Facilitation Lab Podcast

"It's so interesting because I think in the process of documenting things like asynchronous workflows and some of the really hot ticket items that you hear about remote work, we've gotten to pull out stories from different people's lives and how that plays out. It's really what kind of brings this work to life, because it shows you how something like being able to work a non-linear work day enables someone to spend more time with their kids, or pursue a hobby that they love, or just have time to rest during what would be an otherwise hectic work day. So I feel like you can have all the policies in the world and outline all the best practices and all of the things, but if you don't have the actual stories around how that's impacting people's lives in a tangible way, then it doesn't really matter to people. So I think that's what feels so important about this work is that it's not just helping the company tick, it's helping people's lives work better in the end. So it definitely is ... it's a big, important piece of the story." -Betsy Church Bula

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Betsy Church Bula about how a deep interest in people and journalism led to her career as a Remote Work Evangelist. She shares how storytelling has been such an important part of her career. Later, Betsy explores the benefits of the nonlinear workday and the opportunities it opens up. We then discuss productivity in and out of the office. Listen in to learn how remote work is different after COVID.

"Absolutely. And that's what's so cool about people. And I think bringing people together is those moments of like, "Oh, I was thinking about it in this way. And oh, your lived experience means you're thinking about it in this totally different way." And how exciting as a facilitator to kind of be in those moments where your assumptions are challenged or where all of a sudden you have this whole new metaphor to view something in the world." -Elizabeth Weingarten

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Elizabeth Weingarten about how a deep interest in people and journalism led to her career researching and sharing the science of leadership development to clients around the world. She shares some of the many benefits of having strong relationships at work and how they can help us tap into positive energy. Later, Elizabeth explains the three factors that best create the conditions for learning. We then discuss the importance of sponsoring your peers and helping them move forward at work. Listen in for reasons why leadership behaviors are more important than traits.

" I did this project at one point when I was a teacher with my students where we built these dual compost in the trees. I came back a year later and one of the families that received a dual compost in the tree, and they helped work on it as well, they were using it as a closet. Another family that had received one and worked on it as well were using it as a bathroom only for very, very important persons. So I was like, "Wow, we built this thing. It was technically correct. It worked. It function. But the people didn't care for it, didn't necessarily want it, didn't show ownership of it, didn't know how to maintain it, couldn't repair it if it's broken, et cetera." And that's when I started this journey of like, "Oh, how do I bring in the human element into all of this?" Because I wasn't taught any of that. None of the social science stuff about human needs or human factors, et cetera." -Victor Udoewa

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Victor Udoewa about his varied work experience that brought him to his current position as a Service Design Lead at NASA. He explains how his experience as an engineer, educator, International Development Specialist, and health and trauma councelor helped him land a job designing educational software for Google. Later, Victor shares his thoughts on Integrated Design, Asset based problem solving, Defuturing, Reworlding, Ontological Design, and Hyperlocality. We then discuss the importance of including community members in the design process. Listen in for reasons why facilitators should give up power to better attend to the needs of the people they're serving.

"The main objective is to drive economic impact for our city, for our province, for our country. So, we need to give a platform to entrepreneurs to have their brand shine, but we also need to architect them meeting people. So, how do we source the audience? How do we create moments of connection throughout the experience? How do we hype people before the event to come and discover these talents? That's really kind of what's driving the whole vision. That's how we're thinking about designing our stages, our content. That's how we're thinking about having a lot of collaboration and all the activities that we're doing because we want to multiply the number of times people will collaborate and will meet humans." - Anick Beaulieu

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Anick Beaulieu about her experience designing impactful collective moments for C2 in Montreal. She shares how having the right questions lead to a creative vision. Later, Anick explains why intention is the key to collective moments and conversation. We then discuss fostering tan health and connection in times of crises. Listen in for more inspiration in using flagship events and collaboration to drive economic development in your region.

"Keep listening. Definitely keep listening, keep trying. But it is what you're saying, it's our goal to help people change their behavior. And if we want to help people change their behavior, we have to show them how and we have to seduce them. If we force people to change, it will be much harder. But what if we seduce people to change, to show them what it's worth for them to change? That's much more interesting. And people are far more willing to do that. Instead of forcing people like, "You need to change." And you're like, "Okay, I'm going to do it because you want it." But how about I want to do this because I want it myself?" -Anita Abaisa

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Anita Abaisa about her experience making a greater impact using VR in her DEI training programs. She shares how using the technology in her training compares to the participants that don't. Later, Anita explains why taking little steps is the key to behavior change. We then discuss the importance of showing people how to change. Listen in for more inspiration in how to support and engage teams to stop talent from changing jobs.

"There is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where vibrations of energy actually have an effect around them, on their environment and the other. You've probably heard that in quantum mechanics, you can actually observe a quantum phenomenon and by observing it you've changed it. It's the strangest weirdest thing. Well, you go out there in the world and you reflect a certain positivity. It's astonishing how it creates momentum of positivity." -Neal Foard

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Neal Foard about his latest initiative spreading messages of positivity on social media. He shares how he stumbled into his role as a social media influencer improving people's day. Later, he shares stories for why he has faith in humanity during these divisive times. We then discuss the importance of finding a tribe of people that you vibe with. Listen in for more inspiration on how to practice positivity.

"I don't know whether teacher change issues are any more difficult than others. It's just where I have experience. I think any time you're working on... I mean, you know this. People sort of like the idea of change. They just don't want to. And anytime you're working with really talented experts, human beings accustomed to tremendous autonomy, that's a really difficult room. And so the challenge for... In the educational technology version of me, the challenge was people realized that to use this technology well, they had to teach differently. And that forces all sorts of questions, not about practice necessarily, but about identity. I was like, oh, wait a minute. I thought I was pretty good at what I did. And now, maybe I'm entertaining the possibility that I could be better. And working through those identity issues, I think are really difficult." -Jeff Grabill

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Erik Skogsberg, Sarah Gretter, and Jeff Grabill about their experience helping Higher Education organizations with design more impactful learning experiences. They share a handful of the unique challenges of designing change in Higher Education as well as similarities with other change initiatives. Later, they share how to create the conditions for sustainable longterm change within organizations. We then discuss the importance of having a shared vocabulary to help all the stakeholders communicate during change initiatives. Listen in for Michael's interesting thoughts on the criteria all high-performing teams meet.

"Audiences don't want to see you fail. They really are on your side. They want to see you succeed. When you get uncomfortable and nervous and start that spiraling, they feel embarrassed for you. They want to save you. They feel horrible, and it makes them very uncomfortable. If you think of any situation you've been in, I'm sure that you've ... If you've ever seen a nervous speaker, you really feel for them. But when it's us up there, we forget that. We think that everybody's against us and judging us, and it's not true. It really isn't true." -Heather Hansen

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Heather Hansen about her experience helping leaders speak up and build their communication skills. She shares a handful of the unique challenges of communication training in our globalized world. Later, she shares the two most important factors in developing as a communicator. We then discuss the role of listening in learning to speak up. Listen in for her predictions about the future of technology and communication.

"So first of all, make very clear what the purpose of the team is, or the organization. What is it we're trying to accomplish? What's our big goal? What's our mission? Where are we going? Unless that is stated clearly, the people who are in the team won't be able to line up together. So think of a rowing crew in a rowing boat, and they don't know where they're going and nobody is setting the pace. They're going to have difficulty functioning well, and we have that kind of problem in many teams. People assume that they know what their purpose is, but spelling it out is actually very important, especially in larger organizations, but even in small teams with two or three people, it's a very important thing." -Michael Palmer

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Palmer about his experience helping organizations with programs of instruction to help teams of all kinds build the cultures they need to excel. He shares a thoughtful definition of 'culture' and why it's so important in sustaining healthy teams. Later, Michael shares some tips to develop better communication practices at work. We then discuss the importance of 'purpose' at work. Listen in for Michael's interesting thoughts on the criteria all high performing teams meet.

"So I would design all this stuff and if something went wrong, they always blamed the people. And I'm like, this is interesting. So whenever I went to the people side, it was very different to see that in essence, we create the environments for the people, especially if we're in the HR or the leadership spaces. And so how people didn't look at that, they didn't look how it was designed. They did not look at how it had been engineered or crafted. Is, is this actually meant for a human to succeed in? And so that has probably been one of the most fascinating things for me, is helping people to deconstruct policies and procedures and even looking at the people's side and just their habits that they've created. And how do we actually get it where people can show up, collaborate, perform, and have fun while doing it?" -Emily Elrod

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Emily Elrod about her experience helping organizations of people work better together, stress, and self-care at work. She shares some thoughts on why organizations should prioritize like-hearted over like-minded teams. Later, Emily explores topics like positive deviance, how to leverage dopamine, and progress over perfection. We then discuss what it takes to keep calm at work and emotional regulation. Listen in for more interesting thoughts on ways people, places, and things go from stressed to strategic.