C05 Workshop: The Masterful Trainer

We approach training from the belief expressed by W.B. Yeats: "Learning is not the filling of a pail, it is about the igniting of a fire;" and we develop trainers who wish to approach capacity building in this way.  In this workshop, participants will explore three essential principles of the facilitative, interactive trainer. We will also experiment with three fundamental strategies for delivering high- engagement, high-impact training: sharing responsibility for success with participants; creating content, process, and results satisfaction; and using the learning pathway.  Finally, we will explore tools for leading a discussion and telling stories as techniques for creating powerful learning experiences.

The workshop will cover:

• Three essential principles to guide the facilitative, interactive trainer (service, authenticity, and respect) and the dynamic tension within which they exist in the context of training
• Three fundamental strategies for delivering high-engagement, high-impact training (sharing responsibility for success with participants; creating content, process, and results satisfaction; and using the learning pathway)
• One of two foundational tools for interaction in the training room (facilitating dialogue or story telling) to be determined by participant interest.

• awareness of guiding principles for facilitative trainers and the ways in which they exist in dynamic tension with one another;
• understanding of essential actions to share responsibility for success with participants
• skill in using the Learning Pathway as a strategy for diagnosing participant questions and a guide for workshop design;
• understanding of a framework for focusing on a balanced approach to creating content, process, and relationship satisfaction for participants in their workshops; (this is applicable to workshop design as well as workshop facilitation).
• familiarity with techniques for leading discussions with workshop participants; or
• practice using storytelling as a vehicle for learning.

Participants will receive materials that both support their learning during the workshop and serve as an ongoing reference.

About the Presenters

Courtney Bourns, Interaction Institute for Social Change

Courtney Bourns is a Senior Associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change in Cambridge, MA, where she delivers training, consulting and facilitation services to nonprofit and social change organizations, helping them to build their capacity in the skills and processes of collaboration. Courtney is a trained mediator and she brings to her organizational, community and coalition work at IISC a background in conflict resolution and training in alternatives to violence. She has delivered training and performed mediations for such varied groups as clergy, high school students, community leaders and maximum security prison inmates. She also leads the team that brings IISC's collaborative methodology to Ireland, partnering with individuals and groups who are working toward social change in many contexts on the island of Ireland. Courtney's recent clients include: Making Connections Providence, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Providence, RI; Cherish Every Child: A Blueprint for Springfield’s Future, Springfield Massachusetts; Maternal and Infant Health Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA; Environmental Careers Organization, Boston, MA. Courtney received a Masters of Ethics from Union Theological Seminary and her Bachelors degree from Brown University.

Bruce A. Truitt, Interaction Institute for Social Change

As a Senior Associate with the Interaction Institute for Social Change, Bruce delivers training, consulting, facilitation and coaching services, helping individuals, organizations and community groups build alignment, increase their leadership and collaborative capabilities, optimize performance and manage change.  Bruce has over 28 years of experience serving in leadership positions in the nonprofit sector.  As an instructor, course director and program director with the Colorado Outward Bound School, Bruce designed and delivered custom training programs focusing on teambuilding, leadership development, change management, collaborative problem-solving and communication for a broad range of for profit and nonprofit organizations for over 18 years.  In addition, he has served as executive director of two northern California environmental organizations over the span of 10 years.  Bruce is a former Board member of the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, and a former Board President of Marin Nexus, a technical assistance and support center for nonprofits.  He is a founding Board Chair of the Environmental Education Council of Marin.  Bruce earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Economics at the Colorado College, and is an Alumnus Fellow of the Executive Program in Nonprofit Leadership at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business