Facilitation Lab Podcast

"There's this old phrase, 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast.' I'm a firm believer in that one. I learned it the hard way. When I first started my career, I was a consultant. When I jumped off into startups, I honestly really struggled. The first couple years were pretty bad, because I was not a very good manager. It took a while to realize that the needs of people from different backgrounds and different skill sets, even different functions, were vastly different, and that if I wanted my startup to survive and thrive, during some really hard times, it was going to be all about whether or not I could not only get of buy in on the direction we were going, but I could get people understanding why this was beneficial for them and find ways to help people see and understand each other better so that we can make the trade offs we need to make together as a team. That's what builds real loyalty to an organization, but it's also what builds better outcomes. Honestly, it makes people's lives better." - Brian Elliott

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Elliott about his career as an Executive and Future Of Work thought leader. He starts with reflections on how he'd like to influence the future of work. Later, Brian discusses the importance of building a source of understanding between people. We also discuss how somewhere in every organization there's a pocket of people doing things differently and getting better results. Listen in for insights like why we should look at the principles by which we'd like to behave and start from there before change redesign.

"We need more people being of service. And it's not just the appointed tech host, it's their responsibility. You could have teams of people where they know all of these skills, they're going to function better as a team because they know how to behave this way. But I think still there aren't enough tech hosts or service-minded people in these meetings to be able to do that." - Heather Martinez

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Heather Martinez about her career serving clients with graphic recording and facilitation tech help. She starts with how her experience graphic recording led to her new business. Later, Heather discusses why it's important to create your own graphic style. We then discuss how our views have an impact on how wwe show up in the world. Listen in for tips you can learn from calligraphers, sign painters, and graphic artists.

"Winston Environments tell us how to behave. Others in the environment reinforce the messages given by the physical space." -Rob Evans

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Howard Kincaide about his long career in Product Leadership. He starts with how his nature to always be making things served him throughout his career. Later, Howard discusses his long journey introducing teams to Lean Product Development Methods. We then discuss using cultural values to create high performing teams. Listen in for more tips on how to create change within any organization.

"Winston Churchill said something like, "We create our buildings and then our buildings create us." So we are deeply influenced by our environment. This species didn't evolve except by paying very careful attention to what's going on around us. Because we're not that fast, we don't have good teeth, we had to be pretty attentive to our environment to even survive. Well, we're still those creatures. We're still very attentive to even subtle cues in our environment. Environments tell us how to behave. Others in the environment, reinforce the messages given by the physical space." -Rob Evans

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rob Evans about his experience designing and leading collaborative workshops to help leaders align and mobilize their teams to successfully tackle complex challenges. He starts with how a his background at studying at the Harvard Divinity School led to management counsulting. Later, Rob discusses the importance of where we work and how it influences how we work. We then discuss collaboration at scale. Listen in for more tips in how to teach design collaboration at scale.

"When you look at what's happening with the population, boomers aren't getting any younger and they've got plenty of discretionary income and a lot of the solutions that are out there aren't very friendly feeling to that population. And it's hard to design for a group that you've never been a part of or that you don't know anything about. It became really important to me to be part of teams where there was a wide variety, not just of backgrounds and races and genders and that sort of thing, but also across the age spectrum that you had people who had lived experience of all of the customers that we might be facing, not just the ones who looked like us." -Jennifer Houlihan

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Houlihan about her experience transitioning into the UX Design industry later in her career and teaching other adult learners. She starts with how a project working at a local Non Profit exposed her up to UX Design. Later, Jennifer discusses the importance of lifelong learning and keeping a beginners mindset. We then discuss how and why to include play at work and while learning. Listen in for tips on how to activate different learning models for your students and yourself.

"Wherever you go, there you are. You're always bringing your family dynamics into it, so you just have to figure out who's who in the dynamic of whatever you're experiencing in the room, and then once you know that, you'll understand what's getting triggered, and you can work together to move through it." -Patti Dobrowolski

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Patti Dobrowolski about her career helping teams navigate growth and change. She starts with how her background in Theater has influenced her career. Later, Patti shares her journey of awareness that has helped her make it easier for people to connect to themselves and us. We then discuss how and why to include play at work. Listen in for the steps to help bridge states of consciousness with the groups you're facilitating.

"And so the more that I looked at people outside of the ideal, this ideal that we should fail forward, this ideal that we should pivot forward, I became and remained fascinated with the notion of in that moment, when we have some kind of a catalyzing disruption or interruption, how do we get our bearings? How do we understand who we are in that and then how do we determine how we want to move forward? What are the actual steps that we take? What are the approaches that we use? What are the resources that we draw upon and how do we make sense of it?" -Joan Ball

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Joan Ball about her career helping organizations flourish in times of change. She starts with insights into the resources, resourcefulness, and their connection to navigating uncharted territory. Later, Joan shares how she uses Emergency Services as a metaphor to help her clients make sense of the dynamism they're facing. We then discuss the importance of including unstructured time in our schedules. Listen in for the steps to anticipate and thrive during disruption.

"But the thing that I hear the most from the students is that they're afraid that they're not going to know how to help. They're going to stand up in front of their peers and say, "I'm here to help you guide you through this, A3 problem solving workout or this kaizen, but at the core of it, I'm really just got this structure that I'm following. I'm afraid I'm going to sound like a robot or I'm going to be like, 'We are in current state. We are in root cause analysis'." Because they're learning the structure, they don't feel natural in it. And that is totally what I went through. But I knew I had that cheat sheet of the structure next to me so I could look down at it. And maybe what my practice was is just to feel more comfortable knowing that I don't know exactly and I've got to kind of follow a guide." -Lori Serna

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking withLori Serna about her career leading business transformation initiatives at Cal Poly. She starts with tips on how to facilitate transformation at a large organization. Later, Lori explores common fears that facilitators share during transformation work. We then discuss the nuts and bolts of Lean and Kaizen Methodologies. Listen in for insight that spans industries.

"But what we don't realize is that it's actually our job to help manage change. And it's our job to give people a vision that helps them get to the other side of change. So, so often we just tell people, you need to change. We never tell them why. And we don't give them a vision for the future. And we don't ask them to come alongside of us and help build that future together. We oftentimes, change feels like it's happening to me and change imposed is changed opposed. So we're going to oppose anything that's imposed on us." -Natalie Born

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Born about her role as VP of Innovation at Territory Global. She shares how an interest in negotiating influenced her career path. Later, Natalie explores topics running from emotional journeys and change, to groud rules and burnout. We then discuss the importance of developing a rest ethic. Listen in to learn all about giving people a vision that helps them get to the other side of change.

"You know, there are so many different forms of discrimination and prejudice. But I thought, when you write a book about leadership, what is there that hasn't been written yet? And so for me, leadership is about perspective. Finding different ways of looking at things to solve problems. To be creative and to innovate. We need to look at problems from different perspectives. So we don't ask the right question, do we get to the right solution? And so that's some work that Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg did in his book, What's Your Problem? And I started thinking about, but how do we apply this to discrimination? Are we asking the right questions?" -Eksteen de Waal

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Eksteen de Waal about leadership and helping people flourish. He shares how a traumatic childhood event influenced his career. Later, Eksteen explores topics like Psychological Safety, culture, and fairness. We then discuss employee needs in and out of the office. Listen in to learn all about developing exponential cultures.