12 Weeks  |  Group Dialogue & Facilitative Leadership Training

Ignite Your Leadership & Facilitate Collective Action for Change.

FIRETENDER

The Fire for Change is Burning Strong - Harness the Energy of this Moment, and Become a Masterful Guide of Dialogue & Collaboration in Your Community.

You and your people are facing critical choices about the direction and shape of (y)our collective future. There is a sense of uncertainty, but also a sense of hope about how things will unfold.

Like other people-centered leaders in schools, organizations, and communities, you are being called to support the work of this moment.

You know that the future depends on the ability of diverse stakeholders to come together across differences, to find shared values, and to forge a shared vision in which everybody thrives.

Become a transformational group facilitator with the skills and tools to effectively guide your community through deep dialogue, shared visioning, and collaborative action for change.

Gain proven skills to build and guide an effective coalition for change in this next critical year.

This skills & leadership accelerating program includes:

  • A comprehensive facilitation toolkit that you can use to lead group dialogue, deliver powerful training, and facilitate collective action planning.

  • Group learning and dialogue to explore how to apply your skills to meet the specific needs and challenges within your organization or community.

  • Facilitative leadership development coaching to identify and enhance your unique facilitative leadership style and strengths.

    You will rapidly grow your capacity to design powerful group experiences, foster deep listening, promote collective learning, and channel individual and collective energy into action.

What You’ll Learn

Group Process Facilitation

  • Design & guide conversations for effective dialogue, relational healing, and conflict transformation.

  • Attend to power dynamics in groups, and foster collaboration and shared leadership.

  • Encourage mindset shifts and expand creative thinking in groups.

  • Facilitate collaborative visioning, planning, and action.

Transformative Leadership

  • Deepen self-awareness & critical consciousness as a justice-centered facilitator.

  • Develop your inner capacity for bold and creative leadership.

  • Enhance interpersonal and intergroup communication skills & capacities.

  • Unlock embodied wisdom & develop empathic intelligence to navigate emotions and feelings in groups.

FIRETENDER is an outside and inside journey - by learning powerful facilitation tools and developing your inherent leadership capacity, you'll discover more effective ways to both embody and guide the change you want to see.

Here's what's in store when you join the cohort:

  • 12 weeks of engaged learning in the weekly learning circle - an online gathering where you will build a community with other leaders and will learn and apply proven frameworks for guiding group dialogue and transformation.

  • One-on-one leadership coaching to identify your unique strengths and areas for growth, and to develop the mindset and strategies you will need to become an effective facilitator for any group of social changemakers and leaders.

  • Peer coaching partnership to break isolation and provide positive, motivating, and ongoing support and accountability.

  • Membership in a growing community of social change facilitators to get connection, support, and resources to strengthen your facilitative leadership practice.

By the end of this program, you will be more confident and effective at guiding the critical conversations and actions that will shape the future of the spaces and communities that matter to you.

Meet Your Program Guide

Alan W. Goff is an educator, facilitator, and coach, and is the Founder and Keeper of the Sambai Circle.

He is a dedicated practitioner transformative group process facilitation. His approach brings together academic scholarship, culture-based wisdom, and intuitive experimentation to guide dialogue and collaboration within community.

As the host and guide of FIRETENDER, Alan will share knowledge and tools that he has gained and practiced over the past 20 years from the fields of social justice education, social psychology of intergroup relations, professional training & development, community organizing, leadership training, and participatory group process facilitation.

Program Dates

The FIRETENDER Learning Circle
will gather online on Tuesdays,
4:00-5:30p Pacific Daylight Time

April 2nd | April 9th |April 16th | April 23rd (Optional)
April 30th | May 7th | May 14th | May 21st (Optional)
May 28th | June 4th

 Common Questions

  • FIRETENDER is a program for leaders and advocates across identities, sectors, and communities who want to become more effective facilitators of cultural and systems change. If you check all or most of the boxes below, FIRETENDER is for you.

    ✓ You are a formal or informal leader who is being called to create connections across differences and to promote social or community healing.

    ✓ You are an advocate for greater representation, inclusion, and access in your organization or community.

    ✓ You are building or leading a collaborative workgroup, coalition, or team to promote equitable systems change.

    ✓ You want to launch a new culture or systems change initiative in your organization or community.

    ✓ You want to grow your confidence and capacity as an equity and justice-centered people-leader.

  • There are three pricing tiers depending on your professional sector and institutional affiliation. Refer to the program application for the specific tier amounts.

    Anyone who wants to join should apply, regardless of financial situation. FIRETENDER was created to support facilitative leaders that are working for a better future, regardless of their current level of financial resource.

    Paying what you can at your corresponding tier helps to ensure that the program is accessible for everyone. All participants get the same experience, resources, and support regardless of tier.

    We are also able to arrange flexible payment plans, partial scholarships, and other creative options to ensure that anyone who should be in the circle will be.

  • Program fees are not refundable.  However, life happens, and facilitative leadership is a lifelong journey. If you need or want to withdraw from the program before Week 5, we will gladly apply your full program fee to a future FIRETENDER program, to individual coaching sessions, or to another Sambai Circle leadership development program.

  • The program resource workbook and all worksheets and tools are yours to keep. Private access to recordings and slides from the weekly learning circles will remain available to you for an additional 12 weeks after the program closes to allow you to catch up on any sessions missed, or to revisit specific learning moments and content from the program.

  • Learning and growing as a transformational facilitative leader is lifelong work. After completing the program, you will be welcomed into the Sambai Circle's growing community of justice-centered facilitative leaders, and will have access to resources, and upcoming trainings, dialogues, and workshops. You will also be eligible for facilitation and leadership coaching at reduced rates, and discounted pricing for some future programs.

  • Click here to Schedule a Connection Call to explore your questions and discover if FIRETENDER or other programs and services would serve you.