Design and lead workshops that actually deliver ideas, decisions and action.
A practical 80-page Creative Facilitation Handbook for facilitators, consultants and leaders who want their innovation workshops, strategy sessions and away days to be focused, creative and commercially useful, in-person or online.
Who the Creative Facilitation Handbook is for
This is for you if you:
- Facilitate workshops, away days, innovation sprints, strategy sessions or team days.
- Lead teams and want better ideas, better decisions and better follow-through.
- Are already facilitating and want to strengthen your design, confidence and impact.
- Are newer to facilitation and want a grounded, evidence-based guide from someone who has done this thousands of times. Creative Facilitation Handbook …
You do not need to be a “creative type”. You need a reliable process and practical tools. That is what the Creative Facilitation Handbook gives you.
What you’ll be able to do after using the Creative Facilitation Handbook
By working through the handbook and applying it, you will be able to:
- Design complete creative workshops from a clear brief, not a blank page.
- Choose the right activity at the right time, instead of defaulting to the same old post-its and group discussion.
- Build rapport quickly and keep energy high in the room or on screen.
- Listen and question at a deeper level, so people feel heard and conversations move forward.
- Handle group dynamics, hierarchy and conflict without losing momentum.
- Work confidently with culturally diverse groups and different thinking styles.
- Turn creative tension into better ideas rather than arguments or groupthink.
- Finish sessions with clear decisions, next steps and owners, not just a wall full of flipcharts.
What’s inside – at a glance
The Creative Facilitation Handbook is structured so you can dip in for a specific session, or read end-to-end as a complete guide.
1. Creative Facilitation: The Foundations
- What creative facilitation is and why organisations need it.
- The core skills of a creative facilitator: rapport, listening, questioning, agility, visual capture and guiding a group to outcomes.
2. The Science Behind the Practice
- How creativity works in the brain: default mode, salience and executive control networks and what they mean for session design.
- Divergent vs convergent thinking and how to structure your agenda so you are doing the right type of thinking at the right time.
3. Listening, Questioning and Group Dynamics
- A practical six-stage model of listening.
- How to use empathic listening without losing your neutrality as facilitator.
- Key insights from social psychology on social comparison, conformity, normalisation and group polarisation – and what to do about them in a room.
4. Working with Difference, Tension and Trust
- How to use “creative tension” to raise the quality of ideas and decisions.
- Managing conflict, “difficult” behaviour and status dynamics.
- Simple, powerful discussion guidelines you can use with any group to set a constructive tone.
- Practical approaches to facilitating culturally diverse groups.
5. Preparing for a Session
- A thorough creative facilitation checklist covering:
- The brief and objectives.
- People, roles and dynamics.
- Practicalities, venue and tech.
- Participant invitations and expectations.
- Guidance for both in-person and virtual events.
6. Designing Your Workshop
- Clear design principles and “rules of thumb” for timing, breaks, interaction and variety.
- A complete, worked sample workshop agenda for a full-day away day or strategy workshop, including suggested timings and flow from welcome through to action planning.
7. Ready-to-Use Tools and Activities
You get a set of tried-and-tested activities with clear instructions, which you can lift and use straight away.
Warm-ups and visioning
- WIFI: “Wouldn’t it be fantastic if…?” future-vision exercise.
- Visual methods to help groups map “where we are today” using diagrams and drawings instead of long reports.
Idea generation techniques
- Speed-storming.
- Lotus Blossom, with a visual template to expand idea spaces in a structured way.
- Brainwriting.
- Clustering with post-its to identify themes from a mass of input.
- Random Pages brief using magazines and newspapers for lateral thinking.
- “What if…?” lucky dip questions.
Prioritisation and decision-making
- Quick Sort impact–effort grid for fast triage of ideas.
- Sticky dot voting for democratic selection.
- “Blockbusters” action-planning method to move from current state to desired future with clear steps, owners and timescales.
These are practical, facilitator-ready tools you can apply to strategy, innovation, service design, problem-solving and team development sessions.
8. Virtual Facilitation
A full chapter on running creative sessions online, covering:
- Common tech and engagement challenges and how to handle them.
- Keeping sessions on track with agendas, “car parks” and clear transitions.
- Building connection and interaction on Zoom / Teams using cameras, chat, polls, breakout rooms and virtual whiteboards.
- Recommended tools such as Mural, Miro, Mentimeter, Stormz, SessionLab and Stormboard, with guidance on when and how to use them without overwhelming participants.
About the author
Dr. Jo North, MA (Oxon), MBA, FIoL
Founder & CEO, The Big Bang Partnership Ltd
Jo has designed and delivered workshops, sprints, hackathons, strategy sessions and innovation events for thousands of people around the world, across sectors including tech, transport, utilities, energy, advanced manufacturing, retail, financial services, government and charities.
Her career spans accountancy, HR, sales, marketing, commercial growth and customer experience at board level. Her PhD research focused on the characteristics and mindsets of high-performing executives and the commercial outcomes they deliver, and she brings that evidence into her facilitation practice.
Jo is also:
- Innovation Ecosystem Director at Port of Tyne and leader of the UK’s Maritime 2050 Innovation Hub.
- An associate in Business Innovation and Creativity at the University of York.
- A regular media commentator on innovation strategy and winner of the NECC “Most Inspiring Female Business Leader of the Year” award.
The handbook distils this experience into a format you can apply directly to your own work.
How you can use the handbook
- As a step-by-step guide when designing a specific workshop or away day.
- As a reference manual for tools you can plug into existing sessions.
- As the basis for internal facilitator development or train-the-trainer programmes.
- As a bridge between your existing subject-matter expertise and strong facilitation practice.
What you get
Digital e-book (PDF) – instant access after purchase, comprising:
- 80+ pages of focused content, frameworks, checklists and exercises.
- Ready-to-use tools and visual templates for idea generation, prioritisation and action planning.
- Guidance for both in-person and virtual sessions, so you are covered either way.
FAQ
Is this only for professional facilitators?
No. It is written for anyone who brings people together to think, decide and create – facilitators, consultants, team leaders, innovation managers and project leads.
I already run workshops. Will this still help?
Yes. You will recognise a lot of what you do already, and you will also pick up sharper ways of planning sessions, managing dynamics, and expanding your toolkit of activities for both in-person and virtual events.
Do I need any specific software or tools?
No special software is required. You can run everything with simple materials like flipcharts, markers and post-its, or adapt activities to your preferred online tools if you are facilitating virtually.
Can I use the methods with senior executive teams?
Yes. The methods have been used with boards and senior teams in complex, high-stakes environments. Many exercises are explicitly designed to work with hierarchy, strong personalities and cultural differences.
Design and deliver creative workshops with confidence.
Get your copy of The Creative Facilitation Handbook now and give yourself a clear, repeatable way to lead sessions that generate real ideas, real decisions and real action.
