The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series) [Paperback]

Roger Schwarz (Author), Anne Davidson (Author), Peg Carlson (Author), Sue McKinney (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787964948 | ISBN-13: 978-0787964948 | Publication Date: April 27, 2005 | Edition: 1

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is based on the same proven principles outlined in Schwarz?s groundbreaking book. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is the next-step resource that offers consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, coaches, and anyone that works within the field of facilitation, the tools, exercises, models, and stories that will help them develop sound responses to a wide range of challenging situations. The book spans the full scope of the successful Skilled Facilitator approach and includes information on how to get started and guidance for integrating the approach within existing organizational structures and processes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one of the best field books I have ever read. The advice is derived from sound research and theory, and it is crafted in a clear-cut, concrete, detailed, and highly useful way. It focuses on the important everyday skills of practice, including some of the most difficult issues that challenge the user."
--Chris Argyris, James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior, emeritus, Harvard University; author, Reasons and Rationalizations: The Limits of Organizational Knowledge

"Roger Schwarz and his coauthors are meticulous in their guidance for facilitators, consultants, coaches, and leaders everywhere. They dissect our encounters with each other and help us recognize what works, what doesn’t, and what we might do about it. This is a book to return to again and again."
--Geoff Bellman, author, The Consultant’s Calling and Your Signature Path

"Anyone who strives to lead more effectively will find this book a treasure trove of tips and tools. Whether you’re an executive or small team leader, a parent or a politician, The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook will be the reference you reach for to increase your capacity to lead."
--Karen Thomas-Smith, global training and development director, SAS

"This book provides the tools, techniques, and actual experience to truly practice shared leadership. Roger Schwarz and his colleagues provide not only the theory but the practical, hands-on experience required to develop high performance teams."
--Jay Hennig, vice president, Moog, Inc.

"Although I consider myself already familiar with Roger’s Skilled Facilitator approach, I was amazed at the breadth and depth this Fieldbook provides. It is a compelling resource for anyone interested in building his or her facilitative capabilities."
--Sandy Schuman, University of Albany, SUNY; editor, The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation; and moderator, the Electronic Discussion on Group Facilitation

"The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is a must have for anyone serving as a third party intervener, coach, consultant or a manager with a desire to develop people and groups."
--Thomas P. Zgambo, corporate ombudsman, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.

"The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook truly provides the reader with an understandable ‘root cause’ perspective on why people interact the way they do and the means to create change. It goes way beyond the ‘memorize these rules’ approach advocated by many practitioners."
--Sid Terry, director organization development, NA Manufacturing, Kraft Foods

From the Back Cover

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook

Since it was first published in 1994, Roger Schwarz's The Skilled Facilitator has become a landmark book in the field. It is a classic work for consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches—anyone whose role is to guide groups toward realizing their creative and problem-solving potential.

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is based on the same proven principles outlined in Schwarz's groundbreaking book. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is the next-step resource that offers consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches the tools, exercises, models, and stories that will help them develop sound responses to a wide range of challenging situations. The book spans the full scope of the successful Skilled Facilitator approach and includes information on how to get started and guidance for integrating the approach within existing organizational structures and processes.

With contributions from some of the field's most thoughtful practitioners, this book is filled with suggestions, exercises, and examples for creating effective relationships, teams, and organizations. It includes tips, tools, and model interventions that you can use in any role. Step by step, the book provides practical guidance for introducing the ground rules and guidelines for engaging in deep-level interventions. In addition, The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook contains helpful worksheets and templates.

Praise for The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook

"This is one of the best field books I have ever read. The advice is derived from sound research and theory, and it is crafted in a clear-cut, concrete, detailed, and highly useful way. It focuses on the important everyday skills of practice, including some of the most difficult issues that challenge the user."
—Chris Argyris, James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior, emeritus, Harvard University; author, Reasons and Rationalizations: The Limits of Organizational Knowledge

"Roger Schwarz and his coauthors are meticulous in their guidance for facilitators, consultants, coaches, and leaders everywhere. They dissect our encounters with each other and help us recognize what works, what doesn't, and what we might do about it. This is a book to return to again and again."
—Geoff Bellman, author, The Consultant's Calling and Your Signature Path

"Anyone who strives to lead more effectively will find this book a treasure trove of tips and tools. Whether you're an executive or small team leader, a parent or a politician, The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook will be the reference you reach for to increase your capacity to lead."
—Karen Thomas-Smith, global training and development director, SAS

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787964948
• ISBN-13: 978-0787964948
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A FIELDBOOK OF OUTSTANDING QUALITY-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!, April 19, 2005

By 

Gerry Stern "Stern's Management Review Online" (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series) (Paperback)

Central to this work is the Skilled Facilitator approach (TSF), a systematic, values-based approach to group facilitation; at its core is the idea that the way we act and the consequences we create begin with the way we think. Chapter one delineates the 10 key features of TSF approach. It is used to help groups and entire organizations address issues and make significant change, as well as in coaching, training, and conducting HRD/OD initiatives of all types.

This ambitious resource is bursting with 62 contributions clustered into seven parts:
1) Understanding the Skilled Facilitator Approach-main focus: summarizes the approach and describes its major principles and features (8 chapters)
2) Starting Out-main focus: using TSF in a variety of basic ways (12 chapters)
3) Deepening Your Practice-main focus: refining intervention and diagnosis skills, and increasing personal awareness (7 chapters)
4) Facing Challenges-main focus: dealing with the most difficult situations (5 chapters)
5) Seeking Your Path-main focus: integrating the TSF approach in practice and life (5 chapters)
6) Leading and Changing Organizations-main focus: creating major change in leadership and organizational functioning (15 chapters)
and
7) Integrating the Skilled Facilitator Approach in Your Worklife (and Non-Worklife)-main focus: shows how to integrate TSF with other approaches and roles (coach, trainer, consultant, leader, parent) (10 chapters)

The book is further enriched with: definitions; key points; examples; tools and techniques and samples of the outcomes they produce; reflections; model conversations; and resources.

As a consultant in organizational analysis, design and change, as well as a reviewer, I was particularly drawn to Chapter 51, "Do Surveys Provide Valid Information for Organizational Change?" by Peg Carlson. She concludes what we have found to be true of surveys-they are useful for spotlighting likely issues but they do not deliver the depth of analysis and meaning required in organizational consulting, nor the motivation for learning and deep change. This chapter is emblematic of the books' quality of content. In a nutshell, this book is outstanding! I highly recommend it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tool, May 12, 2007

By 

Pamela H. Long "spanish prof" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series) (Paperback)

I've read this book almost cover to cover and I've gained a lot of insight in using Skilled Facilitator approaches as a teacher and a minister. Mostly, it's given me insight into how to develop myself as a creative listener, and how to control my inner thought processes, and turn that back around into positive leadership for the good of the group. I find it particularly helpful to keep the RULES foremost in my mind as I interact with students and parishioners. And it's true that the more I model these rules, the more my students and the others around me absorb them and begin to use them in their own interactions.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for experienced and novice facilitators alike, May 24, 2008

By 

pammiep (Colorado Mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series) (Paperback)

For anyone serious about facilitation, this is THE book to read, read again and use often as a reference. Each chapter is a gem; core values and groundrules are invaluable when working with groups. And the chapter on difficult conversations will change your experience when the issue is divisive. This isn't a "read it and put it away" book; this is a "put it where you can get your hands on it" critical tool for facilitators.