for guiding their team through all phases of the strategic planning process from gaining the team's buy-in to do planning and identify strategic issues, all the way through organization alignment, implementation, monitoring, and making adjustments.

The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, mediators, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in conflict resolution, consulting, managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations.

The revised edition of this facilitation classic offers a wealth of targeted techniques for facilitators who seek effective, consistent, and repeatable results. Based on Michael Wilkinson's proven SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) approach, The Secrets of Facilitation can help to achieve stellar results when managing, presenting, teaching, planning, and selling, as well as other professional and personal situations. This expanded edition includes new chapters on facilitating virtual meetings, cross-cultural teams, and large groups and conferences. It also provides a series of strategies for engaging teams, additional information about making meetings more productive, and further guidance on preventing dysfunctional behavior. In addition, the book contains a wealth of fresh case studies and an ancillary website with must-have tools and techniques for both the beginner and the seasoned facilitator. Praise for the First Edition of The Secrets of Facilitation "One of the single most powerful processes is the ability to successfully lead a group to an impactful, actionable outcome. In The Secrets of Facilitation, beginning and experienced facilitators alike will find tools to take their results to the next level." Jim Canfield, chief learning officer, TEC International "This book shares 'The Secrets' that have been the basis of my facilitation practice for over a decade." Kerri McBride, past chair, International Association of Facilitators "In my career, I've seen many, many facilitators. Michael Wilkinson is the best. 'The Secrets' explain why." Len Roberts, CEO, RadioShack "We have trained over 100 leaders and business analysts in 'The Secrets.' Great facilitation works." Peter Scott, executive general manager, MLC National Australia Bank "At last there is a practical, hands-on guide for anyone who works with groups or teams. This book delivers!" Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, CEO, Herrmann International, Herrmann Brain Dominance Indicator

This unique guide takes strategic planning to a new and more powerful level. It is the only book that integrates the planning process with team decision making and the facilitation skills needed to make them effective. Whether you're getting started or fine-tuning efforts in progress, this comprehensive toolkit-in-a-book will help you make your vision work. It shows how to bend, shape, and modify the conventional strategic planning process to meet your organizations goals. And it delineates the techniques and methods you need to succeed. Examples from actual companies illustrate each step of the process. There are also extensive views of several real-world planning efforts as they evolved over three to five years; these eye-opening cases reveal in depth what worked and what didn't. Moreover, Team-Based Strategic Planning is designed for active use at every stage. You'll find dozens of hands-on tools that will help you as your strategy evolves, including a proven strategic change process model that forecasts expected changes and results over a five-year period; cue cards and flow charts that plot the process and make it easier to master; self-contained facilitator guides for setting priorities, guiding the team to consensus, and using twelve classic techniques to help the team reach its objectives; and troubleshooting advice on problem intervention for CEOs, planning leaders, and facilitators. Team-based strategic planning is intricate and complex. Don't attempt it without an expert guide. From initial concept to final implementation, this is the practical and dynamic resource that you'll consult day after day, year after year.

"That was an awful meeting. What a waste of my time!" How often have you had this same thought? Why do we tolerate bad meetings? Consider the last meeting you attended. How many of these pitfalls were evident? - Did not start on time. - Missing key people. - Lacked a clear purpose. - No agenda. - Few people engaged. - One or two people dominated. - Discussion wandered, repeatedly. - Key issues were not addressed. - No decisions made. - No follow-up actions. - The meeting was not worth the time. Have we lowered the bar so far that bad meetings have become the norm? Enough is enough. It is time to ignite a meetings revolution. How Do You Transform a Bad Meeting Culture? In The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, Michael Wilkinson provides leaders with a step-by-step guide for igniting a meetings revolution. The result: a complete culture transformation in which bad meetings become unacceptable! This book supplies a step-by-step guide for igniting and sustaining a meetings revolution which, if successful, will permanently change the way meetings are run in an organization. In his book, Wilkinson recommends that executives empower their people with a set of meeting rights. He then provides a comprehensive meetings transformation program that equips meeting leaders and meeting participants with tools for masterful meetings. What this Book Contains - 10 Meeting Rights to empower every participant. - 10 steps to transform your meeting culture. - 15 meeting problems and how to address them. - 4 strategies for eliminating unneeded meetings. - 6 tips for getting meetings started on time. - 3 robust tools for resolving disagreements. - 4 techniques for rescuing poorly run meetings. - 14 strategies for maximizing virtual meetings. - 6 agendas to use to gain the results you want. - 4 checklists for executing Masterful Meetings. - And much more. Give Yourself a Gift. Give a copy of this book to everyone whose meetings you attend: a gift that truly keeps on giving!

"The best book on collaboration ever written!" —Diane Flannery, founding CEO, Juma Ventures And now this classic book is even better—much better. Completely revised and updated, the second edition is loaded with new tools and techniques. Two powerful new chapters on agenda design A full section devoted to reaching closure More than twice as many tools for handling difficult dynamics 70 brand-new pages and over 100 pages significantly improved

Turner Publishing proudly presents a fully-updated edition of The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution FINALIST, Ben Franklin Awards, Independent Book Publishers Association, Business Category The world changes continuously and rapidly. It’s foolhardy to believe that strategies should not do so as well. Nonprofit leaders already know this, but traditional strategic planning has locked them into a process that’s divorced from today’s reality. That’s why plans sit on the shelf and why smart executives are always seeking workarounds in between planning periods. The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution offers a nimble and powerful alternative. In this groundbreaking book, strategy expert David La Piana introduces “Real-Time Strategic Planning,” a fluid, organic process that engages staff and board in a program of systematic readiness and continuous responsiveness. With it, your nonprofit will be able to identify, understand, and act on challenges and opportunities as they arise. At the heart of this practical book is the Real-Time Strategic Planning Cycle. Based on four years of research and testing with a variety of nonprofits, this proven process guides you through the steps to sound strategy. You’ll find tools for clarifying your competitive advantage; generating a strategy screen—criteria for evaluating strategies to be able to respond quickly; handling big questions; developing and testing strategies; and implementing and adapting strategies. This useful guide also includes exhibits and case examples showing how concepts play out in real-life; a total of 27 tools—10 of which are essential for forming strategies; Theory to Action sidebars telling you which tool to use for a given task; and a link to downloadable content with all the tools and interactive worksheets you’ll need, as well as a Facilitator’s Guide to Real-Time Strategic Planning that gives you everything you need: the day’s agenda, instructions for preparing flip charts, prework to be done, handouts, and worksheets. Use The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution and get the clarity and direction you need for maximum mission success.