Episode 49: Are You Sitting Comfortably? Let Me Begin.

Story, Rehearsal and Authentic Communication with James Healy

In this episode of reThink, Nicki Hambleton is joined by communication specialist James Healy for a thoughtful conversation about story, presence, and what it really means to rehearse.

James shares his journey from classical drama training to working with leaders, law firms and organisations around the world, helping them communicate with confidence, clarity and impact.

Along the way, the episode explores a common challenge many people face: feeling well-prepared, yet still nervous, flat or disconnected when it comes time to speak.

Together, they unpack why preparation alone often fails and why rehearsal, storytelling and embodied presence make such a difference.

James introduces his SOAR storytelling framework, showing how:

• situation sets context
• obstacles create engagement
• action builds momentum
• and results make ideas memorable

The episode also talks about:

• why stories engage us more than data
• authenticity and vulnerability in the age of AI
• how quieter voices can still command attention
• and how imperfection often builds stronger connection than polish

This episode is an invitation to slow down, speak ideas out loud, and rethink how stories, including your own, are told.

🎧 Whether you’re leading, presenting, teaching or simply trying to be heard, this conversation offers a more human way to communicate.

The Shift

James Healy LinkedIn

The Squiggly career: Helen Tupper

Forbes: From Classroom to Career

Olivier Mythodrama

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

From Visuals to Voice: A Year of Rethinking Out Loud

As the year comes to a close, this episode of Rethink: The Podcast is a moment to pause and reflect.

Rather than introducing a new visual tool or hosting a guest conversation, Nicki steps back to join the dots between the ideas, conversations and moments that have shaped the podcast over the past year.

From revisiting her 2014 Learning2 talk on the power of visuals, to noticing recurring themes across conversations with educators, leaders, creatives and facilitators, Nicki reflects on how visualising thinking has helped people make sense of complexity, reduce cognitive overload and communicate ideas more clearly.

This episode explores the shift from thinking visually to thinking out loud and how hosting the podcast has become a quiet practice in finding confidence, clarity and voice.

Nicki also reflects on her earlier podcast, The Confessions of an Introvert, and shares why she feels drawn to revisiting those quieter, story-led conversations.

If you’re someone who thinks deeply, sketches ideas, or feels overwhelmed when thoughts stay stuck in your head, this end-of-year reflection offers a gentle reminder: making thinking visible doesn’t require perfection, just space, curiosity and the courage to say the next honest thing out loud.

Learning2 Asia 2014: The Power of Visuals by Nicki Hambleton

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

Rethinking Journalling: Calm, Creativity, and the Power of Visual Reflection

In this episode of reThink, Nicki Hambleton is joined by educator, coach, and podcast host Kim Cofino for a reflective conversation about journalling, not as a writing habit, but as a visual, calming practice.

Kim shares how journalling supported her through a demanding year, helping her slow down, process experiences and remember everyday moments more clearly. Rather than focusing on written entries, the conversation explores how simple visuals, doodles, colour, and small observations can make journalling feel more accessible and sustainable.

The episode explores:

• How journalling can support calm and emotional processing
• Why visual cues help memory and recall
• Letting go of perfection and consistency
• Journalling as a personal, flexible practice rather than a performance

This episode offers a gentler way into journalling, particularly for those who have struggled to maintain traditional written journals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimcofino/

https://www.instagram.com/superkimbocreates/?hl=en

https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/all_about/

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

What Happens When You Stop Typing and Start Seeing Your Notes?

An Introduction to Sketchnoting

Most of us type far more notes than we ever return to.
We capture everything, but remember very little.
So what actually changes when we stop writing pages of text and start seeing our notes instead?

In this episode, I share how sketchnoting transformed the way I process information over ten years ago, because dense text overwhelmed me, bored me, and stayed hidden on my computer. I needed a way to stay engaged while capturing ideas, and a way to actually use them later.

I explore:

• Why sketchnoting isn’t about drawing well
• How visual notes help you see, choose and act on ideas
• How to get started
• Why choosing what matters reduces overwhelm
• How sketchnotes become notes you actually revisit

 Try capturing one idea visually and see what happens when you come back to it.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

In this episode, Nicki is joined by creative facilitator and multipotentialite Angel Takooree for an insightful conversation about what truly makes a workshop engaging, human, and meaningful.

Angel shares how her squiggly career, spanning food innovation, interior design, service design, LEGO® Serious Play®, and visual thinking, has shaped her approach to facilitation. She talks about designing workshops through the senses, rethinking space, using visuals to reduce overwhelm, and creating environments where people feel safe, relaxed, and ready to contribute.

Together, Nicki and Angel explore:

• How thoughtful space design transforms group dynamics
• Why sensory cues (music, scent, layout) help people feel at ease
• How visual thinking invites people into conversations differently
• Why metaphors and LEGO bricks help adults stop overthinking
• What multipotentialites bring to creative and collaborative work

When people feel comfortable, curious, and cared for, they begin to relax into experimentation and that’s when real creativity emerges.

This episode is full of joyful stories, practical insights, and gentle encouragement for anyone wanting to rethink how they design meetings, workshops, or learning experiences.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

Episode 44: Rethinking Journalling. One Day. One Drawing.

In this reflective episode of Rethink: The Podcast, Nicki Hambleton explores why traditional journalling is so hard to sustain and how a simple daily drawing ritual can turn reflection into something calming, consistent, and deeply grounding.

Nicki shares her own struggle with keeping a diary, yet drawing, especially ten minutes a day, became a meditative practice she could return to again and again.

So what happens when you combine the two?

Through personal stories, family memories, cognitive science, and a practical four-step method, Nicki shows how visual journalling can help anyone create a small, meaningful daily ritual.

Listeners are invited to try their own “one day, one drawing” moment and share their methods, tools, and pages.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

Episode 43: Look Again! How Community Helps Us Feel Seen

In this reThink episode, Nicki is joined by educator, facilitator and community-builder Maxine Buttigieg, founder of Mira: Where Teachers Connect. Together, they explore what it means to look again; to slow down, notice what’s often overlooked and understand why feeling seen is essential to well-being.

Maxine shares the story behind Mira, the inspiration drawn from Spanish children joyfully shouting “Mira!” (“Look!”), and her commitment to creating spaces where teachers can genuinely belong. The conversation moves through the emotional landscape of teaching, the power of community and the importance of having a safe place to reflect, connect, and breathe.

Throughout the episode, Nicki and Maxine discuss:

• why being seen matters just as much as seeing others
• how teacher communities can support well-being and reduce burnout
• the “octopus brain” and the reality of multi-passionate people
• the role of visual metaphors in helping us think, reflect and understand ourselves
• how simple noticing moments can transform the way we engage with the world

This reflective episode is ideal for educators, leaders, facilitators and anyone seeking a renewed sense of clarity, belonging and connection. A warm reminder that sometimes, the world doesn’t need to change, we just need to look more closely.

Maxine Buttigieg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxine-buttigieg/

Mira: https://www.instagram.com/mira__education/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mira-where-teachers-connect/posts/?feedView=all

Metafox Coaching Cards: https://metafox.eu/collections/coaching-picture-cards

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

Rethinking the Feedback Loop: How to read the room you can’t see

What happens when you present online, but your audience is all together in a room you can’t see?

In this episode, Nicki shares the story of presenting a visual-thinking workshop to a group of art teachers in Singapore. The content focused on a challenge dear to her heart, the teachers were engaged, but one thing was missing: the feedback loop.

We explore:

• Why online-to-room teaching feels so different
• The psychology of micro-feedback and invisible cues
• What happens when you lose the ability to “read the room”
• Practical visual-thinking strategies to rebuild connection remotely
• What to do differently to keep the loop alive
• How roles, sketch-stops, warm-up games, and visual debriefs revive engagement

Whether you’re a teacher, trainer, facilitator, or leader, this episode will help you rethink how to create connection, especially when you can’t see the people you’re presenting to.

Because sometimes, the most important signals are the ones we can’t see, until we learn how to look for them.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

Episode 41: Stop the Scroll with Stand Out Designs (with Nadia Fernández)

How do you make people stop scrolling and pay attention?
In this episode, Nicki Hambleton talks with designer Nadia Fernández, whose cinematic, story-driven carousels have become instantly recognisable on LinkedIn. They explore what it means to design with identity, not just style, and how breaking the rules can help your content stand out for all the right reasons.

🎯 You’ll hear Nadia talk about how she:

• Create visuals that grab attention without gimmicks
• Built a consistent, recognisable brand identity
• follows the design rules and when to break the grid
• Balances creativity with clarity to make her message memorable

Nadia shares her process, mindset, and why being human in your visuals matters more than ever in an AI-crowded world.

✨ Because design isn’t about decoration, it’s about connection.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiiafernandez/

https://www.laisladesigns.com/

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?

See the Challenge, Strengthen the Team

Every team has its wobbly blocks, those small things that quietly hold everything together until they’re overlooked, pushed aside, or forgotten.

In this episode of Rethink: The Podcast, Nicki Hambleton explores what really makes teams wobble and how simple visual strategies can bring them back into balance.

Drawing from conversations with leaders, educators, and facilitators, Nicki unpacks common challenges around communication, collaboration and clarity. Through the metaphor of a Jenga tower, she shows how losing sight of what’s important can weaken trust, focus, and confidence and how visual thinking can help rebuild them.

By working visibly, mapping ideas, using storyboards and creating shared spaces for thinking, teams can communicate more clearly, listen more actively and build stronger alignment. 

When ideas are seen as well as heard, inclusion grows, confidence returns and collaboration feels effortless again.

Because when we can see the challenge, we can strengthen the team.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?