About the Workshop

This is a unique, two-day workshop developed and presented by Donna R. Ching, Ph.D. She has deconstructed the concept of collaborative leadership and created a very practical program for helping individuals lead from within their organizations or groups, starting with the planning and conducting of successful meetings.

Meetings represent only one venue where collaborative leadership can be demonstrated, but they serve as a microcosm of an organization’s dynamics and provide a useful place to practice and master one’s leadership skills, whether in the role of participant or in-house facilitator.

At a time when organizations are seeking to leverage their existing resources, training people in facilitative skills is a highly efficient way to ensure that 1) meetings are productive; 2) critical conversations are well managed; and 3) individuals at every level are working in a collaborative manner. With its emphasis on practical skills and its real-life examples, this workshop provides a roadmap for adding to one’s toolkit a set of skills and practices that are foundational to collaborative leadership.

About the Presenter

Donna Ching is retired faculty member from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and founder of the Pacific Center for Collaboration. She is an advocate for collaborative leadership and one of Hawaii’s premier practitioners of group facilitation. Donna’s workshops on leadership, facilitation, group process, and strategic planning are very popular with participants from non-profit, for-profit, and government organizations.

In her role as a practitioner, Donna facilitates a variety of meetings in community and organizational settings. As a consultant, she is sought after for her expertise in facilitating strategic planning initiatives. She also coordinated a statewide agricultural and rural community leadership program.

Donna believes passionately that all people can lead if given the skills and appropriate opportunities ... and has dedicated the last 30 years to teaching facilitative skills for collaborative leaders.

Workshop participants will learn

Participants will receive a copy of the book “Facilitative Skills: An Essential Foundation for Collaborative Leadership,” and have the chance to learn and practice valuable skills:

• The importance of legitimizing participants immediately and often

• How to develop a content and process focus for your meeting

• How to acknowledge and meet the differing expectations of participants

• The important roles played by the facilitator, recorder, and participants

• How to plan a meeting and design an agenda

• The critical role listening plays in helping to reach agreement

• How to use feedback and evaluation to improve your performance

• Facilitative techniques, strategies, and tools