Soliya’s facilitation training is a 24 hour course offered via Soliya’s customized web-conferencing application.  The training prepares participants to serve as Soliya facilitators, and provides them with transferable collaborative leadership and conflict resolution skills that they can then use in other contexts at a local, regional, and global level.

The Facilitation Training builds:

• SKILLS- Soliya trainees develop essential facilitation, conflict resolution & collaborative leadership skills.  The training also builds technical skills, enabling trainees to facilitate effective exchange of ideas in an online environment.

• AWARENESS- Effective facilitation requires not only application of relevant skills, but also self-knowledge.  In order to facilitate in an impartial manner trainees must gain awareness of their own biases, and must learn to manage their own blind-spots.

• COMMUNITY- Soliya facilitators are part of a vibrant cross-cultural community, with facilitators drawn from over 25 countries.  The training serves as an introduction to this supportive, international network.
• KNOWLEDGE- Through readings, presentations and discussions, trainees deepen their knowledge of the substantive issues that Connect Program participants will discuss and learn the information they’ll need to implement the Soliya online curriculum.

Facilitators-in-training “meet” via Soliya’s intimate on-line video-conferencing software, learning facilitation skills in the same medium in which they will be facilitating.  The trainings are led by conflict resolution & facilitation experts from the US, the Middle East & Europe. The training follows an extensive facilitation guide and has a number of key components:

 The Facilitation Training includes:

• Skill-building in a variety of key areas including: active listening, summarizing, asking good questions, and the ability to observe and effectively comment upon group and power dynamics.  The training also provides cutting edge skills-training in online facilitation & collaboration.

• The opportunity to practice skills by facilitating discussion amongst groups of their peers in the on-line environment.  After each practice session, the trainer provides extensive, individualized feedback to each participant.  In addition to building skills, these practice sessions give facilitators the opportunity to speak frankly about the issues that they will be facilitating with a diverse, multi-national group.  This builds self-awareness about facilitators’ own perspectives and blind-spots, and strengthens understanding of and empathy for alternate perspectives.

• Discussion of relevant articles on facilitation and conflict resolution theory.

• Presentation of the various activities and tools recommended for facilitator use in the Connect Program, and the opportunity to practice these activities and tools.

Become a facilitator!

Soliya facilitators are an extraordinary group, drawn from a wide range of professions and backgrounds. It is a true global community – on average each semester we work with 70 facilitators drawn from more than 25 countries, and more each semester.

Facilitators are absolutely critical to the success of the Soliya dialogue. We would love to have you join our team!   

Click here to learn more about becoming a facilitator!