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Planning: the key to effective facilitation or a recipe for disaster?

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 15 February 2012
in Martin's Blog
The lesson of the 5 P’s, ‘Poor Planning Provides Poor Performance’ often resounds around training rooms. It’s not surprising that the importance of effective planning (understanding the context, clarifying the aims and objectives, considering and evaluating alternative approaches, monitoring progress against plans, re-planning etc.) comes to the fore, but as facilitators of learning should we also construct and follow plans?  

Adding value: the facilitator’s objective and criteria for success.

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 24 January 2012
in Martin's Blog
Facilitation is an enabling role (see my blog entry) but what should be the facilitator’s objective? 

Changing attitudes and behaviours within an hour

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 21 December 2011
in Martin's Blog


Students and staff at Boston Spa School in Leeds all gained significant personal learning from a single lesson.

Constructive questioning: the most underutilised and undervalued quality in the adult world?

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 07 December 2011
in Martin's Blog

Much of my understanding of facilitation has been gleaned from parenting.

As a parent I wanted my children to make ‘best use’ of their potential. I had over 30 more years of experience in this world than them: 30 years of learning to impart, but no experience of parenting. How could I cram my learning into them so they could have a great start I life.

The biggest personal challenge for facilitators?

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 09 November 2011
in Martin's Blog

Facilitating is an enabling role, i.e. it is not an end in itself, but a role taken in a group that helps others to make better use of themselves: their skills, knowledge and abilities.

IAF Conference 2011 - Learning from others.

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Monday, 24 October 2011
in Articles
The IAF Conference (International Association of Facilitators) in Istanbul was an opportunity to share ideas, be inspired and remember what it's like to be a participant.

New kit: MTa TrainerBox - Available in German

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 28 September 2011
in Articles
Today MTa launched MTa TrainerBox, our first set of materials for German speakers. MTa TrainerBox is a set of 15 activities that focus on a wide range of interpersonal, management and leadership skills.

The makings of a world class facilitator of learning

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 28 September 2011
in Martin's Blog
Thoughts on how to become an effective facilitator and my personal learning experience

Stimulating thought through social media

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 28 September 2011
in Martin's Blog
My positive experiences and challenges faced through using twitter as tool to promote thinking

MTa PASS: A study by Lancaster University

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 28 September 2011
in Articles
In 2005 Lancaster University conducted research into MTa PASS and reported back on their findings.

MTa in Malaysia and Singapore

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Friday, 12 November 2010
in Reports
Pictures from our experiential learning demonstrations and workshops in Malaysia and at the British High Commission in Singapore.

Facilitating Experiential Learning with Young People

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 22 September 2010
in Articles
7 Traps to avoid when facilitating experiential learning activities with young people

British Embassy Vienna

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Sunday, 01 August 2010
in Reports
Martin and Justine exhibit at the British Embassy in Vienna.

Royal Air Force Halton - Facilitators certified by MTa

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Monday, 12 July 2010
in Reports
5 facilitators from RAF Halton completed the MTa facilitator training course and were certified by MTa.

Discover, Learn, Develop - Excellent feedback from the Leeds Workshop

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Monday, 28 June 2010
in Reports
Read report and view pictures

An evaluation of MTa PASS for North East Lincs Education Authority

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 15 June 2010
in Reports
The participation of our pupils in this programme of work has meant that their communication skills have developed and by using mixed age and ability groups it has strengthened our school community and sense of identity...

Just bits of plastic? QA one of the UK's biggest training firms blog about our materials

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 30 March 2010
in Reports
"If someone gave you two big bags full plastic and told you to build a vehicle to travel over an obstacle would you believe that this activity would allow the group to explore behaviours, skills and attitudes they would demonstrate back in the work place? Hard to believe, but a true fact."

Deaf Defying - St Johns Deaf School

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 16 February 2010
in Reports
A local deaf school wanted to run an event that gave young deaf people an opportunity to mix positively with young hearing people. We used MTa PASS to run fun and engaging experiential activities that helped deaf and hearing children learn how to work together.
Tags: Untagged

Pathways to Peak Performance

Posted by Martin Thompson
Martin Thompson
Facilitator, expounder of experiential learning & improved performance, critical
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 25 November 2009
in Articles
PPP seeks to unravels the complex inter-relationships between the mental attributes, attitudes and behaviours that underpin performance. It also presents an easy to use framework that enables facilitators and assessors to make sense of, and subsequently make best use of, these inter-relationships. This article provides an overview.

US Air Force Adopt MTa Kando Lean

Posted by Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson
Director and Facilitator at MTa Learning
User is currently offline
on Sunday, 15 November 2009
in Reports
To better help Airmen here understand lean concepts and how they can apply them to their duty stations, the Air Force Smart Operations 21 office recently introduced the KanDo Lean class, a first for Air Force installations....

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