Capacity that stays. Methods that work. A team that can do this themselves.
Four courses that build internal facilitation capability. Take them publicly or send a team through together — the methods are the same ones I use with client organizations across the Great Plains and nationally.
See upcoming cohorts →External facilitators are a line item. Internal capability is the real investment.
Hiring an outside facilitator for the high-stakes moments — the annual planning retreat, the board offsite, the coalition launch — makes sense. Those are the engagements where a designed process and an outside perspective add the most value.
But the day-to-day work of leading a team needs facilitation skill too. Every meeting. Every team conversation. Every stuck moment. If facilitation only happens when you hire someone, most of the work never gets the structure it needs.
The four ToP® courses are how you change that. Send a team through together and your organization develops internal capability that stays — long after I leave the meeting.
Foundational methods to advanced application.
Each course works on its own. Together they build a complete facilitation practice.
ToP® Facilitation Methods
The foundation. Two methods every facilitator uses.
Focused Conversation (ORID) and Consensus Workshop — the methods that form the backbone of participatory practice. No prerequisites. Start here.
Course details →ToP® Strategic Planning
Weave methods into a complete planning process.
The five-phase strategic planning methodology. Vision, blocks, directions, goals, action. Prerequisite: TFM.
Course details →Approaches to Environmental Scanning
Ten ways to understand reality before planning.
A recipe book of assessment approaches — customer feedback, staff climate, community needs, data interpretation. Prerequisite: TFM or Focused Conversation.
Course details →ToP® Secrets of Implementation
Dozens of tools for keeping plans alive.
For the long middle of implementation where plans usually stall. Stands alone — no prerequisites required.
Course details →Public cohorts or in-house.
Open cohorts
Scheduled courses anyone can register for. You learn alongside practitioners from other organizations — which is part of the value. See upcoming cohorts below.
Send a team together
The same course, delivered to your team only. Best when you're building organizational capability or running through community capacity-building work. Reach out to discuss.
Open course registrations.
Cohorts typically fill four to six weeks before the start date. Register early or join a waitlist on the individual course page.
August 2026
September 2026
ToP Facilitation Methods, Kearney, NE
Because the path forward is co-created — not declared — by the people walking it.
Whether you're an individual practitioner building your own skill or a leader sending a team through training together, the work starts the same way. Pick a course, find a cohort that fits, or reach out about an in-house option.
