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
060 - Finding Insights Through Play – A Focus on the Public Sector with Sara Huang
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How can we facilitate meaningful change in a sector that is infamous for being rigid and slow-moving? (Though I am not sure I agree with that position!)
Sara Huang is the person to ask – so that’s exactly what I did! Sara is an expert in facilitation within the public sector and governmental organisations.
Join me in this episode of Workshops Work, in which Sara and I discuss the differences in facilitation within the public sector, the secrets to success in this field, and what all of us can learn from this unique perspective.
Find out about:
- What it means to ‘twist’ in the public sector and why it produces great results
- The importance of play if we want to create movement and possibility
- How to encourage creativity and open-mindedness
- When transparency can be useful (and not)
- How to flatten the room in an organisation with strict hierarchies
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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
[01:21] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?
[03:44] What’s the difference between being a facilitator and an advisor, and where does neutrality come into it?
[06:23] Can you explain the name of your company?
[08:02] How does your vision of ‘twisting’ fit into working in the public sector?
[10:39] What do you mean by ‘play’?
[12:25] Do you work with visual facilitators?
[14:25] How do you encourage a workshop mindset in a rigid public sector environment?
[18:24] Is it true that, in government, people like to conform and, if it is, how do you challenge that to encourage new ideas?
[21:19] How do you encourage people to assess every side of an argument?
[27:14] How do you facilitate when there are so many layers to decision making processes in the public sector?
[30:02] How transparent are you about the limitations within an organisation?
[31:19] What is your favourite exercise?
[34:19] How do you flatten the room in a patently hierarchical organisation?
[37:19] What makes a workshop fail?
[43:12] Is there anything else you wanted to share today?
Links to check
Connect with Sara
Any thoughts? Share them with us!
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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/
