What is it like to be on ‘the other side' of the workshop — to be a participant or a client?

This podcast has always focused on conversations with facilitators, but perspectives from clients are just as valuable for understanding our work and processes.

Hence, why this episode features Sandy Wilson, Director of Culture and Learning at Insights Learning and Development. In 2021, Insights initiated a company-wide facilitated LEGO Serious Play project, dubbed ‘On Purpose’.

I’m shocked that it’s taken me 182 episodes to host an episode from the clients perspective, but it was more than worth the wait. Enjoy a bounty of unique and unmissable insights in this episode.   

Find out about:

• How Sandy (and his organisation) decided to choose LEGO Serious Play
• What it’s like to lead an organisational project without a clear expected outcome
• Why a focus on identification and exploration was critical to creating change
• How the organisation adopted a snowball-effect of permissionless progress
• Why ‘extroverted thinking’ dominates in management structures and how to facilitate the inclusion introverted perspectives
• How they conducted the search for an external facilitator and what made candidates stand out
• The struggle to confidently link organisational changes to individual projects

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

https://www.insights.com/ 

Connect to Sandy:

On LinkedIn

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

Support the Show.

**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

What is it like to be on ‘the other side' of the workshop — to be a participant or a client?

This podcast has always focused on conversations with facilitators, but perspectives from clients are just as valuable for understanding our work and processes.

Hence, why this episode features Sandy Wilson, Director of Culture and Learning at Insights Learning and Development. In 2021, Insights initiated a company-wide facilitated LEGO Serious Play project, dubbed ‘On Purpose’.

I’m shocked that it’s taken me 182 episodes to host an episode from the clients perspective, but it was more than worth the wait. Enjoy a bounty of unique and unmissable insights in this episode.   

Find out about:

• How Sandy (and his organisation) decided to choose LEGO Serious Play
• What it’s like to lead an organisational project without a clear expected outcome
• Why a focus on identification and exploration was critical to creating change
• How the organisation adopted a snowball-effect of permissionless progress
• Why ‘extroverted thinking’ dominates in management structures and how to facilitate the inclusion introverted perspectives
• How they conducted the search for an external facilitator and what made candidates stand out
• The struggle to confidently link organisational changes to individual projects

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

https://www.insights.com/ 

Connect to Sandy:

On LinkedIn

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

Support the show

✨✨✨

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:
https://workshops.work/podcast

✨✨✨

Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Tobias Mayer’s experience as a scrum master has taken him around the world and across the upper echelons of the biggest names in tech. Those 20+ years have taught him a lot, but perhaps more importantly, have provoked some challenging questions.

In this episode, we discuss a bit of everything! We challenge assumptions, we question the unquestionable, and we explore what it takes to facilitate change. A clue: it’s rarely comfort or ease!

If you’re curious about facilitating change in a meaningful and sustainable way and want to pick up some extra tools to help you in the process, this episode will be one you come back to time and time again.

Find out about:

• Why facilitators help participants exist ‘at the edges’ and achieve ‘their edge’
• How confrontation fits in the facilitator’s toolbox
• Why the end of a workshop is the start of a new chapter
• Why the flexible nature of facilitation makes the role hard to grasp for some organisations
• Why promoting staff for their knowledge entrenches a fear of failure
• The art and skill of asking uncomfortable — and better — questions
• How changing your style to fit the group inevitably harms the group

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Tobias’ website

Connect to Tobias:

On LinkedIn

Support the show

✨✨✨

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:
https://workshops.work/podcast

✨✨✨

Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Mohsin Memon is a gaming expert—but he’s not spending his days playing shoot ‘em ups. Mohsin’s expertise lies at the crossroads of learning and gaming, where he spends his time creating immersive experiences and teaching others how to do the same.

Our conversation in this episode was a speed-run of all things experiential learning, from the nuts-and-bolts details of what makes a game enjoyable, to the more cerebral questions around ‘fair play’ and childhood experiences.

If you’re interested in alternative approaches to learning, novel applications of facilitation skills, or adapting your methods to the needs of the group—you’re going to thoroughly enjoy this episode.

Find out about:

• How Mohsin (and the wider world) defines and understands games
• How games hold up a lens to our behaviour patterns and show us fascinating distortions
• Why games are a vehicle for interaction and connection
• How our childhood experiences dictate our expectations of games
• How our culture shapes our appreciation and proclivity for certain types of games
• What it means to play a game fairly—and what happens when that isn’t assured

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Gamitar - The company Mohsin represents. This is also the official publisher of the games.

Evivve - The Leadership Game - A game designed for virtual and physical facilitated learning experiences on a range of leadership competencies.

Connect to Mohsin:

On LinkedIn

Support the Show.

**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

Mohsin Memon is a gaming expert—but he’s not spending his days playing shoot ‘em ups. Mohsin’s expertise lies at the crossroads of learning and gaming, where he spends his time creating immersive experiences and teaching others how to do the same.

Our conversation in this episode was a speed-run of all things experiential learning, from the nuts-and-bolts details of what makes a game enjoyable, to the more cerebral questions around ‘fair play’ and childhood experiences.

If you’re interested in alternative approaches to learning, novel applications of facilitation skills, or adapting your methods to the needs of the group—you’re going to thoroughly enjoy this episode.

Find out about:

• How Mohsin (and the wider world) defines and understands games
• How games hold up a lens to our behaviour patterns and show us fascinating distortions
• Why games are a vehicle for interaction and connection
• How our childhood experiences dictate our expectations of games
• How our culture shapes our appreciation and proclivity for certain types of games
• What it means to play a game fairly—and what happens when that isn’t assured

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Gamitar - The company Mohsin represents. This is also the official publisher of the games.

Evivve - The Leadership Game - A game designed for virtual and physical facilitated learning experiences on a range of leadership competencies.

Connect to Mohsin:

On LinkedIn

Support the show

✨✨✨

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:
https://workshops.work/podcast

✨✨✨

Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

There are few spaces in which facilitation skills have a greater impact than diplomacy, yet conversations connecting the two are rare.

This episode changes that.

With over 30 years of experience in mediation and mediation training, Ron Ton has unique and unparalleled insights to share. Explore the incredible world of diplomacy, negotiation, and mediation with one of its pre-eminent experts.

Tune in to learn how facilitation skills intersect across Ron’s work—and how his approach has changed over time.

And, as a separate note, this is one of my first in-person recordings in 2+ years. What a joy!

Find out about:

• What diplomacy, mediation, and facilitation have in common
• How to balance defending one’s interests with finding a mutually agreeable path forward
• Why so much of Ron’s work comes back to facilitating collaboration
• The three levels of awareness Ron focuses on in any negotiation
• Why your workshops starts before you’re in the room
• How humility can take us away from unspoken agendas and towards deeper understanding
• What to do if a group gets stuck on a disagreement early on in a workshop 

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Connect to Ron:

On LinkedIn

Support the Show.

**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

There are few spaces in which facilitation skills have a greater impact than diplomacy, yet conversations connecting the two are rare.

This episode changes that.

With over 30 years of experience in mediation and mediation training, Ron Ton has unique and unparalleled insights to share. Explore the incredible world of diplomacy, negotiation, and mediation with one of its pre-eminent experts.

Tune in to learn how facilitation skills intersect across Ron’s work—and how his approach has changed over time.

And, as a separate note, this is one of my first in-person recordings in 2+ years. What a joy!

Find out about:

• What diplomacy, mediation, and facilitation have in common
• How to balance defending one’s interests with finding a mutually agreeable path forward
• Why so much of Ron’s work comes back to facilitating collaboration
• The three levels of awareness Ron focuses on in any negotiation
• Why your workshops starts before you’re in the room
• How humility can take us away from unspoken agendas and towards deeper understanding
• What to do if a group gets stuck on a disagreement early on in a workshop 

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Connect to Ron:

On LinkedIn

Support the show

✨✨✨

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:
https://workshops.work/podcast

✨✨✨

Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

When you think of business transformation, what do you picture?

Expensive consultants armed with long presentations and a briefcase of jargon? Or a voluntary grassroots movement of trust, equity, and contractual safety within an organisation?

Douglas Breitbart sees it one way and one way only. You may be able to guess which method gets his vote.

This episode was hugely refreshing and inspiring. Douglas’ conviction and confidence in the power of internally led transformation projects — and the methods required to facilitate them effectively — are a blueprint for the agile and empathetic businesses of the future.

Find out about:

• How sharing, not enforcing, power creates change
• Why Douglas believes organisations can (and shall) change without new resources or inputs
• Why many leaders end up ignoring the most powerful energetic potential in their organisation
• Why an attachment to outcomes causes harm to the facilitator and their workshop participants
• What changes when a voluntary team leads a transformation process
• How to use values audits in business transformation
• Why workshop participants are waiting for ‘enrolment’ — and how you can provide it

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

2BElemental, Douglas’ coaching, insights, and collaboration business

Being In Systems, Douglas’ emergence facilitation business

The Values Foundation, Douglas’ value-alignment business

Connect to Douglas:

On LinkedIn

Support the Show.

**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

When you think of business transformation, what do you picture?

Expensive consultants armed with long presentations and a briefcase of jargon? Or a voluntary grassroots movement of trust, equity, and contractual safety within an organisation?

Douglas Breitbart sees it one way and one way only. You may be able to guess which method gets his vote.

This episode was hugely refreshing and inspiring. Douglas’ conviction and confidence in the power of internally led transformation projects — and the methods required to facilitate them effectively — are a blueprint for the agile and empathetic businesses of the future.

Find out about:

• How sharing, not enforcing, power creates change
• Why Douglas believes organisations can (and shall) change without new resources or inputs
• Why many leaders end up ignoring the most powerful energetic potential in their organisation
• Why an attachment to outcomes causes harm to the facilitator and their workshop participants
• What changes when a voluntary team leads a transformation process
• How to use values audits in business transformation
• Why workshop participants are waiting for ‘enrolment’ — and how you can provide it

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

2BElemental, Douglas’ coaching, insights, and collaboration business

Being In Systems, Douglas’ emergence facilitation business

The Values Foundation, Douglas’ value-alignment business

Connect to Douglas:

On LinkedIn

Support the show

✨✨✨

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:
https://workshops.work/podcast

✨✨✨

Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Love is wonderful, it’s all around. Love is the finest thing in the world… but what’s it got to do with facilitation?

Spend and hour with Lorenz Sell and you’ll see the many threads that connect love and facilitation together. From creating connection and honest communication to presence and validation — facilitators may as well be love incarnate!

Lorenz and I discuss a range of themes in this episode, from the nitty-gritty of learning and sharing to the beautiful soft light of love and attention. Conversation with Lorenz flows so lightly and thoughtfully, this episode is equally perfect for a candle-lit Saturday night or a slow summer Sunday morning. Enjoy it — whichever way you choose to listen.

Find out about:

• Why the labels we assign to objects, feelings, or states cannot override their universal values
• How online learning fell into an imbalance of content vs. connection
• Why Lorenz sees ‘coherence’ as the great challenge of his facilitation practice
• How Lorenz defines ‘the space’ in a workshop
• What the difference is between hearing, seeing, and feeling another person
• Why Lorenz thinks facilitators need to get comfortable with the darkest corners of themselves

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

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Links

Connect to Lorenz:

On LinkedIn

On Twitter

Support the Show.

**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.