Adaptive Facilitation Intensive
October 28–30, 2026 • Wichita, Kansas
Lead gatherings that move people and produce results.
Whether you’re leading a strategy session, workshop, retreat or team meeting, intentional design and skillful facilitation shape the outcome.
Adaptive Facilitation is a three-day immersive experience for people who bring others together to make progress on complex challenges. You’ll strengthen your ability to design purposeful gatherings, navigate the political and systemic dynamics surrounding them, and adapt in real time when the conversation takes an unexpected turn.
Drawing from Adaptive Leadership and Design Thinking, the program combines practical tools, hands-on experimentation and reflective practice in a collaborative cohort environment.
October 28–30, 2026 | Wichita, Kansas
Registration closes October 14 | $2,495
Program Description
In this hands-on, three-day cohort experience, you’ll learn a concrete, iterative approach to designing and facilitating gatherings that help groups make progress on complex challenges. You’ll experiment with tools grounded in Adaptive Leadership and Design Thinking, practice applying them and learn to adjust your approach as the work unfolds. The program equips you to:
- Craft design plans that respond to participants’ needs
- Think and work politically before bringing people together
- Frame facilitation experiences around the adaptive challenges a group faces
- Generate creative, engaging modalities that advance the group’s work
- Experiment with your design before the actual facilitation
- Build the self-awareness and grit to navigate pivots and unexpected challenges while facilitating in real time
Details
Program Dates: October 28-30, 2026
Program Days: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (CDT/GMT-5)
Location: All sessions will be held at the Kansas Leadership Center, 325 E. Douglas Ave, Wichita, Kansas, 67202.
Deadline to register: October 14
Tuition fee: $2,495 + $5 non-refundable cost for workbook (provided day of program).
Have questions or want more information? Contact KLC Programs at programs@kansasleadershipcenter.org or 316.712.4950.
Who Should Attend?
- Anyone who designs and leads meetings, workshops, retreats or other gatherings
- Coaches, consultants and learning professionals
- Mid- to senior-level professionals who regularly convene others
- People working across teams, systems or stakeholder groups
- Internal professionals responsible for strategy, visioning or cross-functional collaboration
- Alumni of other KLC intensive programs
Learning Objectives
By the end of the program, participants will be able to:
- Design and lead gatherings that inspire, align, and produce results
- Navigate the political and systemic challenges surrounding meetings and gatherings
- Learn tools to create engaging, purposeful meetings and gatherings
- Adapt facilitation approaches to fit real-time group needs
- Apply structured design thinking and creative modalities
- Gain skills to set up groups to work through complex adaptive processes
About Our Teachers
Co-directors Rae Ringel and Maya Bernstein designed, launched and ran the Executive Certificate in Facilitation Program at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. In their 10-year tenure, the program produced 350 alumni worldwide.
Maya Bernstein
Maya Bernstein is an educator and facilitator with more than two decades of experience teaching Adaptive Leadership and Design Thinking. She is Director of Leadership Education at Yeshivat Maharat, a women’s rabbinical school, where she designs seminars focused on systemic change, complex dialogue and strategy. She holds degrees from Columbia, Harvard and Sarah Lawrence and has published in Harvard Business Review and Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Rae Ringel
Rae Ringel is an organizational psychologist and executive coach with three decades of global experience working with businesses, NGOs, and government agencies. She received her master’s degree in organizational psychology from Columbia University and is an adjunct member of the faculty at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review.
A.J. Robinson Jr., Ph.D.
Alonford (A.J.) Robinson Jr., Ph.D., is founder and CEO of Symphonic Strategies™ Inc., advising leaders across sectors on collective action, strategy, and organizational learning. He has worked with federal agencies, global corporations, foundations, and nonprofits. A former faculty member at George Washington University and the University of Maryland, he holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and dual bachelor’s degrees from Stanford.
