In this episode, I speak with Romas Stukenberg, a graduate of the prestigious THNK school for creative leadership and founder of Artistic Intelligence, a creative consulting agency that helps leaders to tackle strategic challenges through artistic means. We talk about the difference between being creative and artistic. Our conversation dives deep into the topic of self-leadership and the role of individual courage for successful workshops. 
 
Don’t miss Romas' practical advice on how facilitators can drive groups from creative exploration back to the strategic application. Romas’ artistic approach will inspire you to deliver workshops that work. 

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Questions and Answers

[00:56] If you were a hashtag. What would you be? 

[02:09] According to you, what is the biggest misconception about design and art?

[03:33] According to you, what is the true value of a designer in the business world? 

[05:16] You started a project that you call “artistic intelligence” – AI. What is your story behind this project? 

[07:19] How difficult is it to get business people to answer “big existential questions” by using art as a tool? 

[08:35] The concept of “AI” addresses strategic questions with open ends - What are good examples?

[09:18] What is the difference between artistic and creative?

[10:55] To what extent does artistic intelligence differ from Design Thinking?

[11:57] Is AI then about slowing down?

[13:45] In your AI workshops, is it the mindset and philosophy of art you apply or do participants also get their “hands dirty”?

[15:17] To what extent are business leaders ready for this jump?

[18:08 How do you converge the group towards results after the artistic exploration?

[22:17] What is the impact of the physical workshop space on the dynamics? 

[23:09] What do the artists who facilitate your sessions differently compared to facilitators from the usual business environment?  

[24:49] In a review of one of your workshops I read that you ask participants to explore their fears. What can we find in our fears that would reveal our strengths? 

[29:30] How do you make sure to those who might judge themselves as not being creative enough?

[32:28] What would be for you a “meaningful closure” of a workshop? 

[34:46] What can you do to avoid a “biased” group check-out? 

[36:07] What would be the transformation for a team due to artistic intelligence? 

[37:31] What makes a workshop work? 

[38:54] What can a facilitator do to assure that the quality of space is maintained? 

[41:30] What is the nutshell you would like the audience to take home?

[42:04] How do you encourage courage? 

Related links you may want to check out:

• Romas' business page:

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In this episode, I talk to Mark Lambertz, senior agile coach, entrepreneur, and book author about “intelligent organizations". We talk about human dynamics in the workshop space and how to deal with strong personalities and office politics. Mark shares why it doesn’t make sense to hire him when his client only seeks confirmation, why he would invite participants to step on the table and how he reacted to a crying workshop participant. 

Mark runs IO (Intelligente Organisation), a consultancy service that helps companies to become “intelligent organizations”. He published a playbook on organizational complexity in January 2019. His goal is to implement agile, scale agile and to make systems work.   

Don’t miss our whole-hearted laughs when Mark shares how he uses humour to deal with emotionally loaded situations and how he deals with his double role of being a coach and facilitator. Our conversation will surely inspire you to deliver workshops that work. 

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Questions and Answers

[01:16] With all your experiences what job title would you give to yourself?

[02:55] How do you understand the relation between agile and lean and how does it translate for meeting environments in organizations? 

[05:19] Do you translate your mantra of “customer first” to how you design your service to your own customer (being the organizations you help transform)?

[06:52] Given that you won’t necessarily do what the customer asks for, how can you select the customers you work for?

[07:55] So, you are an external disruptor?

[09:15] In what way does an “intelligent organization” deal with office politics? 

[12:34] How do you make sure that everyone contributes to the discussion and not only the “extroverted” or empowered participants? 

[14:11] What does “OODA loop” mean? 

[15:23] To what extent do you include the group in your thought process about what is happening in the room? 

[16:29] It seems to me as if tensions are good, but emotions disturb. How do you deal with situations that become emotional?

[17:32] How did you deal with the situation you described when a participant started crying?

[19:35] What is the difference between a “normal” and an “intelligent” organization?  

[25:13] Do you believe that every team can become a “red team” or at least one where team members challenge each other in a supportive way?  

[28:35] How do you deal with “ego” that may destroy the flow of the workshop?  

[32:40] What do you think of developing rules with the group?

[33:37] Can you separate your roles of the coach and facilitator?

[35:13] What is the nutshell you want the audience to take away from our conversation? 

Related links you may want to check out:

Mark’s business page: htt

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In this episode, I talk to Christopher Marks, a storyteller and branding specialist. We talk about the art of storytelling and what it taught him about workshop design and facilitation. We talk about the importance of conflict for telling a compelling story and how we can craft exercises that will spark creativity and generate novel ideas.  

Christopher runs Story Sprints with companies and entrepreneurs and currently sets up the Creator’s Club. He helps brands to put their audience first and is a multi-talent, silver bullet when it comes to writing, scripting, filming, directing and editing content.

Don’t miss the many practical advice on how to go through exercises and what mistakes to avoid. And don’t miss the great fun Christopher and I had to compare workshop participants to mini-volcanos! He has been my mentor and I am that he shares his knowledge in this episode to help you to deliver workshops that work. 

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Questions and Answers

[1:25] Tell me what a storyteller is! 

[3:13] What did you learn from storytelling for designing story sprint workshops?

[8:10] How do you create a safe space to get to the essence of the story your client wants to tell?

[11:32] Can you guide me through the process after the silent brainstorming exercise? How do you guide the group through clarifying questions?

[12:26] So, at this point there is no discussion about the individual ideas yet?

[17:07] How are you making sure that everyone is on the same page about the decision-making process?

[19:10] So, the heatmap kicks off a discussion on a deeper level? 

[20:03] Can you share with the audience how you capture the key ideas and create meeting minutes?

[25:20] What is the one thing you do in your workshops that always works?

[28:12] Is this exercise run in silence?

[31:20] I wonder about the impact of the ritual of folding the paper together. What is your experience with that? 

[33:51] What is the nutshell you want the listener to take home from this show?

Related links you may want to check out:

• Christopher’s webpages: www.christophermarks.nl | www.storysprint.nl | www.creatorsclub.nl
• James Clear’s Blog post on Warren Buffet’s “avoid at all cost list” [29:10]: https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus 
• Our sponsor Session Lab (affiliate link) 

Connect to Christopher and follow him:

• LinkedIn 
• Insta: @christophermarks
• Twitter:

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In this episode, I talk to Margreet Jacobs, a master practitioner of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and speaker’s coach. We talk about the similarities between speaking in front of an audience and hosting a workshop. How can we overcome the fear of speaking up? How can we make sure that our content resonates with the audience? How can we keep them engaged?

Margreet runs StageHeroes, a coaching agency that helps leaders to deliver talks that would change how their audience feels and acts. Margreet used to be a professional dancer and dance teacher. Today, she is a speaker herself and a constant source of wise inspiration. 

In the show, Margreet shares how speakers and facilitators can become more confident by making sure they start with the end in mind. By being clear about the purpose of a speech or a workshop, we can shift our mindset and engage our audience.   

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Subscribe to our newsletter for a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 100-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more: https://workshops.work/podcast

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Questions and Answers

[1:01] How did you shift from being a dancer to becoming a speaker’s coach?

[8:52] How c.an you tackle workshop participants’ fear of speaking up?

[12:00] How can we make sure that every participant is aware of their contribution?

[17:19] How does the fear of success get into our way?

[21:29] What was your “perfect failure”  in a workshop context and how did you fix it?

[23:10] How can you make sure that a workshop is giving you positive enegergy instead of draining you? 

[29:06] What can a facilitator do to create a safe space in which participants thrive?

[30:39] How can we deal with “big egos” who would not like to share their vulnerabilities?

[35:00] How can we create an anchor that workshop participants can relate to even time after the workshop?

[37:17} What is the one thing our audience shall remember from this episode?

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Related links you may want to check out:

• Margreet’s business page: https://stageheroes.nl/
• Our sponsor Session Lab 

 Connect to Margreet:

• LinkedIn 

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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In this episode, I talk to Patrick Cowden, founder of Beyond Leadership, an agency that helps organizations to unleash their full potential. By introducing a new way of leadership, Patrick empowers organizations to master future challenges. 

Patrick is a book author, TEDx speaker and enhancer of collaboration. In this episode, we talk about the importance of human connection in workshops. Patricks shares how facilitators can change the game and deal with egos and politics by kicking off working sessions with a simple check-in exercise.  

Don’t miss the hands-on advice, tips and tricks and Patrick’s energy that will spill over and inspire you to deliver workshops that work.

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Questions and Answers

[1:38]     What is wrong with the way we gather professionally at work?

[4:08]     What can we do to combine joy and results in meetings and workshops?

[8:06]     Can we achieve the same results when we meet remotely?

[14:45] How can we create human connection in workshops?

[17:20] Can you explain how the “connect exercise” works? 

[23:19] To what extend do you explain why you are doing specific exercises? Do you achieve the same results when you do the connect exercise in 3 minutes versus 30 seconds?

[28:11] How do you shift from the connection exercise to the “real” business-related topic of the meeting?

[33:45] How can you assure sustainable results of your intervention?

[35:13] Can you adjust the “connect exercise” to other topics without compromising the effect? 

[38:19] What is your advice to facilitators to achieve results, foster connection and fight egos?    

Related links you may want to check out:

• Patrick’s organisation: http://www.thebeyond.company 
• Patrick’s Book “Neustart”
• Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel laureate
• From my desk on the value of check-ins: “You need one key to make meetings successful”
• Our sponsor Session Lab

Connect to Patrick:

• LinkedIn 

Share your thoughts about our conversation!

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Do your team workshops deliver the results you hope for? What if you could keep the momentum of your meetings and get everyone to follow-up even weeks later? It is my mission to help fellow facilitators, team leaders and managers deliver workshops that drive sustainable results. My guests are professional facilitators, trainers and coaches with whom I discuss our lessons learned. Together, we explore what makes workshops work and share our best practices in a way that our audience can directly apply it. 

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!