Many leaders are too close to the issues to facilitate, without becoming entangled in the content, politics or 'water under the bridge'. A local government asked Workwell to run a public Environmental Forum. The problem was that they didn't know who would turn up. Or how many. Or what they'd say. Or who'd try to grandstand. We designed an invitation that attracted 100+ RSVPs, created a forum which could accommodate the 200 who came, and dealt with the logistics and process of everyone having a voice, as well as the recording of 24 distinct and detailed strategies.

How we facilitate:
• set an outcome all can live with;
• lead the dialogue through questioning, allowing all differences to be heard;
• synthesise the best views (onto one page if possible).

What would happen if your senior team or board were asked to each write 100 words about your organisation's vision and its four key priorities. Simple! Or is it? Workwell worked with a Division of General Practice which had a strategic plan that was 56 pages long. Board members and staff did their own thing. Three months later, we had a single page document which united a simple clear vision, linked to business plan activities, individual workplans and, of course, reporting requirements.

Our approach to planning:
• go forward in time and set a clear vision;
• open up new thinking with challenging thought experiments;
• draw out new ideas and create new paradigms for the team;
• set the non-negotiables: 'next steps' and action points.

Why don't seasoned technical experts or practitioners always make the best leaders? Workwell was engaged by a $50m human service provider to work with 40+ of its leaders: social workers, youth workers, psychologists and others. We created a program which built on their superb skills with their clients, and showed them how to create outcome-focussed, resourceful teams which get results.

How we train:
• establish what purpose the skills or attributes being trained will serve;
• design 'natural learning' activities that participants can relate to;
• run the session, using Workwell's engaging and effective front-of-room methods; 
• encourage evaluation and follow-up in the 'real world'.

Workwell was asked to find out why some Early Childhood Development specialists got exceptional results with children and families - while others didn't. We were able to tell leaders the factors to look for when selecting exceptional people. And, once they're with you, how to train, develop, remunerate and recognise them.

Our approach to modelling has four steps:
• define high performance for your team and identify your 10 best performers;
• observe these people in 'real time', on-the-job;
• create the smallest descriptive subset of skills and attributes that predict performance;
• write-up the results in both graphic and text formats for immediate use.

We can run a modelling project in any service area, ranging from advisory and consulting services (both government & non-government), through to support and care roles.