Program ID: E47903-009 | PD/CDU:14

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Workshops are a regular feature of the business analyst’s life and often as not you’re the one tasked with facilitating them. And not just requirements investigation workshops, but a whole range of project related activities – reviews, planning, team building, walkthroughs, sign-offs, etc.

A successful workshop outcome relies on the skill of the facilitator to keep everyone focused on the objectives of the workshop, to keep everyone on track, and to make sure everyone gets a chance to contribute.

For organisations, well facilitated workshops result in faster projects and higher value business outcomes. For business analysts, facilitation skills provide the personal and professional growth that will increase your value to the business.

These skills can be learned – and attending this workshop will give you the opportunity to practise a wide range of techniques applicable across multiple types of workshops. As well as these you’ll also cover techniques specific to requirements elicitation, decision making and requirements prioritisation workshops – the bread and butter of a business analyst’s life.

IS THIS THE RIGHT COURSE FOR YOU?

This course is designed for business analysts and all staff responsible for facilitating workshops in a project environment.

In addition, anyone tasked with facilitating a workshop or group meeting will also find the techniques in this course applicable to a wide range of scenarios.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Our aim is to add value to you and your organisation by giving you practical skills in workshop facilitation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of the Workshop Facilitation Skills training workshop, delegates will be able to:

• Define the business objectives for a workshop
• Know when and how to use the workshops
• Plan and facilitate a workshop
• Use a range of facilitation techniques
• Manage group dynamics and personalities
• Implement post-workshop actions

Practical work features throughout and a mixture of individual and team exercises will allow you plenty of opportunities to practice the techniques being taught. In addition, a central case study links several exercises into a consistent theme to simulate a series of workshops on a single project.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

“Informative, practical and well run”
Business Analyst, ANZ Bank

“Very well conducted and run course. A lot of knowledge and skill was passed on to the class”
Business Analyst, Department of Veteran’s Affairs

“Excellent pointers for planning and structuring a workshop”
Business Analyst, Allianz

Read more testimonials

COURSE OUTLINE

Overview

• What is a facilitated workshop?
• When to use workshops – meetings versus workshops
• The facilitators role & your objectives

Before the workshop

• Defining the scope
• Participants roles and stakeholder analysis
• Logistics and practicalities
• Being specific about objectives and desired outcomes

Running workshops

• Facilitators style
• Rules and guidelines for facilitators
• Physical vs. virtual workshops
• Technology and tools
• Facilitation techniques
• How to end a workshop

People

• Working with business and operational staff
• Working with technical/IT people
• Personalities, hidden agendas and strategies

After the workshop

• Post-workshop deliverables
• Participant follow up
• Verifying agreed issues – making sure they get done
• Managing unresolved issues

Facilitation tools

• The facilitator’s toolkit
• When and where to use
• Where to find help and additional resources

Requirements elicitation workshops

• Being clear on objectives
• Gathering vs. eliciting
• Techniques: RAD, JAD, JRP
• S.M.A.R.T. requirements
• Workshop outputs
• Modelling tools
• Evaluating functional requirements

Decision making & prioritisation workshops

• When should they be run?
• A 5 step decision making process
• Four common decision making techniques

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We can also run this course in-house on your premises with flexible dates. Enquire here.