How can you know yourself more? What would you tell your younger self? And what are you going to do with this life?

Born with a microphone in her hand, and asking all of life’s big, juicy questions, leadership facilitator & coach Rebecca Hopkins brings her effervescent, thoughtful facilitation musings to the show in spades this week.

Going beyond the cushions of competence, we explore the many spaces between grief, healthy feedback cultures, safe space declarations, and all the joyful, messy emotions that come with being human. We geek out, we get vulnerable, and we go deep into the complex, beautiful nature of our craft, as Rebecca takes us on a journey to being a more grounded and self-compassionate facilitator.

A conversation I’ve been looking forward to for 335 episodes! I hope you love it as much as I do.

Find out about:

• How facilitators can stay grounded amidst emotional complexity, self-doubt, and evolving practices and technologies
• Why presence, humility, and grace will always triumph over polished techniques
• The importance of breaking free of familiar spaces where competence comes naturally, to create opportunities for expansion
• How to build a healthy feedback culture rooted in nuance, meaning, and thoughtfulness 
• And why we all need to be a little kinder to ourselves!

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Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Download Rebecca's 1-pager on giving positive feedback

Connect to Rebecca Hopkins:

LinkedIn

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Friday night card game clash, or shareholder dispute – at its core, all conflict is the same.

Ursula Taylor has seen time and time again, from the court room, to the board room, that every conflict is created and perpetuated from unprocessed human emotion. 

From litigation attorney, to conflict consultant, she now helps leaders and teams turn conflict into opportunity. By transmuting the infectious, emotionally-charged energy of shame, fear or distrust – softer, more grounded energy can take its place, clearing the path to resolution.

Ursula shares stories from her legal days, and the learnings we can all apply to our daily lives to do conflict better – as leaders, facilitators, and most of all, humans. 

Find out about:

• Why Ursula believes conflict isn’t inherently bad, but rather an opportunity
• Conflict learnings from litigation we can apply to facilitation – and life
• Recognising the emotional energies that arise, and re-tuning them into clarity, rational decisions and resolution
• Why the unprocessed emotions of fear, shame and distrust are the true source of conflict
• Why successful transformation doesn’t always require both conflicting parties to agree

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Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Ursula Taylor:

LinkedIn

Website

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A Mary Poppins’ bag of glitter, a big beating drum, a lump of clay, and a shiny gold crown. Bringing her wonderful, precious collection of props to the show, is the brilliant Paula Short.

As a personal development psychotherapist, talented actress, and the founder of a 1997 youth centre, facilitation has been a guiding constant in Paula’s life and work. Now as a self-exploration retreat host, she facilitates deep transformation through the expressive arts, helping people to welcome unchartered emotions without shame.

We explore how donning the cloak of the villain in a fictional story can become an embodied breakthrough, why the collective support of the group can be liquid gold, and why Paula has such an issue with tissues.

A special, heartfelt conversation – join us!

Find out about:

• How roleplay, costumes and props can help us to access buried feelings and emotions
• The importance of letting emotions free-flow without interruption, or ‘tidying’ them away
• How Paula create safe containers for self-exploration through play
• Navigating our trauma responses, and why we must learn to trust our own vulnerabilities  
• Normalising say ‘no’ – and why doing so gives us autonomy, helps us reconnect to our boundaries, and signals emotional safety to others

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Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Paula Short:

LinkedIn

Website

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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We are human beings, not human doings! So how did we find ourselves doing more, more, more, when all we’ve ever needed exists here within us?

Emanuele Mazzanti is here to remind us of this. As a facilitator alchemist for EY and an energy-giver at heart, he carves out space for authentic human experience, playfulness, and emotional depth, in a highly results-driven, corporate world.

His approach is simple: connection before content, curiosity before questions, and presence before perfection, as he shows leaders how to show up in new, deeply connecting ways.

So if you’re ready to swap the PPT for something that feels a little more personal, this one’s for you!

Find out about:

• How to make more space to just be, in a culture obsessed with doing
• How to foster emotional presence in corporate settings to enhance performance, decision-making and meaningful depth
• Resisting the facilitative urge to fill workshops with content, tools and structure
• And why real transformation comes from simple, stripped back, human moments
• The mindset leaders must nurture to show up with empathy and curiosity

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

Links:

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Connect to Emanuele Mazzanti:

LinkedIn

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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Bitten by the magic bug at a bar mitzvah when he was 12-years old, and led on a lifelong journey from teacher, to coach, to psychologist and magician, is Dr Ben Levy. Now the founder of Magic Lessons, he’s on a mission to make learning feel exactly that – magical!

Blending magic and psychology, Ben teaches a five-ingredient secret formula for high achievement in the classroom and the boardroom, all in 20 minutes! A magic trick that shows participants that with a little bit of belief, and a momentary relinquishing of control, they too can achieve brilliant, unexpected things.

Ben invites us into his magic circle, as he shares his special ABC ME framework, and why surprise, awe, and play really do work wonders for deep learning.

Find out about:

• How magic can facilitate curiosity, insight, deep learning, and skills acquisition
• The two-way exchange of magic performances, from projection to introjection
• The five-part ABC ME (Ability, Belief, Clarity, Motivation, Environment) framework
• How to understand and manage responses, when magic takes away participant control

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Links:

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Coaching Survey - Feel free to complete to identify where to focus, in order to achieve your priority goals.

Connect to Ben:

Linkedin

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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The conversations we dread, the ones we avoid, and the ones that hold so much emotional weight – are often the ones we wish we’d had sooner. So why do we fear them so much?

As a recovering people-pleaser, I know the drill all too well: the bubbling resentment, the unmet needs, and the stories we fabricate in our minds. But rather than run from the difficult conversations in my life, I’ve learnt how to build the bridges that will carry me to a better outcome.

This solo episode is for my fellow people-pleasers, facilitators, leaders, and anyone with a hard conversation on the horizon. So join me, myself and I, as I share my tried-and-tested approach to mastering them with confidence and care!

Find out about:

• The cost of avoiding challenging conversations – and the reward in embracing them
• Tuning into our bodily signals to understand what’s happening beneath the emotion
• Getting clear on the assumptions vs. the facts before a challenging conversation
• Why we must acknowledge that challenging conversations starts with us first
• Finding a common way forward without mutual agreement or violent language
• Why sharing boundaries transparently can foster respect

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.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• HBR Article: The Right Way to Prepare for a High-Stakes Conversation
• Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently by Beau Lotto
• SBI Feedback Model (Situation–Behavior–Impact)
• Let Them: The Art of Detaching From Judgment by Mel Robbins
• Difficult Conversations by Stone, Patton and Heen
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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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:

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Connect to Chedva Ludmir:

LinkedIn

Website 

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Support the show

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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

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Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Jason Perelson:

Jason's website

Daring Waters

LinkedIn

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Support the show

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Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:
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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

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Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Matt Homann:

LinkedIn

Website

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Support the show

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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

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Support the show

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Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:
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Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!