Unprofessionalism

The remote revolution is underway. Accelerated by the pandemic and snowballing ever since, the future of work is fast becoming our present day default. But is it all going to plan? Lisette Sutherland flies the flag proudly for remote work, but readily admits our approach might be a little off-course currently. Has our focus been misplaced, so intently on tech and tools rather than communication st...

How would you facilitate something that doesn’t exist? Or, more to the point, how you would facilitate a group in a way that something inexistent could emerge? Complexity and uncertainty make up most days for Jason Frasca and Iain Kerr. As co-founders of Emergent Futures Lab, they wouldn’t have it any other way. The opportunity to hear from two experts in emergence, innovation, and facilitation fe...

Say cheese, dear listeners! This week, Else Kramer joins me to discuss the creative and connective power of photography in a facilitation context. Through the camera lens, we can see our environment and problems in new ways — and, as a result, can find new solutions. And the really magical thing? Photography isn’t an individualistic activity; when shared as part of a group it can be connective and...

Everybody in the workshop process experiences some element of vulnerability. The client is taking a risk on your skills and the outcomes that might emerge from using them. The participants are taking a risk in showing up, bringing what they bring to the room, and trusting (or fighting) the process. You — the facilitator — is taking a risk on your work, reputation, and ability. So why should we exp...

Jo Nelson is one of the founders of ICA Associates Inc. and the International Association of Facilitators, as well as an IAF Hall of Fame inductee. All of which is to say, this episode is special. To speak with a founding mother of the organised practice of facilitation is a rare privilege. As a result, this episode is one that zooms out a little, so that we might trace the growth of facilitation...

The prevailing view in organisations (and among their leaders) is that change processes are rational challenges — a question of getting from A to B with efficiency and minimal interruption. After 30+ years of facilitating change processes and training others to do the same, Rob Evans has learned that a great deal of the work to be done is anything but rational. The emotional and political contexts...

Alison Coward, Rebecca Sutherns and Sunni Brown are each exceptional facilitators in their own right, but that doesn’t mean they see things in exactly the same way. They came together for this unique episode, a fireside conversation all about collaboration, and provided some incredible thoughts and reflections. Pull up a chair by the fire and dive into the particulars of what it means to collabora...

  Kirsten Clacey is a facilitator and coach, currently Head of Facilitation at Automattic’s Learn Division, with some brilliant perspectives on process, content, and learning. What’s even better is that she holds these ‘competing’ views with wonderful balance and nuance. In this episode, Kirsten shares why she places so much value on process — without sacrificing content. The key, as she sees it,...

We’ve had plenty of practice with online meetings by now; we have fallen into the common trapdoors and know how to avoid them in the future. But is effectiveness enough? Shall we really set the bar at running a ‘smooth and easy’ event? Many attendees still report that they feel unheard or unable to contribute in online event spaces — we are still missing a critical ingredient in a genuinely meanin...

Activists are the fuel behind social change. Without them, we would stall and stutter and stop making progress. These are people who are driven by passion and strong beliefs — which certainly makes life interesting for facilitators who work in the space. In all the energy and conviction of activism, facilitation can be crucial to turn grand plans for changing the world into something manageable, m...

Romy Alexandra is a one-woman revolution in Experiential Learning, driven by a passion for turning dull events into genuinely memorable and long-lasting trainings. Combining the principles of Experiential Learning with the ‘unconference’ tool of Open Space Technology, Romy is at the forefront of the interactive and collaborative learning space. The way she brings disparate threads and dry content...

Why is it that so many groups come together with a shared goal… and fail to make any meaningful progress? This is the question that’s plagued Deb Mashek’s professional life — and it’s taken her to some fascinating places. Deb’s work and the lessons she’s taken from it have made her a go-to speaker, author, and commentator in popular media, but she’s not one to sit comfortably on the sidelines. She...

Facilitation can be a messy business; what can we do to clean it up? Judy Rees, who’s been working with groups for almost 20 years, thinks the answer lies in clean language. A focus on clean language in turn creates what Judy calls ‘clean facilitation’. Specificity and neutrality is the name of the game, but can facilitators ever truly be neutral? Judy and I wrestle with the big questions of influ...

They say it takes a lifetime to build and a second to break… Trust is priceless to teams and the organisations in which they exist, so why is it so often overlooked as part of team-building? Perhaps because after-work socials and lunchtime chats are easy and sound ‘right’; but high-functioning teams take work — deep, intensive work. They certainly don’t appear out of nowhere. Leigh Ann Rodgers see...

Keynote speaker, published author, zen student, innovator-in-residence, and facilitator — Sunni Brown has a whole village’s worth of knowledge, but, somehow, contains it all within just one conscientious and clever human. Sunni’s fingerprints can be found on many resources and THINGS you’ll be familiar with as a facilitator: Gamestorming, The Doodle Revolution, and Deep Self Design. Safe to say, S...

What emerges when you survey 1,124 facilitators from 93 countries? The State of Facilitation — a snapshot of our profession for the year and a report packed with insights and direction for our continued development. SessionLab has conducted the first ever State of Facilitation report and Filip Kis, co-founder and CEO, was kind enough to run through the findings in this episode. How do facilitators...

Do you have a presence when you facilitate? (Hint: we all do, whether we mean to or not!) The thing is, not all of us know it or practice it. Our presence is a combination of how we show up and how we give out our energy to the room. It’s not just about being present, but the way we do it. Sean Blair has been experimenting with his presence for many years now and has found some surprising results....

A difficult conversation can take many forms — emotionally intense, sharing unexpected information, challenging someone, reasserting boundaries. Whatever ‘difficult’ looks like to you, we all have something in common: we’re terribly under-practiced in having these conversations. For Kate Crawshaw, role play can be the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to feeling confident about difficult c...

Organisations will go to great lengths to create style guides, knowledge hubs, and team guides… so why aren’t they doing the same for problem-solving? Stefan Fothe believes organisations should be prioritising ‘thinking tools’ — a set of codes, methods, and skills that are shared among groups to problem-solve and ideate with autonomy and ease. Just as we develop shared technical languages and soci...

An organisational change process is a big deal. The whole operating system of a business can change, the context switches, the foundations can falter. But systems are systems — they are malleable and hard-wearing. People, on the other hand, are sensitive and emotional and often hugely resistant to change. And it is people who have to live, work, and operate within these new systems. Rhys Cranney w...

What happens to a group when there is no leader, no subordinates, and no sense of hierarchy at all? Bob Dick believes this is the optimal approach to group structures — to be self-organised, not instructed or commanded. Quite how we can consistently achieve this is another question; one that Bob has been experimenting with for as long as he can remember. Bob has rich experience in creating self-or...

Conflict in workshops is common, but how many of us seek to avoid it instead of embracing it? It’s understandable, and dare I say natural, to do so, but as Sarah Norton and Steve Ray explain in this episode, conflict is a growth opportunity. The journey through conflict can be uncomfortable, but the destination beyond it is one of radical difference. Sarah and Steve have trained countless facilita...

An external facilitator enters the building with a clear purpose and a single-minded focus. An internal facilitator enters the building five days a week, most weeks of the year, in the middle of all the idiosyncratic relationships, needs, and culture that exists. The two are in very different positions and so different skills, approaches, and mindsets are necessary. More often than not, I speak wi...

No CEO or board is going to sign off on a project to make work more playful. This is because the misconception that play = games persists. The reality, however, is that more play at work will lead to more effective teams and better collaboration. Pauline McNulty joins me in this episode to explain why play, enjoyment, engagement, and purpose are all faces of the same die. When we roll it, they are...

Workplace training and learning can inspire some varied responses. For some, a roll of the eyes and a sense of wasted time. For others (usually those who work with Steph Clarke), a brightening and lightening as possibilities open ahead of them. Why is it that workplace learning is so variable across organisations? Steph can point to several root causes — and we spend this episode diagnosing the fa...