Time Schedule:
James F Reid
PB AF 598
Seattle Campus
Teaches practical administrative, leadership, and analytic skills commonly required of managers and analysts in the public and nonprofit sectors. The workshops emphasize hands-on problem resolution, simulations, and actual practice.
Class description
Employees of every organization, but particularly those in the public sector, spend a considerable amount of time in meetings. With broad and diverse constituencies, public servants participate in a wide variety of public or “external” meetings, including public hearings, Council or Board or Commission meetings, citizen advisory committee meetings, community workshops, and focus groups. On top of that are the “internal” meetings, including staff meetings, project team meetings, retreats, interdepartmental meetings, and performance review and annual goal-setting sessions. These meetings involve people with disparate backgrounds, interests, needs, concerns, opinions, positions, and learning and communication styles, and usually involve some degree of conflict and negotiation.
Student learning goals
We'll talk about ensuring that the right people focus on the right issues at the right time. We will consider communication choices and strategies. And we’ll discuss the difficulty of being both a facilitator and an advocate, as well as the unique challenges of facilitating “virtual meetings” or telephone conference calls. Underlining all our discussions will be the role a facilitator can play in turning conflict into consensus. Through a combination of classroom discussion, small group discussions, case studies, and roleplay exercises, we will highlight and strengthen the skills needed to be effective, creative, and highly sought-after facilitators.
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
