Unprofessionalism
Most career advice tells you to hide uncertainty, perform confidence, and never let them see you sweat.
This podcast is about what happens when you ignore that advice.
Unprofessionalism is a series of conversations with people who broke professional conventions and discovered something better on the other side: the designer who ignored the 'approved tools' and saved thousands of hours. The founder who built a practice by openly admitting gaps in expertise. The consultant who called out dysfunction everyone else had learnt to work around. The people who recognised that professionalism had become performance theatre: a mask hiding the messy, human work that actually creates value.
Hosted by Dr Myriam Hadnes—behavioural economist and founder of a global leadership training practice—each conversation dissects a specific moment where someone chose effectiveness over appearance, then reverse-engineers what made it work.
You'll hear the friction before the decision, the immediate aftermath, and what changed months later. The pattern recognition across these moments becomes your playbook.
If you've ever sat in a meeting thinking 'this is broken but I can't say it', this podcast tells you what happened to the people who did.
New episode every week.
Unprofessionalism
053 - Four Perspectives on Facilitating Virtual Conversations
As facilitators, we are used to holding physical and mental space for groups – but what changes when we do this virtually and how can we facilitate effective collaboration in digital spaces?
The Virtual Collaboration Campus is a community of 35 facilitators who are coming together (virtually, of course!) to discuss and teach the ways we can effectively organise and conduct virtual meetings and work.
Storytelling, collaborating, space sharing, understanding, and listening remain the same in virtual spaces, but they can take on different forms, require different approaches, and have their own idiosyncrasies.
In preparation for the Virtual Collaboration Campus, some of the contributors join me on Workshops Work to discuss their thoughts on virtual collaboration.
In this episode, hear Yannis Angelis, Tanja Murphy-Ilibasic, Tina Meckel-Wille, and Mary Alice discuss their specialisms and get a taste of the content that will be delivered in the Virtual Collaboration Campus.
Don’t miss the next show: Subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.
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
[01:53] What has Tanja Murphy-Ilibasic learned from being a translator that she can apply to her work as a facilitator?
[02:49] How does Tanja apply Conversational Intelligence to a workshop space?
[08:43] Does Tanya have a favourite exercise to help a group understand the power of words?
[12:01] Why does Tina Meckel-Wille feel we undervalue virtual collaboration?
[13:27] What does Tina believe makes a good virtual conversation?
[16:14] How does Tina create a safe space where vulnerable, deep, and intimate conversation can take place through a screen?
[24:08] Does Tina have a favourite exercise to conduct in virtual workshops?
[25:26] What does Tina believe makes a virtual workshop fail?
[29:47] How does Mary Alice Arthur believe we can bring the mentality of the Art of Hosting and the campfire conversation into the virtual world?
[35:59] How does Mary Alice believe we can control the physical space or use physical communication in the virtual space?
[39:32] When did Yannis Angelis start calling himself a facilitator?
[42:26] What did Yannis learn from being a mediator that he can apply to being a facilitator?
[43:17] How would Yannis translate the stage in a virtual space?
[44:28] How does Yannis use storytelling to guide the group?
[46:47] How does Yannis use storytelling to make workshops work?
[48:34] How does Yannis think we can become better story-listeners?
[50:14] What does Yannis think makes workshops fail?
[51:42] What word would Yannis use to describe the experience of being in a virtual network of facilitators?
Links to Check
Judith E. Glaeser: Conversational Intelligence
Sponsor: www.workshops.work/mastermind
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You can now find the podcast on Substack, where your host Dr. Myriam Hadnes is building a club for you to find fellow listeners and peers: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/