First Time Facilitator – Details, episodes &amp; analysis

In this episode, we're joined by Hitomi Whitlock, Organizational Change Manager at the University of Washington's Housing and Food Services, and an experienced real estate investor.

Hitomi shares her journey from moving to the U.S. as a child to leading change at one of the nation's top universities—all while managing a successful real estate business.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

How Hitomi uses her strengths (Futuristics, Discipline, Positivity, Woo, Learner) to drive success.
The tech tools she leverages, like ClickUp, Miro, Loom, and GoodNotes, to streamline workflows, eliminate unnecessary meetings, and enhance collaboration.
Tips for running effective hybrid workshops that keep everyone engaged, whether in-person or remote.
How a customer-centric focus in both her roles has led to zero evictions and high tenant satisfaction in her real estate ventures.
Strategies for building trust quickly in workshops, from pre-session videos to effective icebreakers.
The importance of balancing big-picture vision with disciplined execution in both professional and personal life.

About Hitomi Whitlock
Hitomi is an Organizational Change Manager at the University of Washington's Housing and Food Services and a real estate investor, co-owning a property management business in the Seattle area since 2005. She attributes her success to her customer-centric focus and effective communication, always thinking about how to best serve her customers. Hitomi loves making new connections and friends while nurturing existing relationships. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, attending concerts, and exploring new restaurants/bars with family and friends.

📌 Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Connect with Hitomi Whitlock on LinkedIn
Tools discussed: ClickUp, Miro, Loom, GoodNotes

FTF249 Michael Bungay Stanier's Co-Facilitation Tips & Brisbane Event Preview!

Season 1 · Episode 249

jeudi 1 août 2024 • Duration 15:48

Come along to our event! https://lu.ma/rooftopbne

In this episode, host Leanne Hughes chats with Michael Bungay Stanier on their upcoming event in Brisbane together on 3 Sep 2024, and the art of co-facilitation.

Reflecting on their first podcast experience in Brisbane, they dive into topics such as managing facilitation dynamics, preparing for keynotes, and what makes their upcoming event in Brisbane unique.

They also share personal anecdotes and practical tips for successful facilitation, offering valuable insights for anyone interested in leadership and change management.

Welcome and Introduction
Reflecting on Past Collaborations
Upcoming Event: How to Face Change
The Art of Co-Facilitation
Why You Should Attend
Closing Remarks and Excitement

FTF240: Get Lucked! How to Cultivate Serendipity in Your Work with Dr. Christian Busch

Season 1 · Episode 240

jeudi 23 novembre 2023 • Duration 29:05

Watch our conversation on YouTube!

My experience with luck has been, you can actually optimize for luck. So, what is this got to do with workshops and facilitation and hosting group events?

I think it has a lot to do with it. If your goal is next year to create more workshops, to work with really great clients, to be more aligned with the work that you do-- yhere's an element of intentionality around that and making a decision and making a choice. And I'm currently going through that at the moment.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Christian Busch, the author of the book “The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck”. He’s the Director of Global Economy Program at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs where he teaches on purpose-driven leadership, impact, entrepreneurship, innovation, and emerging markets.

He’s been featured on many TEDx Talks. I recently watched one of the TEDx Talks he was in, and it was so fantastic; I’ve decided to invite him here. Join me as we learn from what Christian has to share today.

In this conversation, you’ll hear Dr. Christian discuss:

What it actually means to cultivate a serendipity mindset
The difference between blind luck and smart luck
The fear of missing out
The contrast between planning and being open to opportunities
The dynamics between being an introvert and an extrovert
How introverts can cultivate more serendipity in their life
Rapid Round

Conversation moments:

The difference between blind luck and smart luck
How to balance FOMO while cultivating serendipity in your life -- the hook strategy
It’s great to have a milestone but why would you limit yourself to that?
How to bring serendipity as a mindset in your day-to-day
Cultivating serendipity when you’re an introvert

Connect with Dr. Christian Busch here:

Rapid Round Recommendations:

Book: “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl
Tool: Headspace
Song: “Beautiful Day” by U2
Quote: “We cannot always control the situation we’re in, but we can always control our response to it.” – Viktor E. Frankl

Connect with Leanne Hughes on all the platforms:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter

For suggestions, collaborations and queries, email me [email protected]. Support this podcast by subscribing and leaving a review, it would mean a lot!
Thanks for being here. See you next week.

If you're nodding along to today's First Time Facilitator episode, you're going to love my written companion: Work Fame — a weekly Spublication designed to help you stand out in your work, build your reputation, and get the opportunities others don’t.

See you in your inbox.

Bringing swagger into your workshops with Leslie Ehm (Episode 160)

Season 1 · Episode 160

dimanche 14 février 2021 • Duration 41:47

Things that are easier said than done: “Just be yourself!” Why is this so hard?

Here are a couple of reasons:

It’s sometimes hard to see the label when we’re inside the bottle and this creates so
We’re scared to share who we really are with the world, in case we get rejected...

My guest this week, Leslie Ehm helps people discover their uniqueness and release it into the world.

As a Former TV host and advertising Creative Director turned training guru, Leslie Ehm has spent decades travelling the globe with her award-winning company Combustion, working with executives and teams from top organizations like Google, Disney, Pepsico, TD Bank, Uber, HBO, Lenovo, and more.

Fuelled by her unrelenting passion for developing human potential, Leslie is now a Swagger Coach, author of Swagger – Unleash Everything You Are and Become Everything You Want, and a keynote speaker.

She’s turned technologists into creative forces, bankers into storytellers, and has brought a serious dose of badass-ness to boardrooms everywhere.

Tune in to Episode 160 of the First Time Facilitator podcast to hear how you can up your confidence and swagger!

P.s. Oh and that other easier-said-than-done-phrase, “Fake it ‘til you make it?” Leslie thinks that’s baloney!

In this episode, you will learn how to:

See people’s truth to help them to manifest who they really are
The difference between self-belief and confidence
Fundamental drivers of swagger
How to discover your own swagger

Resources

Swagger: Unleash everything you are and become everything you want
Visit Leslie Ehm’s website
Connect with Leslie on LinkedIn

See you in your inbox.

How to win friends and influence your online colleagues with Leanne Hughes (Episode 159)

Season 1 · Episode 159

lundi 8 février 2021 • Duration 27:38

Do you rely on your colleagues to provides input and decisions to move a project forward? Do you find that you're constantly chasing people to get things done, and finding it hard to build relationships because you can't catch up with people in person?

Then, this episode is for you.

When we used to do things face to face, and I had to chase a colleague for information, I'd head out for a coffee.

It was semi-strategic. I’d sit at the coffee shop outside of my company’s office. It was a fantastic way of saying hi to people when they were in a good mood (with caffeine, outside, day hadn’t really started), you could easily sneak in a quick question about your project, get an answer, and feel like you’d already won the day.

In a virtual world though, it’s hard to orchestrate these conversations… Or, is it?

In this episode, I share the tactics I’ve used to build relationships and influence people I’ve never met before.

You’ll find this helpful if you’re:

Having to get people’s time/attention and you’re struggling because they don’t respond to your emails / you don’t have direct authority (you’re influencing / in a dotted line relationship)
Partnering with an organisation to achieve goals, and you need to work with leaders/subject matter experts, but they’re too busy to give you the input you need to move forward.

See you in your inbox.

Facilitating digital change? Prioritise the people, not the tech with Mike Knapp (Episode 158)

Season 1 · Episode 158

dimanche 31 janvier 2021 • Duration 35:44

Digital transformation is so hot right now! And isn’t it amazing that my guest today suggests that our superpower of facilitation can help create this transformation in organisations?!

Mike Knapp believes there is a better way for business owners and leaders to build their businesses and achieve their big goals.

In this conversation, he shares how he transitioned from the IT guy, to someone who led digital transformational projects, leveraging facilitation to make the change effective.

“Mural Mike” also creates incredible templates using Mural, and he structures these in a way to create stories and contrast in his sessions. He also shares the importance of energy and how his practice in meditation allows him to create a welcoming space for his groups.

This is a great conversation to listen into if you work in complex organisations implementing change, or you want to step into the world of change management.

See you in your inbox.

Driving word of mouth marketing through your workshops with Suzi Dafnis (Episode 157)

Season 1 · Episode 157

lundi 25 janvier 2021 • Duration 45:04

Move over virtual workshops, let’s talk about virtual marathons - more specifically, online events that can span over a couple of days.

It’s a different game, with longer interaction, so how do you maintain your energy, and keep your participants wanting more, too?

This week’s guest is the perfect person to answer this question because she’s been running online events since 2007! I'm joined by Suzi Dafnis, the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business.

For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business.

Her big passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day.

She has grown multiple multimillion-dollar businesses, and that hasn’t been by accident.

What struck me from chatting to Suzi is how strategic and intentional she is with all of the things: Having a background in Events, she cleverly uses her workshops to drive incredibly powerful word of mouth marketing opportunities for her business.

Facilitators, solopreneurs...okay, ANYONE organising workshops and virtual experiences, you’ll love this one!

About today’s guest: Suzi Dafnis

Suzi Dafnis is the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business.

Her BIG passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day.

For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business.

Suzi started her first business in the spare room of her home, in her late 20s, with no savings and no business degree, and built that into an $18million business with 45 staff and offices in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Learn more at HerBusiness.com
Request an invitation to join the HerBusiness Network at herousinessnetwork.com

Resources:

Join our community of facilitators from all over the world on our free Facebook group, The Flipchart
Love the show? Buy Leanne a coffee!
Click here for show notes / to watch the video interview

See you in your inbox.

Let’s have a conversation that matters with Jan Keck (Episode 156)

Season 1 · Episode 156

lundi 18 janvier 2021 • Duration 39:50

In case you can’t tell, I love conversations. If my life could involve having morning coffees with interesting people, then chatting with other cool people over an afternoon champagne by the water, rinse and repeat every day x 5 days, my life would be complete.

What’s interesting is that I’m really not the best (or interested?) in small talk. I don’t love going to the dog park, because the chitter chatter generally seems to go around in circles, talking about our dogs. That’s cool for a few minutes but we talk about things like what they eat and how they sleep…

I think I’d enjoy a conversation with today’s guest in a dog park though, because his tagline is all about having conversations that matter.

His name is Jan Keck and he is a self-proclaimed community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe.

You can check out what he does over at http://www.askdeepquestions.com and http://www.jankeck.com

In this conversation, we chat about relationships and which ones we invest in, if it’s possible to create a sense of belonging in an organisation. We dive into chats about redesigning virtual calls, scaling connections online, and btw Jan also has a kick-butt youtube channel, so he shares his tips for camera confidence, as well as advice for first time facilitators.

About today’s guest: Jan Keck

Jan Keck is a community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe.

Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fueling the movement for deeper human connection.

Growing up as an only child he found his soul family at summer camp, in sports clubs and even politics. But when he moved from Germany to Canada in his twenties he had to re-create his community from scratch and learned that the fastest way to make deep connections is through meaningful conversations and experiences.

Jan now lives in Toronto with his wife Natalia (aka Cookie), his son Mika and you can often find him hanging out with his mastermind group, attending community events, or camping up north

See you in your inbox.

Exceptional self coaching to help you start small and finish strong in 2021 with Daniel Kerr (Episode 155)

Season 1 · Episode 155

lundi 11 janvier 2021 • Duration 46:45

This episode comes with a warning: If you’re not interested in being inspired, then don’t tune in!

This week, we have a special guest on the show, who I met during my 20 week consulting gig last year. I was lucky enough to be placed in a team with him, and I say that because when you talk to him it feels like you’re sitting in the front row of a TED talk - meaning, you instantly feel inspired during conversations with him.

Daniel Kerr from Exceptional Self Coaching is a a physiotherapist turned high performance coach and he’ll share that transition story with you on this show.

Early in this interview, you’ll hear a watershed moment for Dan that steered him towards the work that he does know. And I’d love you to reflect on that word, too.

If you do want to reflect on where you’re at, your mindset, your habits, and committing to growth this year, you’ll love this show.

About our Guest: Daniel Kerr

Daniel Kerr is High Performance Certified Coach trained by Brendon Burchard , Certified Mental Performance Mastery Coach, Certified Wellness Coach and a Physiotherapist.

In this episode you will learn:

What it takes to show up as your best self
Having an action plan as a way to make the shift in 2021
Reflecting and planning your next goal
Finding your authenticity and niche to make yourself better and grow
Fear of not being good enough makes you start making excuses
Make your audience visualize the message you’re sending across
What Dan values when he prepares to run a workshop

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Reach out and connect with Dan Kerr on LinkedIn
Follow Dan Kerr on Instagram
Tweet & say hi to Leanne to let her know you’ve listened to this episode

See you in your inbox.

Facilitate your own change journey using a sprinkling of constructive delusion with Leanne Hughes (Episode 154)

Season 1 · Episode 154

dimanche 3 janvier 2021 • Duration 36:16

What’s the role of a facilitator? I think we’re there to stimulate CHANGE.

So what better time to talk about making changes than at the start of a new year?

As world leading body language Mark Bowden (also previous guest of 2 x First Time Facilitator episodes) says, “As facilitators, we are the leading signal in the room. People look to us to decide how they should act, think, and feel.”

I think then, that if we want our participants to change, we need to be great at making positive changes in our own lives, too.

In this episode, I’m looking in the mirror and sharing tools and ideas on how we can create change for ourselves. I’ve latched onto a phrase called: Constructive Delusion. I think we can use this as a force for good, to propel our ambitions, think big, and inspire our participants to do the same.

I reflect on my 2020kms running challenge (which I completed on 30 Dec, yass) as fuel for this episode, and also share plans on my 2021 writing challenge. I love harnessing the power of groups for my own habit change!

See you in your inbox.