Penstock Hall Farm, Canterbury Road, Brabourne, Kent, TN25 5LL

Training Courses

Training courses available on-site or online

Enabling innovative thinking through best practice stakeholder dialogue

Training. Bespoke, varied and always collaborative.

The overview

We have 20 years’ experience in running training courses for organisations across the UK and abroad. Our most popular course is the Good Practice Stakeholder Facilitation training, but we offer a range of other course topics. We’ve visited teams in NGOs, research institutes, councils, consultancies, and government departments, and are well-renowned for delivering high quality programmes across many different contexts. 

We ground our training in our direct experience of designing over 100 engagement processes and conducting over 200 workshops in a wide range of environmental management/decision-making situations. Our approach is rooted in consensus building, appreciative enquiry, and Stakeholder Dialogue, but we draw on and integrate this with other approaches and techniques.

We run our training online, on location, in-house and as open courses. For more information about our next open Best Practice Participation training course, click here.

On-site or online

Our training can be hosted online or on-site, whichever suits you best. We have innovated our online workshop and training delivery in recent times, which means you will always receive engaging and insightful training. Either way, we can tailor the training to focus on the style of delivery you will use most in your projects.

About our training

All of our courses are delivered by a minimum of two trainers and all participants will receive a high-quality participant manual and access to a range of online resources.

We can also adapt our courses and design new ones based upon your specific needs.

If you have a project on the horizon and need inspiration on which methods to use, we can factor this into the practical exercises during the training and provide expert opinion that has real-world applications.

Online Courses

Title Focus Length
Effective Online Engagement and Meetings  This course trains in how to design and run efficient and engaging events or meetings in an online context 0.5 days

Best Practice Stakeholder Participation with a Focus on the Environment

 

The focus of this course is:

Helping you understand the principles and concepts of stakeholder participation

Training you in practical facilitation skills and process design

Helping you explore the benefits and challenges of involving stakeholders

3 days
Stakeholder Participation – Why Bother? The focus of this course is on good practice participation and the benefits and challenges of running effective processes. 1 day
Online and Face-to-face Facilitation Skills

This is to skill people as group facilitators to form a team to facilitate workshops within stakeholder processes.

We train in both face-to-face and online facilitation skills

1 – 2 days
Participatory Knowledge Exchange  This course is based on our 3-day foundation course but is tailored more to researchers and academics, as they work to maximise the reach and impact of their studies. 3 – 4 days
Best Practice Evidence-Based and Participatory Policy Making  This course incorporates elements of other courses but is focused on the context and phases of policy making; of public policy making and the role of scientific and other forms of evidence.

1 – 2 days (condensed)

4 – 5 days (detailed)

Writing for all  This course is about writing in everyday and accessible language – a vital skill for science trained staff who want to communicate with communities and other specialists. 1 day
1:1 Negotiations (in development)  This course is aimed at environmental professionals who need to have constructive 1:1 conversations with others to agree better ways of managing natural resources 1 – 2 days

In-house Training Courses

Title
Focus
Length
Best Practice Stakeholder Participation with a Focus on the Environment – Helping you understand the principles and concepts of stakeholder participation
– Training you in practical facilitation skills and process design
– Helping you explore the benefits and challenges of involving stakeholders
3 days (4 days when we train in other countries where English is not the first language).
Stakeholder Participation – Why Bother? – The focus of this course is on good practice participation and the benefits and challenges of running effective processes. 1 day
Group Facilitation Skills – This is to skill people as group facilitators to form a team with us to facilitate workshops within stakeholder processes. 1-2 days
Participatory Knowledge Exchange – This course is based on our 3 day foundation course but is tailored more to researchers and academics as they work to maximise the reach and impact of their studies. 3 or 4 days
Best Practice Evidence-Based and Participatory Policy Making – This course incorporates elements of other courses but is focused on the context and phases of policy making; of public policy making and the role of scientific and other forms of evidence. 1 day or 5 days
Writing for all – This course is about writing in everyday and accessible language – a vital skill for science trained staff who want to communicate with communities and other specialists. 1 day
Communication and Engagement training for Researchers – This course covers the topics of networking skills, research impact, knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange. We also look and knowledge co-creation and maintaining momentum. 3-4 days

“Liked the way you responded to the group’s questions and needs.”

“Good blend of theory, case examples and practical skills.”

“The training teams’ enthusiasm and experience came across very well.”

“Professionally run, though informal and enjoyable.”

“Most enjoyable training I’ve had in a long time.”

“I liked the way we learnt techniques and did real work at the same time.”

“Excellent to be able to learn through doing it ourselves and watching others’ styles.”

Speak to an expert for advice – zero commitment

Book in a call with a member of the team to hear about how we can help you.