Murray Guest is a coach, consultant, facilitator and speaker based out of Newcastle, Australia.  His consultancy is called ‘Inspire my business’ which is apt, because as you will be able to tell from the conversation, he’s an inspirational bloke. 

After over 20 years in corporate roles which included roles as a QA Manager, L&D Manager, BD Manager and Facilitator, Murray followed his heart and started his own business as a business coach, facilitator and consultant.  

We cover a range of topics in this conversation, ranging from the importance of professionalism as a facilitator; to the questions he uses to get people to start talking to each other at the beginning of a workshop; through to behaviour management.

Listen in when we also talk about teams in organisations and reasons why they may not be performing as effectively as they could/should.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Murray got his break into the world of facilitation

His philosophy around TGIF 

The importance of professionalism and what that means for facilitators

What you can do when you have participants who demonstrate resistance in your workshops

The three types of audience members in your workshop

How he uses the Gallup Strengths Finder tool everyday; in both his personal and professional life

Why it’s important to create foundations in a workshop (and how long Murray spends doing this)

How to survive (and keep your energy and sanity) during consecutive days of facilitation and

Ideas on when you should start reflecting on a workshop you’ve just run (hint: Don’t reflect immediately!)

His advice for First Time Facilitators

About our guest

Murray Guest is one of Australia’s leading Strengths coaches, helping over 1,000 people unlock and apply their strengths to achieve their professional and personal goals. As a Gallup certified Strengths coach he partners with organisations to build strengths-based cultures and realise the benefits a strengths-based approach brings. 

The founding director of Inspire My Business, he combines his diverse experience in HR, QA and Business Development to inspire leaders and their teams along the pathway of change and continuous improvement. 

His recognition includes one of only two coaches to speak at all three of the Gallup Strengths Summits in Omaha and receiving the HMA Excellence in Training Award for leading significant improvements as the Learning and Development Manager of Tomago Aluminum.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Inspire My Business

Murray Guest on LinkedIn

* Gallup: CliftonStrengths34 

Like this show?

Like this show? Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally!

Click here to let Leanne know about your number one takeaway from this episode!

Episode transcript

View the First Time Facilitator episode transcript with Murray Guest.