Management Training; Notes for the Facilitator
 by
Phil Bartle

Notes for the Facilitator

Using training as a method of empowerment

Introduction:

 Management training (MT) in this module has a special
 interpretation; it is a methodology for capacity development. For
 you as a trainer / facilitator, to make use of it, you need to be
 aware of the peculiarity of MT. While it is called "training" it
 goes beyond the common or orthodox meaning of training as skill
 transfer; it is used as a mechanism for organizing and direct
 capacity development. That difference is noted below and explained
 more in other related documents in this series.

 While you can use MT for increasing the capacity of groups and
 organizations (ranging from
 departments to whole agencies), it is even more valuable when
 integrated with the kind of
 community mobilizing and organizing traditionally thought of as
 "community development."

 The centre of MT is found in four key questions, which are
 introduced here, and reappear often in the training material in this
 series. As a trainer, you need to be completely familiar with these
 four questions, and able to detect them at the centre of all
 planning and management activities.

 While often training uses such techniques as lectures,
 presentations, audio visual aids and demonstrations, these are all
 characterised by being passive on the part of the trainees; trainees
 are expected to absorb the material presented by the trainer. A
 "participative" approach, in contrast, is one in which the trainees
 are not merely the empty vessels to be filled with information and
 skills; they are the participants and decision makers themselves in
 a process of analysing their own characteristics, and determining
 needed changes in their own organization in order to more
 effectively reach the objectives that they themselves set.

The Six Purposes:

 Recall the six purposes of MT:
 • awareness raising (there is a problem);
 • information imparting (but there is a solution);
 • skill acquisition (how to solve the problem);
 • encouragement (take courage; do it); most importantly,
 • organizing (effective organization) and
 • mobilization (action).

 People will attend your training sessions for several reasons. These
 may include curiosity, an allowance, entertainment, a break from
 routine monotony. Most expect to be informed; many expect to learn
 new skills. It will be useful at the introduction to the workshop
 for you to list those possible motivations that they may have, and
 ask for some comments from them about why they are attending.

 Then go on to list, using the board, the six purposes listed above.
 They will see them again in some of the handouts; saying the same
 thing in different ways is encouraged in this kind of work. Let them
 know that the last two are the most important in this training, but
 that you will not be doing the organizing or mobilizing; they
 will. Insist that you will be asking the questions, but that they
 will be making the decisions as a group. (Review the trainers' notes
 for the brainstorm session).

 The issue here is that the orthodox meaning of "training" is skill
 transfer, but that this training goes much farther in its
 purpose. Two other documents expand on these two important purposes
 of our training; "Training to Organize," and "Training to Mobilize."

Capacity Development:

 Many people assume that capacity development (formerly called
 "capacity building") only means training, and assume that training
 only means skill transfer. In this methodology, sixteen elements of
 capacity have been identified. See "Measuring Progress." They
 include skill transfer, but also fifteen other elements.

 One very important element is how well the group, organization or
 community is organized. How effective is it organized for making
 decisions, and how effective is it organized for action (reaching
 its objectives)?

 Skill transfer is not omitted in this MT methodology; other
 important elements are added.

 Your role as trainer and facilitator is to assist the group of
 participants to organize. If they are an unorganised collection of
 individuals, this will be initial organizing. Your work is a little
 like a trade union organiser.

 You ensure that you do not take any office in the organization, but
 that they as a group form an organization, and assign different
 roles, responsibilities and titles to different individuals within
 the organization. Insist that it is they, not you, who must make the
 decisions, that you are there only to facilitate them in making
 their own group decisions. If they are already organized into some
 structure and process, emphasise question three of the four key
 questions, and challenge them to make organizational decisions that
 will effectively make decisions and will effectively undertake
 actions leading to achieving their objectives.

 Management training here is used to facilitate the group in
 organizing, or organizing more efficiently.

Community Mobilization:

 Management training in this methodology includes mobilization. That
 could be the mobilizing for action of groups, organizations or
 communities. When applied to communities, it should be integrated
 with the more traditional or orthodox community development
 mobilizing techniques, the mobilization cycle.

 While community mobilization has been traditionally associated with
 rural communities that were small, and relatively homogeneous, they
 are more difficult to apply in urban, heterogeneous communities,
 such as the large number of slums that are sprouting up and growing
 all over the world at a rapid rate. By applying the MT methodology
 here, these differences in modern community mobilization can more
 easily be overcome.

 When the target group (beneficiaries, participants) are an
 organization (NGO, CBO, private business, governmental department,
 UN agency), of course, while there is mobilization for action in MT,
 it is not community mobilization.

The Four Key Questions:

 Before beginning your management training, carefully think about the
 four key questions. The four key questions are: (1) "What do we
 want?" (2) "What do we have?" (3) "How do we use what we have to get
 what we want?" and (3) "What will happen when we do?" they are
 repeated in many of the training documents in this series.

 Remember that the four questions form a single logical sequence. The
 first question refers to the identification of the priority problem,
 and the most important among several problems. Ensure that there is
 eventually consensus among your participants that the problem chosen
 is the one most important faced by the group. Some may have to
 compromise.

 Ensure that the choice is not dominated by an interest group or
 faction, but is endorsed by all. The solution to the priority
 problem is the "goal," or the answer to question one (what we want).

 The answer to question two is the initial situation analysis, ensure
 that both assets and liabilities are considered. Question three,
 "how?" is the question that leads to organizing and planning steps
 leading to achieving the objectives of the group.

 The answer to question four is an estimate or prediction of an
 impact assessment. While your participants may not see it as they
 are busy answering the questions, you need to understand, and to
 demonstrate to them after they finish, that the answers to the four
 questions form a logical argument, which is the basic argument of a
 project design.

Facilitation:

 It is very important that you do not gather a group of trainees,
 tell them what they should do, and dictate to them the solutions to
 their problems. You help the participants to "own" the solutions;
 it is important that they identify them, including the answering of
 the four questions, including the organizing and reorganizing (ie
 institutional restructuring) that is important for them to become
 stronger and more effective.

 Your guidance is best put in the form of asking the questions, then
 let them come up with the answers. Do not hesitate to answer their
 questions, but have a plan in mind about where they should be
 headed, and ask questions that lead them to going there.

 Challenge them to justify their decisions, but do not make the
 decisions for them. When elements are missing in their choices,
 point out that they are missing, but let them come up with the ways
 of filling in the missing pieces.

 Use facilitative approaches to encourage trainee participation in
 decision making. While this is similar to PRA techniques, this is
 participatory mobilization, not participatory research or
 assessment; it is stimulation, encouragement and guidance in
 participating in making their decisions as a group.

Conclusion:

 There are three documents on this site which an give you, as
 trainer, more insight into the principles of management training as
 applied to the empowerment of communities or organizations. These
 are: Chapter Three of Training for Strength, "Management Training to
 Empower Communities," Section Two of the CMP Strategy, "The Strategy
 Sketched as a Whole," and Part D of the CMP Strategy. "The Strategy
 Explicated in Detail."

 If you wish to make your MT most effective, first arm yourself with
 the principles and methods that are explained in those documents.

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Updated: 2003 May 14