ToP® Training · AES

ToP® Approaches to Environmental ScanningAES

Understand reality before you plan for it.

One day. Ten proven approaches. A "recipe book" of tools you'll use again and again.

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Why this course

Before your group can plan for the future, they need to understand the present.

Organizations that skip environmental scanning end up planning for the world they wish they were in, not the one they're in. Before a group can plan for the future, they need to understand their history, the current dilemmas they're facing, and the shifts happening in their larger environment.

Environmental scanning is how you get that understanding — quickly, honestly, and in a way the whole group can act on. But one size doesn't fit all. Different situations call for different approaches.

In this one-day course, you'll explore 10 creative, insightful ways to assess customer, staff, or community perceptions and needs, delve into relevant data, and get groups on the same page before the planning starts.

What you'll leave able to do

Specific capabilities you'll walk out with.

Choose the right scanning approach for your situation
Customer feedback, staff climate, community needs, environmental trends, data interpretation — ten distinct approaches, each fit for a different kind of question.
Design and lead group assessments
Surface what's actually happening, not what people wish was happening. Honest assessments your group will trust enough to act on.
Build shared context across stakeholders
Get your team or stakeholder group on the same page before strategic work begins — so the planning conversation isn't built on different assumptions.
Connect external forces to internal decisions
Ground planning in current reality. Connect what's shifting outside the organization to the decisions being made inside it.
Who this is for

If any of these describe you.

For

Leaders setting strategic direction

  • Business and team leaders
  • Local, state, and federal leaders and program managers
  • Change managers and organizational development professionals
  • Anyone setting the foundation for strategic thinking
For

Practitioners who design planning processes

  • Facilitators, trainers, and consultants
  • Community organizers and planners
  • Coalition conveners
  • Strategic planning leads
The format

One full day, in person.

Hands-on practice. You'll explore all 10 approaches and practice selecting the right one for different situations — so you leave with an extensive "recipe book" of techniques you can use immediately.

What's included

Everything you need to build the skill.

Your registration covers the course itself and the support that turns it into capability that sticks.

The official ToP® Approaches to Environmental Scanning manual

A comprehensive reference you'll use long after the course ends. Methods, designs, templates, and examples — all in one place.

One hour of coaching with one of your course trainers

Scheduled within 90 days of course completion. Bring a real challenge you're working on — a meeting you need to design, a group dynamic you're navigating, a planning session you're leading — and we'll work through it together.

Access to the Great Plains ToP Community of Practice

Quarterly gatherings of ToP® practitioners across the region. Keep your skills sharp, learn from others, stay connected to the work.

Credentials & CEUs

Qualifies for continuing education credits.

Approaches to Environmental Scanning qualifies for continuing education credits across CHES/MCHES, AICP, ICF, and PDU credentialing bodies. Hours vary by credential — see registration details for specifics.

Prerequisites

TFM, Focused Conversation, or Focused Conversation Online is required.

AES assumes you already have foundational facilitation skills — it focuses on applying them specifically to environmental assessment work. If you haven't taken any of the foundational courses, start with TFM.

In their words

From past participants.

“This course gives you tools in a day that can help you kick-start, plan, re-energize, and celebrate the milestones of the planning process. You don't have to be a super planner to appreciate what is learned in this course.”

Lora K. Daniels
Office Manager, California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation

“Amazing opportunity to learn how to utilize past information or raw data to build buy-in and energize complex conversations. Loved the practical application and the ease of use of each of the new tools.”

Kayla Schnuelle
Senior Consultant, Mission Matters

“This was the best class! I loved learning the 10 approaches to environmental scanning and will be using them right away in my job.”

AES Participant
Portland cohort
Pricing

Tiered pricing — based on organization type.

Facilitate Co uses tiered pricing, not sliding scale. Four defined brackets keep registration honest and fair to every type of org.

Corporate / Large nonprofits (>$5M)
$800
Public / Government
$700
Individual / Mid-size nonprofit
$600
Small nonprofit / Student
$500

Student rate requires a current student ID. Questions about which tier fits? Just ask: get in touch.

Register

Upcoming AES cohorts.

August 2026
September 2026
No event found!
Or join the waitlist

Be the first to know when the next AES cohort opens.

Cohorts fill four to six weeks before the start date. Waitlist subscribers get registration links a week before they go public.

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Because the path forward is co-created — not declared — by the people walking it.

AES is the shortest course in the catalog and one of the most immediately useful. One day in, you walk out with ten tools you'll reach for the next time a group needs to understand its situation before planning for it.

See upcoming cohorts → Talk about in-house training