Unprofessionalism

Aleksandra (Ola) Potrykus-Majewska knows the struggle of finding a great external facilitator when stuck in a corporate procurement system. But she also knows what it’s like to set out and find work as a solo facilitator. That’s why she cofounded WeWent, a kind of matchmaking service for facilitators and companies. Combining her deep knowledge in both sides of the collaboration, and now with sever...

Purpose is becoming an increasingly important part of corporate culture, but how there are still misconceptions and doubts about its value - especially in ‘rational’ fields, such as engineering. But the thing is, every company has a purpose - even if it doesn’t seem obvious to the people within it.  How can we help clients understand purpose, empower their people to take ownership of their part in...

What can educators and facilitators learn from each other to benefit their practice? And where do the two crossover?  These are wide-ranging questions and the kind that open up rabbit holes of complexity… but this is exactly why I wanted to explore them with Bjarne Holmes.  Bjarne is a Professor of Psychology at Champlain College, a relationships expert, and a researcher for the remote video confe...

We use our facilitation skills in our work, but these are universally applicable skills. Negotiating with a toddler, hosting parties, working out which takeout to order! Join me and Jacob Chromy in this episode of workshops work to learn how we can apply our facilitation skills in more walks of life - and how people from all walks of life can identify the facilitation skills they’ve been using thi...

This week, I am joined by Joe Allen – a meeting scientist, professor of Industrial Organisational Psychology, Director at the Center for Meeting Effectiveness, and co-author of Suddenly Virtual. Joe’s dedication to the science of how and why we meet is helping to advance organisations’ understanding of how to have better meetings and, for the last year or so, his focus has been on the sudden shift...

Structure contains us and sets boundaries, it can’t make space for freedom or creativity… can it? Liberating Structures says otherwise - and Nadia von Holzen joins me in this episode to discuss the benefits and practical applications of these methods. Nadia is an independent facilitator and advocate for better meetings, collaboration, and creativity. I was taken aback by how many insights and grea...

Empathy is a cornerstone of facilitation. Without it, we are only thrusting ideas and intentions on people. With it, we meet people where they are and work with them, as they need us too, to create the right outcome for that moment. Gabriel Couture, a Learning and Service Experience Designer based out of Toronto, has been working on structuralising empathy - using a framework of integral facilitat...

This toe-tapping, energy-flowing, jam of a workshops work episode explores the similarities (and differences) between jazz music, strategy, and facilitation - with fabled facilitator Rich Goidel leading the beat. Rich fell into facilitation from his career in creative planning and brand strategy and has been uncovering fascinating insights ever since, thanks in no small part to the unique intersec...

Forging your own career or business in facilitation isn’t easy. As so many of the guests on this podcast can attest to, it’s often the case that we don’t know that we are facilitators until somebody introduces us to the concept. So, how can facilitators create a career or business in facilitation with intention, strategy, and confidence? Robin Muretisch is a shining example of how to do this! She...

How much of your workday do you really pay attention to? From where you sit to how often you get distracted and what happens when you come back from a break, all of these moments that make up our days are automatic processes. What would happen if you could track and analyse the way you work? Dr Mark Whittaker does just that and uses the data he gathers to design human-centred processes that help t...

100 episodes. (More than) 100 guests. Thousands of listeners. You, here, reading this and listening to this landmark episode. To mark this milestone, I turned the microphone towards the workshops work audience and asked if anyone would like to share the moment that has stuck with them most from these first 100 episodes. I’ve received 14 beautiful responses that, when taken together, form a bigger...

Bad meetings are all too common, but they are merely the product of every bad meeting that has come before them. So, how do we break the cycle of unstructured, imbalanced, aimless meetings and create a structure and process that makes meetings enjoyable and productive? There’s nobody better to answer that question than Elise Keith, founder and CEO of Lucid Meetings. Elise joined me in this episode...

Agile can be hugely effective in many environments, but from the outside, it can be daunting. The language, its origins in tech, and its overzealous cheerleaders can make it seem inaccessible and only applicable in specific situations. If that sounds like a familiar pain, Judith Mills is just the medicine you need! Not only is Judith an expert in applying Agile in everywhere from software to garde...

As a former Board member of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), and co-Founder of the Digital Collaboration Academy, there are few people better placed to discuss where our industry is and where it's going than Paul Nunesdea. We certainly captured some fascinating predictions and provocations in our wide-ranging conversation in this episode. A central focus was the importance...

Exploring the overlap between facilitation and leadership was an exciting proposition to me, but I didn’t expect it to encompass everything from architecture and dance to mountaineering and collaging. But such is the journey when John Varney gets into his eloquent stride! John has been involved in leadership, facilitation, and the grey space between them for over 30 years and his Centre for Manage...

When Gabrielle Santa-Donato said, “we need to be intentional about this transition”, she wasn’t talking about virtual workshops or exploring a workshop challenge. She was talking about creating a post-pandemic world. We’ve grown used to adjusting – to remote work, to lockdowns, to loss. What if we’ve become so adjusted to adjusting that we risk moving out of the pandemic without intention? Gabriel...

From exploring human graphs as a way of completing her homework in high school to flourishing as a multidisciplinary facilitator, dancer, and visual consultant, Lauren Green has had the kind of journey I love to learn about. Uniting seemingly disparate worlds, Lauren’s unique perspective on facilitation is as refreshing as it is revelatory. She joined me in this episode to discuss how facilitators...

Jeroen Frumau has had a remarkable career – from working at the arrowhead of innovation in senior roles at Phillips Design to founding and co-founding multiple non-profits. The threads that stitch these experiences together are design thinking and design sprints. Jeroen joined me on the podcast to share the universal truths he’s found about the application of design thinking across private, public...

Do you want to create meetings that participants actively engage with? When online meetings fail, it’s almost always because the offline meetings were bad in the first place. If you want every participant to engage with the meeting, you must be intentional from the start. The last thing you want to do is leave anyone out! As the facilitator, you must try and involve all participants by giving them...

Do you want to get better at creating mind-blowing visual experiences for participants? If so, you need to think about the story and method behind your canvas and its templates. A template is designed to guide participants through the various experiences of the workshop. You can think of it like a visual guide that provides participants with the instructions they need to follow. However, you can t...

Facilitators want to inspire, motivate, and cultivate change and growth. However, facilitators cannot see into the future. No matter how hard we try, we cannot predict what will happen to the seed we planted. Whether the seed blossoms into a beautiful plant or withers away depends on so much more than the facilitator.  While facilitators cannot guarantee a good crop, we can provide intention, care...

How can you use the creativity of a daydream to solve a very real problem? Being able to access creative thought when necessary is a skill and it can be taught, much like any other discipline.  Founders of The Drawing Board, Pat Byrnes and Jonathan Plotkin are cartoonists who facilitate creative workshops. They teach participants how to unlock creative thought using cartoonist exercises and proces...

What is art-based learning? And how can art-based learning workshops be successful virtually? In this episode of workshops work, I find out how we can facilitate deep insights through art and how to overcome the challenges of shifting this intimate workshop experience from a physical museum to a virtual one. Here to answer all of my questions is Roumayne Schepers, an art-based learning facilitator...

Great facilitators aren't always subject matter experts. In fact, they may know very little about the workshop's topic. A successful facilitator acts in service of others and knows when to lead from the back, as well as from the front. Jay Melone believes that being a great facilitator requires a unique mindset. He stresses that to be a good facilitator, you must practice curiosity, pati...

To achieve great workshop collaboration, participants must find a way to work together. In times of change, positivity is often the magic ingredient that makes workshops work. However, being positive doesn’t mean you neglect relevant problems. Positivity is about embracing uncertainty and stating things as they are so that you can work out a feasible solution. Lisette van de Sandt is one of the mo...