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Friday 19 November, 2021 marked the second NeverDoneBefore Festival.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, I elected to do something unique and, admittedly, daunting: a live podcast recording with anyone and everyone who wished to participate. No agenda, no plans, no idea what we’d discuss. 

Eight wonderful conversations with eight wonderful facilitators from across the globe followed. Now we’ve brought those conversations together, turning them into micro-interviews and dividing them across three short episodes, to paint a picture of the NDB 2021 experience.

Listen along to hear how these facilitators reflected their learnings against their own practice, assumptions, and plans for the future. It’s a NeverDoneBefore moment - captured in time, preserved in podcast form!

In this part, hear from:

• How facilitation is a dance between order and chaos, with Patrick Tiongson
• Why we need to learn to think in the long-term again, with Saar Ben-Attar
• How to intentionally design a workshop for slow thinking, with Jeremy Akers

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

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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Using “yes-and”, following the flow, and focusing on the process as much as the outcomes… Is this improv or facilitation?

The two share a lot in common! When we combine them, we can create amazing, immersive workshops.

And that’s exactly what I discuss with Shannon Hughes in this week’s episode. Shannon dedicates her work to generating ‘aliveness’ – helping leaders come alive and bringing confidence, connection, and creativity to teams.

Now, she’s sharing the lessons she’s learned from bringing applied improv into corporate spaces – and how facilitators can bring a little more improv and play into workshops to amazing effect.

Find out about:

• How beneficial it can be to remember that facilitators are guides, not teachers
• The multiple skills we – as communicators, colleagues, and people – learn from improvisation
• How to apply improvisation for conscious leadership (with a helpful acronym)
• Why absence has a bigger impact than presence – especially when it comes to leaders
• How we can become better listeners and help others to do the same
• The tools you might already be using in your workshops that you can apply to improv

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

Questions and Answers

Part one

[01:15] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator – if you do?

[04:34] If you call yourself an experiential facilitator, what is the opposite?

[07:34] What brought you to imrpov and facilitation? And which came first?

[14:20] What is the mindset of improv that we see in facilitation, and how do you apply improv in facilitation?

[15:48] How do you bring this mindset into the room – do people pick it up or do you have to explicitly explain it?

[21:02] Are there building blocks for psychological safety in improv? And what does the concept really mean in improv?

[27:18] Where do you see the risk of applying improv – and especially the “yes and” principle?

[31:43] Exploring – and practicing – Shannon’s favourite exercise: The Pride Rant.

Links

Shannon’s website: www.enlivenedstudios.com 

Connect to Shannon:

On LinkedIn

On Instagram
 

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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The building blocks of facilitation can be considered as quite practical, tangible things: workshops, agendas, exercises, timing, and tools. Underpinning these facilitation essentials, though, are intricate psychological and behavioural phenomena.

This week’s episode is the perfect testament to that truth.

Karen Schmidt – the founder of the international innovation community, ‘Over the Fence’ – joins me in this episode to discuss decision-making.

In many organisations, decision-making can be more of a routine than a process. Stakeholders might be left out, partners might be disenfranchised, and the best decision might not be made. Easing the friction in and reliance on management routines to improve decision-making is Karen’s fascination.

There can’t be many workshops work listeners who don’t feel the same way!

Find out about:

• Exploring the integral role of alignment in any decision-making process
• How to democratise our language and create alignment and unity
• Why established routines can harm decision-making
• How to identify and understand what decision-making ‘role’ we are occupying
• Why it’s healthy to flex decision-making between detail-orientation and bigger picture ideas
• Why decision-making, leadership, and ownership all tie in to the idea of taking and making space

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

Questions and Answers

[01:13] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[02:20] What got you into facilitation in the first place?

[04:37] What’s the story behind Over the Fence?

[06:27] What can project managers learn from facilitators?

[08:13] What is the mindset shift between being a project manager and a facilitator?

[10:33] What do you think most people get wrong about the process of managing a project?

[12:41] When you talk about breaking management routines, what do you mean?

[14:55] What makes it so hard for project managers to empathise with and speak the language of their teams?

[16:03] An example of catching unclear language and adapting a workshop accordingly.

[21:58] What makes a workshop fail?

[26:34] Who needs to be in the small group that makes a decision?

[29:21] Why do humans find it so difficult to make decisions?

[31:50] The three leadership roles, as illustrated in Over the Fence’s Decisions Hats card set.

[37:19] Exploring the Decision Canvas.

[44:17] Is there an organisational equivalent of ‘subsidiarity’?

[45:59] Announcing the free of charge card games – and the conditions for using them!

[48:15] Is there anything else you wanted to share that we haven’t discussed yet?

Links

Over the Fence’s Creative Commons tools

Over the Fence’s Books

Decision Hats introductory video 

Over the Fence’s Manifesto

Connect to Karen:

On LinkedIn
 

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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Urban planning is the discipline of creating shared, public spaces. It could easily be mistaken for large-scale facilitation by design!

Peter Munthe-Kaas can speak confidently for both disciplines, as a seasoned urban planner turned facilitator. He has such a unique perspective on what it means to create a beautiful, shared space and the missteps we can take in designing collaborative, communal experiences. I am so grateful that he was willing to share this perspective with me and the workshops work audience.

In our conversation, we explored the friction between safety and vulnerability, trust and openness, and design and environment. In an episode that was full of opposites and challenges, Peter navigated the discussion with balance, curiosity, and insight.

Find out about:

• Why Peter has gradually come to depend more on depth and space, than tools and processes
• How ‘naming’ our current state gives us permission to be present, rather than looking ahead
• The parallels between urban planning and facilitation – two disciplines that are about people, before anything else
• What it means to practice ‘invitation’ in a workshop and how we can lead the group by example
• Why stepping back from a group in flow is an act of true facilitation
• How Peter harnesses curiosity to bring his groups together

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

Questions and Answers

[01:02] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[01:57] What key skills have crystallised for you over the last 20 years?

[03:20] What do you mean when you talk about tools and environments?

[05:25] Can you share a little about your previous life in urban planning – and how it impacts your work now?

[08:41] What can you do to break the atmosphere in a room and replace it with an inviting or experiential one?

[10:40] Are there differences between urban spaces and the room in which a workshop is held?

[15:53] Is it enough to just create a beautiful space, or do we need to commit to improving the conditions within that space?

[19:31] How do you translate your expertise in urban planning into the facilitation work you do today?

[23:06] Is there a risk in showing too much vulnerability – can it break trust in your authority?

[25:57] How can we move past the illusion of agreement?

[30:06] What can ‘naming the current state’ bring up in a group?

[32:17] How do you know if/when to go deeper with a group?

[36:35] Can you ask a positive, free-flowing group to consider what friction or discomfort sits in the environment?

[41:18] What makes a workshop fail?

[48:09] Do you have a favourite exercise or process?

[58:39] Is there anything you wanted to bring to this conversation that we haven’t yet discussed?

[01:01:44] How could the community support you with your mission?

Links

Peter’s website

Experimental Cities

Relational Spaces

Connect to Peter:

On LinkedIn

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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Circles are everywhere: in nature, our biology, our art. There’s something sacred and special about them. So what happens when we introduce them to our facilitation practice?

This week, I dive into ‘circle’ facilitation with Jonathan Hefter, the Head of Experience Design, Facilitation, & Training at Circl.es.

We start by setting a mutual understanding of great facilitation; before diving into the complexities of holding judgements, learning to listen and centre others, and the physical and metaphysical power of gathering in circles; before coming full circle to the tools and tricks great facilitators can use to explore circle workshops.

We cover a lot of deep and challenging topics, but Jonathan has a way with words that makes the entire conversation feel easy and accessible. It’s no wonder he’s finding so much success with Circl.es!

Find out about:

• Defining facilitation and what best practice looks like in circle workshops
•  What it means to measure and balance energy and flow in a workshop
• How to help participants own their experiences rather than framing their best-guesses as informed advice
• Why circles – as a physical arrangement and a facilitation practice – can be so effective at unlocking deep connection and conversation
• The impact technology can have on our conversations without us realising
•  What the difference is between vulnerability and openness

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

Questions and Answers

[Part 1]

[01:14] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[02:11] What’s the difference between a facilitator, a moderator, a consultant, and a guide?

[06:29] What are the key skills that make a good facilitator?

[08:29] How do you distinguish “energy” and “flow”?

[16:45] How can we work on ourselves to avoid judging the group for, say, a lack of creativity?

[21:45] Why people struggle to take the risk of making conversations not about themselves.

[26:08] How can we address and reframe unwarranted advice-giving?

[30:20] What was it about your first wilderness experience that changed you as a listener?

[33:17] Learning to step out of thinking there are ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ things to share.

Links

Video Platform Circl.es 

Support the show

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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LEGO Serious Play is an increasingly popular method of facilitation and one that we’ve explored previously on the podcast, but I wanted to dive into a little deeper and with a slightly more critical lens.

I found the perfect person for the job - Sean Blair, a LEGO Serious Play trainer and facilitator and soon-to-be quadruple-published author on the topic. You could call him experienced in the subject…

And, to my non-surprise, we had the most brilliant conversation. So brilliant, in fact, that I had to split the episode into two parts to keep it at a reasonable length!

We challenge each other, we bring new ideas and possibilities to each other, and we definitely don’t always agree. All of which made for one of the most stimulating and exciting conversations I’ve ever had on the podcast.

Enjoy this episode - there is so much to take away from it.

Find out about:

• How LEGO Serious Play helps us shift our focus from individuals to behaviours
• Why ‘objectifying’ an issue is so effective at helping us communicate difficult things
• Why LEGO Serious Play is effective for any topic, but not all objectives
• Why we must always try to guard against ‘content ownership’ as facilitators
• How to adjust to visually representing our thoughts using a ‘Tap and Tell’ exercise
• What metaphors do to advance conversations and understanding

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

Click here to download the free 1-page summary.

Thanks to our sponsor Deckhive. Click here to find out more about the new platform for using card decks in online facilitation. Use the code workshopswork to get the first month for free. 

Exclusive offer from Facilitator Cards for workshops.work listeners you can get 15% off your entire purchase at shop.facilitator.cards by using code workshopswork.

Questions and Answers

[Part one]

[01:02] When did you first start calling yourself a facilitator?

[02:11] How have you changed from being a “bossy” facilitator and what have you become instead?

[05:05] How do you train other facilitators – especially in the art of dialling up and down their presence in the room?

[09:50] What does it take to create a learning space that encourages and values mistakes?

[13:54] How does speaking with your own voice play out in facilitation?

[18:28] What makes a workshop fail?

[20:55] How would you start a workshop for a group in which you know there is conflict and politics?

[25:13] What is the power in using LEGO to help us talk about difficult topics?

[28:11] Do you use ‘minifigures’ (avatars or representations of people) in your LEGO Serious Play workshops?

[32:01] How do you negotiate the risks of a representation being misinterpreted between participants and creating misalignment?

Connect to Sean:

On LinkedIn

Support the show

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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/