Unprofessionalism
Professional performance is exhausting. Maintaining the mask. Editing ourselves. Pretending we know when we don't.
This podcast is about people who dropped the performance. And what happened next.
Each episode features someone who broke professional conventions and found something better on the other side: the executive who disclosed grief in a corporate setting and found it opened new ways of relating; the coach who realised her authority came from integrity, not compliance; the designer who ignored the 'approved tools' and saved thousands of hours.
Conversations circle around three questions:
- What does it cost us to perform professionalism instead of showing up as ourselves?
- How do we create spaces where people can bring their full attention and humanity to work?
- When is the “unprofessional” move actually the most responsible one?
If you feel the tension between who you are and who you're expected to be at work, this podcast shows you what happens when people stop managing that tension and just stop performing.
Hosted by Dr Myriam Hadnes—behavioural economist and founder of workshops.work. New episode every week.
Unprofessionalism
028 - How to supercharge your workshops and teams with Pam Hamilton
In this episode, I talk to Pam Hamilton, the author of “The Workshop Book”, facilitator and managing director of Paraffin. Pam is passionate about collective intelligence and how to unleash collective intelligence in groups so make great things happen.
On the show, Pam and I speak about the various roles and skills facilitators need to make workshops work. Using the analogy of hosting a dinner, Pam explained the different steps facilitators need to keep in mind when planning a workshop. In one of my favourite parts, Pam shares how we can disturb hierarchy in the working space and why it is important.
Don’t miss the part when Pam speaks about her recent passion project, the “Project Bridge” and invites you to get engaged and create a positive impact in your community.
You will find inspiration from her stories on how to replace competition by collaboration through a visioning technique.
Don’t miss the next show: Subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.
Questions and Answers
[1:44] What's your story? When did your fascination for workshops start?
[4:44] What does it take for a facilitator to unleash a group's potential?
[8:50] How do you include the prep-work in your meeting?
[11:14] What are the capabilities that a facilitator needs?
[15:49] How do you deal with people who cannot commit to attend the full duration of the workshop?
[19:15] Would you consider workshops as hierarchy-free spaces?
[23:25] To what extent would you consider personality types of the participants and adjust your workshop design accordingly?
[30:50] Can you tell us more about the Project Bridge that you are currently working on?
[36:00] How do you facilitate these 'aha'-moments in a visioning exercise?
[38:43] How do you prepare participants of different power-positions for this hierarchy-free setting?
[41:21] Where do you draw the line for facilitators to be responsible for the follow-up?
[44:26] What did you learn from Project Bridge about teamwork?
[47:36] What makes a team? What's the difference between a team and a group of people working together?
[52:33] Has this exercise ever derailed where teams could not agree on one vision?
[53:11] If you were a hashtag, what would it be?
[54:13] What shall a listener remember from our conversation?
Related links for you to check out
- Pam's Business page: https://paraffin.ltd/
- Project Bridge Case study https://paraffin.ltd/casestudies/404/
- Free templates and exercises to download, including the visioning templates https://paraffin.ltd/stimulus/
- Register to Pam’s Workshop Training or buy the book or the Power Pack https://paraffin.ltd/shop/
- Our sponsor Session Lab (affiliate link)
Connect to Pam
on LinkedIn (Please mention the podcast when you reach out to Pam!)
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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/
