When we stop looking for the perfect question, when we choose to reflect rather than react, and when we wait and listen, for just a little while longer – it can change everything.

Public speaker, serial entrepreneur and owner of Consider, Chedva Ludmir has made it her mission to help others embrace curiosity, listen deeply, and make friends with uncertainty. 

Together, we explore the power of asking thoughtful questions in all of life’s moments – from time-restricted workshops, to orthodox religions, and scary career crossroads. And why when big decisions did loom, Chedva didn’t ask herself should I do this? but rather started to ask, when it’s time, will I know it?

Find out about:

• How to stay present and curious in conversations, without leaping into question-asking
• The importance and humility in asking gentle, gateway questions
• The tension between certainty and curiosity, and why it's okay not to know
• What it means to hold space for ourselves, and others, to discover truth
• The power of fictional characters or novels to explore sensitive topics or emotions

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Chedva Ludmir:

LinkedIn

Website 

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Leaders, who’s really running the business? Is it you, or is it your inner child in the boardroom chair, with all of your messy, unresolved childhood patterns, triggers, and attachment styles running the show?

Here to help us find the healed, playful inner child is Jason Perelso! He has spent the past quarter of a century helping brilliantly flawed humans to better understand themselves, destigmatize their triggers, step into vulnerability, and become emotionally mature, self-aware leaders.

Together we explore how to heal the boardroom, learn from our inner child, and make leadership decisions without them calling the shots!

Find out about:

• The role of unresolved childhood patterns and emotional regulation in leadership
• And why leaders so often make decisions from a place of childhood experience
• How to gain awareness of our triggers in order to destigmatize them
• The relationship between attachment theories and leadership styles
• How to become the healed, playful inner child with innovation at the heart

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Jason Perelson:

Jason's website

Daring Waters

LinkedIn

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Stale, stuffy boardrooms, awkwardly arranged furniture, and scratchy marker-pens that have nearly run dry. A facilitator’s lament – and perhaps, our worst enemy.

Tired of the constant shapeshifting to squeeze into spaces that were never meant for facilitation, Matt Homann moved into the business of hosting people – in his own space. He built Filament, a facilitation space with a codified approach at its core, to help people to meet, think and learn better, freeing creativity from logistical limitations, and making sure a terrible workshop never has to happen again.

We talk about how space liberates us, the structures that spark the best conversations, and why simplicity always wins over complexity. Join us!

Find out about:

• The role of environment in facilitation – and why it’s your most powerful tool
• Why owning your own facilitation space allows you to experiment, ideate quickly, shift group dynamics, and design for interaction
• Why facilitation tools and frameworks need to be simple and memorable
• Why the best facilitators often don’t carry the title

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Matt Homann:

LinkedIn

Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

One of the greatest paradoxes of leadership is that to lead well, you must learn to let go. To get comfortable with not having all the answers! To release your grip, relinquish control, and know that the wisdom already exists in everyone around you.

Professor, coach and facilitator to the next generation of leaders, Rob Lion has spent the last 20 years fostering self-leading workplace cultures that truly listen to their people, building leaders that are facilitators at heart.

Because the best leaders? They’ve taken off the stabilisers of delegation, left their ego at the door, and learnt the delicate dance of stepping back, to invite others to step in. 

Find out about:

• The intersection of leadership and facilitation – and what it takes to be a facilitative leader
• Why we should think with our whole bodies, rather than just listen to our gut
• The complex, nuanced role of surrender and control
• Why leadership micromanagement and delegation are safety mechanisms
• Why great leaders and facilitators must learn to confront their own triggers

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Rob Lion:

LinkedIn

Website

Blog

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Context is everything. But when we remove ourselves from the tried-and-tested playing board of our work environment, to rewrite the rules and become new characters on fresh, unchartered ground? Everything changes.

On a mission to create a world where people play to learn, Mohsin Memon returns to the show, now as the mastermind of Evivve. His new multiplayer, leadership strategy simulation immerses teams in safe, fictional worlds rooted in neuroscience – designed to create powerful learning opportunities and realisations rooted in truth.

A conversation filled with lightbulb moments, rich insights and lots of learnings for leaders and facilitators alike. Press play!

Find out about:

• The AFFER model that underpins Mohsin’s work in behavioural change
• The five behavioural learning cycle stages of activation, forecasting, experimentation, realisation and reflection
• Why the most effective leaders are those who can make sense of complexity
• How simulation can democratise an organisation, without hierarchy or expectation
• The biggest data learnings from Evivve’s 20,000 game containers 

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Mohsin Memon:

LinkedIn

Website 

More information about AFERR

More information about EVIVVE

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

If facilitation was a mirror, what would you see? Would there be frameworks propping you up, a lingering desire to be liked, or insecurities sat atop your shoulder, quietly whispering in your ear?

In his new book Facilitating Reflections, the one and only Thomas Lahnthaler holds up this mirror for us all. He invites us to go inward, to step out of the buzzword charade, to close the theory books, and to rethink what we know – because the best facilitation isn’t found in a textbook, but when we can see ourselves a little clearer.

Together, we journey through two decades worth of Thomas’ facilitation learnings, exploring chapters, ideas, stories, and the rich spaces between facilitation and self. What a joy!

Find out about:

• The art of self-exploration, and why it’s so necessary for facilitators to master
• Navigating the desire to be liked, belonging, and falling in love with the group
• Why facilitation, by default, is disruptive and therefore a threat to psychological safety
• The binary of good vs. bad facilitation – can it really exist?
• The important role that context, values and presence plays in facilitation

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Thomas Lahnthaler's Books

Connect to Thomas Lahnthaler:

LinkedIn

Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Curation is far more than an artistic act – it is a political one! It’s what’s to leave in, what to take out, what to filter and what to frame. And through this sense-making assembly, it becomes an invitation: to pay attention, to expand our minds, and to stumble into serendipitous encounters.

And nothing masters this quite like TED. Curator of ideas, and a 20-year shaper of the TED conferences, Bruno Giussani helped make the cultural institution what it is today – he joins me to dissect the art and science of facilitation’s dear cousin, and why now, more than ever, curation is so necessary.

Hear the creative workings of the Ted stage, the evolution of TedX, and why Bruno believes ‘content’ is a wrecking ball to culture. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss!

Find out about:

• The cultural responsibility of curation in our desensitised age of information
• The polarities of algorithmic filters, and real-life, intimate, theatrical curation
• How to curate engagement with care, while gently bursting the filter bubble
• How the TED stage was built to blend intimacy with visual impact
• The use of music to primes new moods, neutralise tastebuds and signal art as part of the conversation

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Bruno Giussani:

LinkedIn

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Hailing from Quaker circles and Berkeley’s grassroots community movements in the 1960s, is the sagacious Parker J. Palmer – activist, facilitator, teacher and author. His unconventional entry into facilitation was piqued by a fascination with circle-work, which inspired a 30+ year career spent holding space for the mutable truth to emerge.

This is a wise, thoughtful conversation grounded in a lifetime of Parker’s lived experiences. From authoring your own life, to questioning the truth with kindness, being aware of hubris and approaching facilitation with fresh curiosity every day.

There’s an incredible amount to learn from Parker in our conversation alone, and I hope you’re as inspired as I was!

Find out about:

• The confluence of facilitation, writing and teaching
• Why safe spaces are an on-going practice, requiring facilitator’s to protect individuals from judgement and criticism
• Understanding the concept of ‘truth’ amongst a group of different perspectives
• The importance of allowing groups to sit in reflection, before rushing to problem-solve
• Why every group workshop must be approached with fresh eyes

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Center for Courage and Renewal

Living the Questions with Parker J. Palmer

Parker J Palmer Publications

Connect to Parker J. Palmer:

LinkedIn

Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

How do we host ourselves as facilitators – and how do we host others? How do we grow bigger minds to meet the complexity out there, and then rest in it without needing to know the answers?

Marco Valente joins me for a big, juicy and mind-opening conversation as we navigate the inner workings of the growing self – and the leader – to better understand the messy, unpredictable complexities of our world. It’s about walking up to our mind’s balcony in search of self-awareness and inner presence, it’s about getting vulnerable in our wrongness, and getting comfortable with the unknown.

Marco shares his thoughts, leadership advice and hosting tips with beautiful eloquence and I invite every leader, facilitator and sense-maker to press play to this wonderful episode.

Find out about:

• The mind trap of identity, ego and feedback
• The evolutionary pulls of fear - how much helps or hinders us?
• Why KPIs can harm the collective, rather than help with long-term growth
• The paradox of learning more facilitation methods, in order to detach ourselves from them 
• The balancing act of structure and emergence to accurately address group needs

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Marco Valente:

LinkedIn

Website 

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Helping people to do their best thinking, is Amanda Cookson. A coach, facilitator and all-round neuroscience whizz, she’s made it her mission to help leaders better understand what it means to be human.

And it all starts with our own thinking-feeling, wildly brilliant, untamed brain! She guides us through its inner workings with effervescence and passion, showing us how to work with it – rather than against it – steer pulse-quickening conversations towards oxytocin, and design experiences that help rewire the brain for real, lasting change.

An energising, thoughtful conversation, full of golden mind-training nuggets to try in both facilitation, and life!

Find out about:

• Why the discomfort of cognitive dissonance can lead to richer learnings
• The power of asking great questions in search of answers that ignite deep thinking
• Amanda’s feelings-based ground rules of presence, curiosity and generosity
• Friends vs Foe: how to turn self-fulfilling prophecies into human connection 
• How to facilitate with the brain in mind, for insight, rather than information

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Amanda Cookson:

LinkedIn

Website 

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/