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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 Management Creativity serves as a bastion for clear-thinking and change-making for companies worldwide.

Join us in this episode as we search for the common ancestor of leadership and facilitation.

The opportunity to join John in conversation is one that everyone – no matter what title you give yourself – will benefit from. This is an opportunity you’d be wise to claim with both hands.

Find out about

• How teams can find their flow state by aligning on their purpose
• Why it’s important to focus on purpose, not short-termism
• Why play, creativity, and co-creation are the cornerstones of alignment
• How to respond when your workshop uncovers a deeper issue that needs addressing
• Where facilitation and leadership overlap
• The important distinction between leaders and leadership
• What John’s learned about leadership from facilitating so many leadership teams

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Questions & Answers
01:07 When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

02:13 What’s the difference between a facilitator and a consultant?

04:54 What did you learn from this experience – did it shape your view of facilitation at all?

06:03 How do we draw the line between being our authentic selves and being the facilitator participants need?

12:20 Do you think you can bring more of yourself to a life design workshop than a managerial one?

15:53 Can you explain more about what the Stanford Life Design Lab is?

18:02 How much do you life design to your personal and professional life?

19:19 How can you tell when the right moment is to step outside your comfort zone?

24:01 Is there a perfect time to redesign your life?

26:43 Life design asks us to be both facilitator and participant. Is this possible?

36:40 Can facilitators actually facilitate their own life?

39:55 What is your experience with co-facilitating meetings with managers?

44:46 What is something you’ve learned from the life design process that you think can apply to managers right now?

51:37 If we could workshop the worldwide transition out of the pandemic, what would it look like?

53:10 What makes a workshop fail?

Links

The Centre for Management Creativity, John’s business

High Trenhouse, John’s management workshop and retreat venue

John’s book, Lea

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/