You know the meeting matters. The budget just doesn't agree.
We coach internal team members to design and lead sessions that actually move things forward, without needing to bring in someone from the outside.
210+
expert facilitator
40+
countries
350+
sessions held across sectors
110+
projects in NGOs, foundations & multilaterals
THE REAL SITUATION
What happens when 'figure it out internally' becomes the plan.
You've been here before, in some version of this. A critical retreat coming up, or a strategy session that's already been pushed back twice because the timing never feels right and the stakes keep climbing the longer it waits. There's too much riding on it to let it drift any further, and yet here you are, checking the budget one more time, watching the idea of hiring a facilitator quietly slip away. So you figure it out internally, somehow. Maybe the most organized person on the team gets handed the agenda. Maybe you end up running it yourself, which means you're managing the room instead of actually being in it. Maybe the whole thing gets simplified down until it barely resembles what you needed it to be in the first place. And more often than not, something gets lost along the way, some thread of honesty or depth the room needed but never quite found. It isn't because your team lacks the capacity for it. It's that holding space well is its own craft, the kind that asks for practice and a little guidance, and almost no one is ever given either. This is that coaching.
WHAT SHIFTS
Built for the realities of your organization
Real coaching, in context, for the session you're actually preparing for.
Skills that stay in the room
Your team member learns to read a room, hold tension without collapsing it, and guide groups through complexity. Practiced skills, built over time.
A facilitator who knows your context
An internal facilitator already lives it, the history, the dynamics, the unspoken things. We help them use that knowledge.
Preparation becomes presence
What we build together isn’t just an agenda to follow. It’s a deep enough understanding of the design, the flow, and the facilitation choices behind it, that you can set it aside mid-session and rebuild a section on the spot if the room asks for something different. The goal isn’t to execute a plan. It’s to be so grounded in the plan that you don’t need it.
A realistic path when budgets are tight
You don’t have to choose between no support and a full external engagement. Facilitation coaching is a third option, affordable, contextual, and genuinely effective.
IS THIS THE RIGHT FIT
When coaching works, and when it doesn't
This service works best when what you're facing is more of a logistical conversation, a brainstorm, or an alignment session, the kind of room where there's already a solid foundation of trust among the people in it. If your team works well together and you mainly want the session to be more engaging, more efficient, or simply better designed, coaching is built for exactly that. It's not the right fit if you're walking into a room carrying a long history of unresolved conflict, or if you anticipate real emotional intensity once people start talking. Those rooms call for an experienced facilitator's ability to hold presence and adapt in real time as the conversation shifts. This is a skill that can be learned, but one that takes real time and practice to develop. In those situations, we'll tell you directly, and we'll point you toward bringing someone in. That's a conversation we're always glad to have on the scoping call. Besides, such a situation requires each member of the team to be able to fully engage, without having to play the dual role of participant and facilitator.
✓ Good fit for coaching
- Planning an annual retreat agenda for a team that works well together
- A brainstorm session to shape next year’s strategy
- An internal kickoff or alignment meeting for a new initiative
- A donor or partner convening that’s mostly informational, without deep tension underneath
✕ Better with an external facilitator
- A team with a long, unresolved history of conflict that’s never been named out loud
- A merger, restructuring, or layoff conversation
- A multi-stakeholder dialogue where parties are at odds and trust is low
- Any session where you expect things to get emotionally difficult fast
FROM PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN THERE
COMMON QUESTIONS
Things people usually ask
Is this as good as hiring an external facilitator?
Honestly, no. An external facilitator brings something coaching can’t fully replace: an outsider’s eye on your agenda, fresh ideas for making the session more interactive, and the ability to hold presence and adapt in the moment as the room shifts. That kind of skill can be learned, but it takes real time and practice to build. What coaching gives you is most of the other benefits, for a fraction of the cost. And in one way, it’s actually better in the long run, because your team member walks away with a skill they’ll use again and again, in every future meeting they’re asked to hold.
For sessions that genuinely call for a neutral third party, hiring externally is still the right move. But for team retreats, internal strategy sessions, and most of what comes up day to day, this works both for the actual meeting and for long-term leadership development and capacity building.
What if I don’t have facilitation experience?
That’s often where we start. You don’t need a background in facilitation, you need presence, a commitment to the work, and a willingness to learn. We’ve coached first-time facilitators to lead sessions that shifted team culture. We’ll meet you where you are.
How is this different from a facilitation training workshop?
Training workshops often work in abstract scenarios, compressed into a single day or a few hours. Coaching is different. It builds on real conditions, with your actual agenda and real things at stake. We work on the specific room your team member will hold, with the dynamics present or existing in the room. The process completes the full cycle of learning, implementation, and debriefing, making sure that the learning sticks. We truly believe the best way to become a master facilitator is to actually facilitate! Our facilitation coaching creates a launchpad to begin that journey.
How long does the coaching take?
In general, coaching runs between four (4) and six (6) Zoom calls over a few weeks. Here’s how it usually unfolds:
- Understand: We meet and unpack your event together. We’ll have reviewed any materials beforehand, so this is where we ask clarifying questions. By the end, we’re both clear on what the event needs to accomplish, where your strengths are, where you’re still growing, and the style of session you want to lead.
- Co-design: This is the heart of it. Your coach prepares a modified agenda based on what came up in the first call, then shares it with you. From there, it’s back and forth, refining the agenda together until you feel ready to facilitate the final version yourself.
- Empower: A day or a few hours before the event, your coach calls again to walk through possible scenarios and help you feel grounded, given everything you’ve already prepared.
- Debrief: After the event, we unpack what worked, what didn’t, and what you’re taking away from it.
How much does this cost?
The full coaching package runs between $2,500 and $3,500 for small NGOs and around $4,000 to $5,000 for mid to large NGOs and profit group. That said, we’d rather have the conversation than let cost be the reason it doesn’t happen. If budget is tight, tell us. We’ll figure out together whether there’s a way to make this work.
Let's figure out if this is the right fit.
You don’t need to have it all figured out to start this conversation. Bring the question. We’ll listen, think alongside you, and be honest about what would serve you best.