Unprofessionalism – Details, episodes & analysis

Jussi Hermunen was brought in as a consultant on a multimillion-euro project when he discovered that his go-to tool was on the client's prohibited software list. He used it anyway. Not out of recklessness, but because a diagram reads the same on a factory floor as it does in a boardroom.

A clarity that a 70-page document full of acronyms that nobody in those steering group meetings would admit they hadn't read could never provide.

He has spent decades inside large organisations finding the people whose working lives are shaped by decisions they had no part in making, and asking the questions everyone inside stopped asking on day three. We talked about what happens when organisations become the very obstacle standing between themselves and the change they're trying to make and what changes when you stop delivering that change to people and start designing it with them.

Links to learn more about Jussi Hermunem:

LinkedIn

Personal Website

Company Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Tramaine has a rule for herself and everyone she manages: what you allow will continue. She learned by watching what happened when she didn't set a boundary, and what happened when she did.

With +15 years of managing teams across industries and seven countries around the globe, she spent a lot of that time being called difficult for doing things like putting her own phone number on an emergency contact list so her junior team members could have Christmas or pushing back against a request that would disrupt her team’s weekend.

Tramaine is a leader who runs toward the hard conversation, takes the consequence that comes with it, and has taken a demotion more than once because she decided the price of staying was higher than the price of leaving. We talked about what it costs to be called difficult as a woman in corporate, how she decides what's worth the fight, and why everything - every choice, every boundary, every stance - has a price. The only question is whether you've made peace with paying it.

Links to learn more about Tramaine Teo:

LinkedIn

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Mark McCartney showed up to facilitate a C-level team in Berlin on the hottest day of the year, drenched in sweat, and opened by pointing out his own stain marks. They laughed. The room shifted. That's Mark — someone who left a 15-year finance career, spent a year in Peru, and has since asked 300+ people the same question: what is a good life?

We got into why real vulnerability isn't the rehearsed trauma story but the small, mundane thing you say in the moment that reminds everyone they're sitting with a human. We talked about boundaries as a source of connection (not walls), why agreement is overrated in teams, and what happens when senior leaders can't admit they're overwhelmed even though it would be weirder if they weren't.

Learn more about Mark McCartney:

Newsletter

Website

LinkedIn

YouTube

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Starting your own facilitation brand can be daunting business. Thankfully, Jenny Millar, Kirsty Lewis and Michael Zipursky - three exceptionally wise and established founders - are here to teach you everything they wish they’d known sooner. The mistakes, the models, the pricing strategies, and all of the rich learning opportunities they’ve collected along the way.

As you might have guessed, our special fireside conversation this week is all about the business of facilitation! Around the fire, we dissect our own journeys in the hope of guiding you confidently on yours.

Expect empowering ideas, generous insights, tips, tricks and juicy business amuse-bouches that you can start implementing today.

Find out about:

• The considerations to make before starting your facilitation business
• The business mistakes, learning opportunities and things our guests had wished they’d known sooner
• How you can delegate while retaining agency over galvanising your community
• The Goldilocks effect of pricing: how to price with confidence
• The importance of niching down further than you might think
• How we define value, who creates it, and how you can prove your value to your first client

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to my guests:

Jenny Millar
Kirsty Lewis
Michael Zipursky

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Even as fully-fledged adults, there are many things about ourselves that we have yet to discover. Unexplored ideas, hidden pools of potential, and uncharted spaces we have yet to step into.

That is why coaching exists; to become aware of what we didn’t know, to move from a state of unconscious incompetence, into one of conscious incompetence, realising our blindspots and delving bravely, unreservedly into them.

Coaching mastermind and leader in education Dominique Mas has trained over 200 coaches, helping them to explore their blindspots, on a mission to bring the transformative power of group coaching to the world.

Episode 270 is a mushroom garden of epiphanies and burgeoning questions, as we unravel the difference between facilitation and group coaching, with many moments you’ll want to pause to commit to memory. Enjoy!

Find out about:

• The differences, symmetries and cross-sections between facilitation and group coaching
• The importance of understanding individual needs and experiences before a group coaching session
• Why thanking participants for their contribution invites in different voices
• Why we must choose our questions wisely in a coaching context to ensure positive engagement
• The art of not giving advice and the role of agency in coaching
• The important difference between trust and psychological safety

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Dominique Mas:

LinkedIn

Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Fellow power-podcaster and community creator, founder of The Human-Centered Design Network, and teacher of the next generation of thinkers and doers, Gerry Scullion’s impressive list of founding projects is a true testament to his 21-year mastery of ‘service’.

Episode 269 is an education into this world; Gerry introduces us to the principles, theories and practices of Service Design, where it intertwines with facilitation, and why design and facilitation are in fact, one and the same.

We talk about ageism in design, bakery role-play, getting comfortable with uncertainty - and so much more!

Find out about:

• The difference between Human Centric Design, Service Design and Design Thinking
• Why service design is a holistic experience that must look far beyond the screen
• What it means to hold the pen in a workshop and why distributing it to the group is crucial for democratisation
• Why simultations like ‘investigative rehearsals’ help to explore the nuances and components of service business
• Why working with children is like training for a marathon in high altitude
• Gerry’s work in community building and facilitating supportive conversations

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Gerry:

LinkedIn

This is HCD Coaching

This is HCD Training 

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Have you ever found yourself stepping on a dance partner's toes? That's a bit what co-facilitation can feel like without the right rhythm and rapport. Together with Cate Czerwinski and Florentine Versteeg, felllow faculty members from our leadership through facilitation course and peers from the NeverDoneBefore community, we unpack the symphony of co-facilitation, from the powerful duets of mutual support and blending ideas to the occasional missteps of clashing perspectives. It's more than just sharing a stage; it's about creating a performance that uplifts every participant, and in this episode, we share the secrets to that perfect harmony.

Navigating the dynamics between co-facilitators is akin to walking a tightrope, balancing offering support with giving space—no safety net included. We chat about the delicate intricacies of managing both our own and our fellow facilitator's egos, all while keeping a keen eye on the emotional undercurrents of our live sessions. With candid anecdotes and a spotlight on the importance of psychological safety, we share how transparency and self-awareness can make or break the co-facilitation experience. Spoiler alert: It's not always a walk in the park, but the insights we provide might just be your map through the woods.

And what about when clients wear the facilitator hat, too? We delve into the diplomatic dance of respecting their insights without letting them lead the whole show. From setting clear boundaries pre-workshop to managing real-time shifts in the process, we reveal the strategies that keep the facilitator-client relationship in check, ensuring the spotlight remains on collective goals. Wrapping up, we exchange tips on time management and adapting facilitation styles for both in-person and online environments. Join us for an episode that promises to leave you with a playbook for co-facilitating like a pro, ready to choreograph your next workshop with confidence and ease.

Find out about:

• The subtle nuances of co-facilitation dynamics
• Balancing support and autonomy
• Establishing boundaries with clients and co-facilitators
• The art of time management
• Strategies for both online and offline co-facilitation

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to GUEST:

Connect to Florentine Versteeg

Connect to Cate Czerwinski

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

Gather around my podcast airwaves for a special hour of meaningful moments and messages, as Lindsey Caplan brings us into her world of gathering.

A Hollywood screenwriter for Malcolm in the Middle, a Silicon Valley Organisational Psychologist and an educator for Dreamworks Animation, Lindsey is a miraculous mind with a showstopper of an oeuvre.

Along the way, she’s gathered a collection of learnings in her back pocket from these three disciplines, teaching her the simple power of bringing people together over a purpose. Her company The Gathering Effect takes a fresh approach to organisational change, crafting strategies to meet in effective ways.

Find out about:

• Lindsey’s definition of gathering and why it is a tool for change
• Why we mustn’t over-index on tools without fully understanding how to use them; instead we must first focus on the effect
• Why gatherings should be designed around one of four desired effects: compliance, entertainment, engagement and informing
• The role that environment plays in gatherings
• What we can learn about emotional connection, and therefore entertainment, from comedians and musicians
• The causality of company culture in gatherings: its ability to influence and be influenced in how organisations meet

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

Connect to Lindsey Caplan:

LinkedIn

Website

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

A constant, unchoreographed dance of tension and harmony, of structure and emergence, of psychological safety and sincerity, of client and group: facilitation is an artful balancing act.

And my guest this week Dr Jason Fox, is a master of equilibrium. A wise and mercurial keynote speaker and facilitator, he straddles the opposing realms of speaker presence and facilitator invisibility with shapeshifting ability, fusing deep philosophical thinking with meaningful future action.

We ride the facilitation see-saw in episode 266, exploring the alchemic balance of the facilitator, soaring from beautiful philosophies and the ideal conditions for achieving progress, dipping into Vipassana learnings and the potential of a spacious agenda.

Jason fills our conversation with such wisdom, charm and intrigue, I hope an hour with him leaves you feeling as inspired as I was.

Find out about:

• Why the alchemy of cooking is like that of facilitation, both requiring acuity, synthesis, and intuition
• The difference between meaningful progress vs. delusional progress
• Psychological safety: is there such a thing as too much? Can it lead the group into a state of toxic sincerity?
• The importance of seeking healthy conflict from a place of psychological safety
• Striking the balance of imperfection and friction, from the tools we use, to the environment we choose
• Jason’s teachings from meta-modernism, meta-rationality, Vipassana, and Indigenous Australian philosophy

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Jason Fox:
On LinkedIn
https://foxwizard.com
https://drjasonfox.com/

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

From free jazz and the musical echelons of piano concerto, to indigenous beats and the didgeridoo, this week’s episode is an invitation into the wondrous world of Music Thinking.

Christof Zürn is the inventor of this mindset; his storied background in musicology, creative direction and service design became the symphony to his brainchild. He now helps organisations to apply the principles of music to their daily lives, offering a new lexicon with which to interpret and understand business, leadership - and of course, facilitation!

Hear all about Christof’s musical mindset, how to apply it, and why it can be an inspiring scoresheet for effective work, collaboration, and productivity. Episode 265 is guaranteed to be music to your ears.

Find out about:

• The power of Music Thinking in helping to navigate organisational dynamics
• What the analogy of music means for business, leadership and facilitation
• Why the workshop is not a performance, but a rehearsal for the real-life production, allowing room for mistakes and exploration
• How music can help us to hear and understand simultaneous perspectives in an organisation
• The notion of ‘Design Thinking Theater’ and why it is a facade to endorse established organisational ideas

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

Links:

Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.

Connect to Christof:

Jam Cards

The Power of Music Thinking

Templates download

Epiphany Story 2024

Workshop with Leadership positions

Sonic Meditation / Pauline Oliveros

Support the show:

Make a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

✨✨✨

If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/