Paddy Spruce - Facilitator

Trainers work closely with small groups to develop skills eg. How to make decisions or how to handle conflict. Speakers work with larger groups to present information or new ideas. They also shift thinking or inspire.

So what’s a facilitator?

The verb facilitate means to make easier or to assist. A facilitator is a person who assists a group by managing the process thus allowing them to deal with the task in hand.

A typical situation where such a professional would be used is when a group needs to decide the way ahead and wants to make the decision as a group.

Paddy Spruce is a trained facilitator and is best described by some of his projects:

• International Oil Company
• Local Government
• International Chemical Company
• Local Government
• Automotive Group
• Local Government - Country
• Local Government
• Non Profit Welfare Society

So here are some examples of what a facilitator is asked to do.

It can include inspiring, listening, reasoning, conflict resolution, persuading and leadership.

It also involves a good understanding of individual and group behaviour... and lots of experience.

The group are left with a solution and a way of dealing with similar situations on their own.

Call Paddy on 03 9808 8990 if you need help in facilitating a group process or getting agreement on a work project.

International Oil Company

Paddy conducted focus groups of Franchisees in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to determine the training needs as seen by the people in the market place.

This involved designing a process and questionnaire, conducting several meetings, gathering the responses and reporting back to the company.

It also involved keeping the franchisees focused on the issue of training needs instead of a myriad of other pressing problems.

Local Government

Paddy chaired a meeting between factions which had very different ideas on how a multi purpose facility should be used.

The issue was being fought in the local press so a meeting was called where all interested parties would ‘air’ their views.

Paddy represented the ‘facility’ and the residents and was asked to achieve consensus to determine the future of the premises. The hall was packed.

International Chemical Company

Paddy was asked to address a meeting of over one hundred staff to determine a way of achieving wage justice for non union people. Everyone was to be given the opportunity to speak.

Everyone was to be happy with the process and the result. We only had until lunch time...

Local Government

The Manager of the depot asked Paddy to prepare his staff for large scale organisational change.

Paddy designed and conducted a process that included - defining our overall purpose, identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, where are we now, where do we want to be in two years, how good are we as a team, what do we need to do to prepare for an uncertain future?

Automotive Group

The GROUP is an organisation which owns twenty car dealerships from Rolls Royce to Hyundai.

The Dealerships cover the entire metropolitan area of a large city. they asked Paddy to assist them to work more closely as a team instead of working individually. This had been attempted before. The topics needed to be covered were: Leadership, Team Development, Rivalry, Trust.

It was expected that all Dealer Principals would open up this time so the organisation could be honest about their strengths and weaknesses and map the way ahead.

Local Government - Country

Paddy was asked by the Chief Executive to assist the Management and elected members to measure progress against stated objectives from the previous year’s business plan ... and improve their morale and teamwork in the process.

Local Government

Paddy was asked by the Chief Executive to design a process that would improve the team spirit between Management and elected members and newly elected members.

Significant bad feeling already existed between factions of elected members. Saturday was the only day everyone could get together...and then some might not come anyway.

Non Profit Welfare Society

Management asked Paddy to assist with the process of working the details of the Operational Plan i.e. how can we improve quality in the key result areas with residential services staff.

The climate was heated in some hostels and there were some unresolved issues between staff and management.

All staff in residential and support services were asked to attend voluntarily.

A new chief executive had recently been appointed.