workshops work
Welcome to “workshops work,” the podcast that transforms how professionals engage, inspire, and lead groups. Hosted by Dr Myriam Hadnes, a behavioural economist and facilitation evangelist, each episode dives into facilitation techniques and mindsets that make workshops successful.
Join us every week as we sit down with world-renowned facilitators and uncover their secrets to creating psychological safety, fostering collaboration, and sparking innovation. Whether you’re a Facilitator, L&D professional, HR leader, manager, coach or trainer, you’ll find practical tips, inspiring stories, and actionable insights to elevate your group dynamics.
From navigating conflict to unlocking creativity, “workshops work” blends theory with practice, ensuring you walk away with tools you can immediately apply. Dr Myriam Hadnes doesn’t just interview; she facilitates enriching conversations that shift perspectives and deepen understanding.
Let’s democratise facilitation, one workshop at a time.
Subscribe now and make your workshops work, every time.
Visit https://workshops.work/podcast for a free 1-page summary of each episode.
workshops work
050 - What happens when you get 11 facilitators into an organised but unstructured group conversation?
50 episodes of Workshops Work – wow! What a joy every episode has been. Thank you for joining me on this journey – whether this is your first or fiftieth time listening.
To mark this milestone, I brought together ten Workshops Work alumni for a fishbowl discussion about facilitation.
We covered a range of topics in such detail, it’s a struggle to summarise it in these show notes. If you are interested in hearing what a room of facilitators has to say about the complexities, joys, and novelties of our profession, I am very happy to present to you this episode.
Thank you again for helping me on my journey to 50 episodes. Here’s to the next milestone…
In this episode, we discuss:
- The different roles in workshops
- Why it’s so important to give participants and their discussions space
- Whether neutrality should be the facilitator’s goal – and whether it is even possible
- How best to tease out conflict in a safe and healthy manner
- Our experiences of our discussion – from excitement to discomfort
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Feeling inspired by the conversation in this episode? We can have our own - take a seat at my virtual table as part of a Mastermind Group.
A huge thank you must go to SessionLab, the sponsor of Workshops Work. Claim your free two months of SessionLab Pro now – this deal is exclusive to Workshops Work listeners!
Questions and Answers
[03:23] How do you ensure everyone in the room has the same understanding? Do you do so before or during a workshop?
[08:08] How do you make sure everyone has a role?
[11:51] What is your experience of wanting to act as a facilitator but knowing that you should not?
[13:10] How do you deal with having assumptions about participants?
[14:41] Neutrality and conflict
[21:52] How do you make space for people in a fair and balanced way?
[25:39] Neutrality, readiness, and being present
[30:51] Reflecting on the experience of the fishbowl
[40:54] What brings you the most joy from the transformation in the room of your workshops?
[41:56] Coming back to discomfort
[49:21] What do you do to limit yourself and avoid taking too much space when speaking?
[51:54] Do you have any short lines you use to transfer power in the room?
[53:11] Checking in on the participant’s experiences of the discussion
Links to Check
007 – Mindset Management – with Jeremy Akers
011 – How to design brainstorming sessions for huge groups – with Frans Scheepens
020 – Create experiences for your audience to
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If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
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If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
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