From the basketball courts of Northern Ireland to the C-suites of tech giants, Tony McGarahan just can’t stop coaching!After a decade at Google, Tony set up his own training and people development company, People Playbook. Calling on experience from Sweden to Singapore, Tony’s honed his skills worldwide and with a huge range of groups.In that[...]

Changing behaviour is something of a holy grail in our line of work. It’s one thing to help a group see things in a new light, but to integrate it in a way that creates lasting change… that’s the ultimate goal.As one might expect, its not the easiest task.Shamir Joseph’s approach to this challenge is[...]

The corporate world can feel like a theme park — a place that’s recognisably ‘of our world’, with all the normal features (people, furniture, work), but an unshakeable feeling that something is… unreal.People aren’t quite themselves, conversations and relationships don’t work the way they do elsewhere in life, and the coffee often tastes strange!Göran Hielscher[...]

Workshops bring the best out of their participants when they are experiential. Which person wants to sit in a workshop that is indeterminable from a lecture? We do not enter these spaces for dictation, we enter them for learning and feeling and experience.And so that has become Cate Czerwinski’s priority: to design memorable, unique, experiential[...]

If you ever feel like facing a challenge as a facilitator, take on a large corporate client. Even better: work in-house as their facilitator!Such environments present many challenges, from the practical logistics to the messy social elements. To dissect and understand the unique approach required in this situation, it makes sense to host a unique[...]

Joost de Leij has delivered over one thousand workshops, from informal group sessions to extensive work with the largest businesses worldwide. In that time, he’s learned a thing or two about effective facilitation.This episode looks at the micro and macro of effective facilitation and how we can design workshops to deliver maximum impact. Sometimes, that[...]

How can we make an informal brainstorming session, full of possibilities and quick thinking, into something more formal… without squeezing the life from it?Alexandre Eisenchteter believes deeply in the power of brainstorming sessions — and that most of us undervalue them. It’s a fair point: the prevailing view does seem to be that brainstorming is[...]

Joe Weston has been helping individuals, teams, and companies look deeper within themselves for 30+ years. His unique mind-body approach — prioritising empowerment and resilience, but also great empathy and inclusivity —  has taken him around the world and back again. And, now, it brings him to this podcast!There is so much to ask Joe,[...]

Learning is a lifetime’s adventure, but, for many adults, a few bad experiences or a little bit of overconfidence can see them set in their ways and losing their love for learning.In fact, this can be one of the greatest challenges we face as facilitators — entering professional environments in which participants are not primed[...]

Want to turn your passion for facilitation into a full-time, thriving, scalable business? Or are you already facilitating as your main job, but want to take it to a new level?Michael Zipursky is one of the best people to turn to, if that’s the case. As a coach for consultants, bestselling author, and prolific writer[...]

You leave school and enter the ‘real world’ of work. That’s the process, that’s the plan. But who’s to say that they should be so distinct? What if we brought knowledge from educational systems, such as Montessori, into corporate settings?Benedikt Schmaus joins me in this episode to discuss how can take the best of education[...]

The remote revolution is underway. Accelerated by the pandemic and snowballing ever since, the future of work is fast becoming our present day default.But is it all going to plan? Lisette Sutherland flies the flag proudly for remote work, but readily admits our approach might be a little off-course currently.Has our focus been misplaced, so[...]

How would you facilitate something that doesn’t exist? Or, more to the point, how you would facilitate a group in a way that something inexistent could emerge?Complexity and uncertainty make up most days for Jason Frasca and Iain Kerr. As co-founders of Emergent Futures Lab, they wouldn’t have it any other way.The opportunity to hear[...]

Say cheese, dear listeners! This week, Else Kramer joins me to discuss the creative and connective power of photography in a facilitation context.Through the camera lens, we can see our environment and problems in new ways — and, as a result, can find new solutions. And the really magical thing? Photography isn’t an individualistic activity;[...]

Everybody in the workshop process experiences some element of vulnerability.The client is taking a risk on your skills and the outcomes that might emerge from using them. The participants are taking a risk in showing up, bringing what they bring to the room, and trusting (or fighting) the process. You — the facilitator — is[...]

Jo Nelson is one of the founders of ICA Associates Inc. and the International Association of Facilitators, as well as an IAF Hall of Fame inductee. All of which is to say, this episode is special. To speak with a founding mother of the organised practice of facilitation is a rare privilege.As a result, this[...]

We’ve had plenty of practice with online meetings by now; we have fallen into the common trapdoors and know how to avoid them in the future. But is effectiveness enough? Shall we really set the bar at running a ‘smooth and easy’ event?Many attendees still report that they feel unheard or unable to contribute in[...]

Why is it that so many groups come together with a shared goal… and fail to make any meaningful progress?This is the question that’s plagued Deb Mashek’s professional life — and it’s taken her to some fascinating places.Deb’s work and the lessons she’s taken from it have made her a go-to speaker, author, and commentator[...]

Facilitation can be a messy business; what can we do to clean it up?Judy Rees, who’s been working with groups for almost 20 years, thinks the answer lies in clean language. A focus on clean language in turn creates what Judy calls ‘clean facilitation’.Specificity and neutrality is the name of the game, but can facilitators[...]

We all hope to facilitate breakthroughs - those “a-ha” moments when participants have a lightbulb over their heads, ideas synthesise, and new ideas emerge.But we can’t legislate and plan for them, can we?Of course, there are no guarantees... but Kimberly Wiefling (and her approach to facilitation) is as close to a guarantee as you can[...]

If you think of adventure education, do you imagine rock climbing, swinging from trees, and kayaking down flowing streams?For Phil Brown, Lead Trainer at High 5 Adventure Learning Centre, it looks more like overcoming vulnerability and supporting one’s peers.Adventure education is facilitation in action - literally. The act of exploring and adventuring stretches far beyond[...]