Episode 166: Creating a learning atmosphere of “serious fun" with Dana the Trainer #bestof
Energy is the most important thing when it comes to your workshops, and I discovered this nice and early when I geeked out on an energetic conversation with today’s guest, Dana Jane-Edwards.
This is a #bestof episode - I spoke to Dana back in 2018, when she called herself “Dana the Trainer”. Through a series of pivots and discovering her passion, she is now known as “Diversity Dana”.
Energy is the most important thing when it comes to your workshops, and I discovered this nice and early when I geeked out on an energetic conversation with today’s guest, Dana James-Edwards.
This is a #bestof episode - I spoke to Dana back in 2018, when she called herself “Dana the Trainer”. Through a series of pivots and discovering her passion, she is now known as “Diversity Dana”.
Today’s conversation is as relevant as ever - you’ll learn
Ways to make facilitation more fun, colourful and engaging
How to balance or lift your energy levels when required
What to do when things don't go to plan (hint: prevention is better than cure)
How to create content for new workshops
I want to share her website copy on her About page as a way of introducing her.
Here we go:
My favourite word is the F-Word – FUN
(Wait a minute … what F word were you thinking about?). Seriously!
As you can tell I take an unconventional approach to learning focusing on fun, colour, enjoyment and making things as practical and relevant as possible to make sure that key learnings make it back to the workplace.
What is it that I facilitate? Great question!
I have my fingers in many pies, but my 3 core areas are *drumroll please*
Diversity & Inclusion, Train-The-Trainer (or Coach) and Agile
And if that sounds like an eclectic mix of things that shouldn’t go together and make no sense you’re going to have to read the rest of my bio to find out why and how it all came about. To confuse you even further I sometimes even dabble in some Management & Leadership bits … but that’s a story for another day.
Read the rest of Dana’s story.
What’s new with Leanne and First Time Facilitator?
So excited to share that I’m partnering with Slido on their Online Meetings Revolution trend report. Come along to the launch and hear the interesting data + predictions to make your online meetings as engaging and relevant as possible. It’s on 14 April 2021, here’s the link to sign up.
Join the conversation when the show is over with 1300 facilitators from all over the world in our free group called The Flipchart
Support the show (and my ideas) by buying me a coffee
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Click here to let Leanne know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
Quotes of the show:
"There are so many things that you can do to bring learning, to bring a classroom alive to make things not so painful for people".
Even when you know the content and you're familiar with it, you’re still thinking, 'Who's going to be there tomorrow?', 'What if this exercise doesn't work?', 'What do I have as a backup for this?', 'Did I pack this thing?'
'You cannot be rigid, sticking to your lesson plan. The classroom is a place of surprise. The best facilitators pull the learning out of what is happening in the room, instead of sticking to the script'.
Episode transcript
View the First Time Facilitator episode transcript with Dana the Trainer.
#Bestof: Facilitating once in a lifetime workshop experiences with Steve Sims (Episode 165)
Today’s guest runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party.
Today’s guest runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party.
Not too many people can say that to their clients...But today’s guest, is a one of a kind guy.
His name is Steve Sims. Steve is the man who created Bluefish, a company that makes once-in-a-lifetime events happen for the rich and famous reveals to the rest of us his trade secrets for making things happen. With his help and expertise, his clients’ fantasies and wildest dreams come true.
Steve is the author of the Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen, and he has a podcast of the same name. Steve has spoken at Harvard and the Pentagon, twice. Getting married by the Pope in the Vatican, being serenaded by Elton John, and connecting with powerful business moguls like Elon Musk are just a few of the many projects he has worked on.
I really wanted Steve on the show to talk about a few key things - the assumptions we have about asking for things, how confidence; and your approach can take you far and (literally) open doors. We also talk about the perfectionism beast.
If you’d like to join the conversation when the show is over, join The Flipchart, a free community on Facebook for First Time Facilitator listeners.
About our guest: Steve Sims
Steve Sims Steve is the visionary founder of Bluefish: the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Steve Sims Website
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Click here to let Leanne know your number one takeaway from this episode!
Quotes of the show:
“I'm a great believer in keeping liability low.”
“The greatest growth comes from the greatest accidents.”
“It’s incredible to have people just be able to realize the rich people are poor people with a lot of money; things don't change, just that bank account.”
“I'm a great believer that perfection is a blue unicorn with three testicles; it doesn't exist.”
“I don't believe speakers should give speeches. I think speakers should have conversations with thousands of people or hundreds of people.”
Episode transcript
View the First Time Facilitator episode transcript with Steve Sims.
Episode 112: Virtual meeting and workshop tips from the Remote Meeting Guy, Jonas Rajanto
Jonas is based in Finland and is affectionately known as “The Remote Meeting Guy”. In this show we talk about energy required to facilitate online workshops and how we can build trust early on in our virtual experiences and interactions. Jonas also shares some of his favourite tech tools for getting interaction and early involvement in online group settings. I also love his career back-story and how he evolved to being the engineer who can speak human.
Today’s guest, Jonas Rajanto’s life has changed over the last two weeks - he has been in demand, helping individuals and businesses pivot their offline offerings, online.
Jonas is based in Finland and is affectionately known as “The Remote Meeting Guy”. In this show we talk about energy required to facilitate online workshops and how we can build trust early on in our virtual experiences and interactions. Jonas also shares some of his favourite tech tools for getting interaction and early involvement in online group settings. I also love his career back-story and how he evolved to being the engineer who can speak human.
Jonas believes you don't need to travel, to get the best out fo group meetings and training session. He helps others bring the best practices of facilitation online. Such as:
- know the purpose, participants, and process
- success starts at the invitation
- clear technical barriers to participation
- establish focus and psychological safety at the start
- always keep engaging
- always keep visualizing
- don't go alone. team up!
I also want to take this opportunity to really thank Jonas for the contribution he has brought to the Flipchart community on Facebook His responses to questions on anything virtual are incredibly helpful, simple to follow and comprehensive as well. In this episode, he also shares how sharing his tips online, helps him constantly learn, too!
About today’s guest: Jonas Rajanto
Jonas helps people with remote work, especially when they gather around the virtual campfire. His mission is to train groups in organizations large and small. He aims to make people feel that their time was well spent and with a purpose during team meetings.
Jonas came to Grape People from the IT services industry where he developed tools and processes for more efficient collaboration.
At Grape People, Jonas shifted his focus to interacting remotely and developing ways to help teams take their collaboration to the next level.
As a facilitator, Jonas specializes in telecommuting and virtual collaboration. He coaches team leaders, project managers, trainers, salespeople, and others for whom web opportunities are an integral part of their work. Jonas's mission is to make telecommuting as natural as working in the same room.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Connect with Jonas on Linkedin
Send Jonas a thank you tweet @VirtualJonas
Want Grape People to help you with virtual facilitation training and virtual workshop facilitation? Email service@grapepeople.fi f
If you’d like to contact Jonas directly for interviews, speeches or other personal gigs, you can contact him directly: jonas@grapepeople.fi.
Tools Jonas recommends:
Quotes from the episode:
“Social engineering is creating a structure for people to feel safe, be themselves so they can lean into the work.”
“It’s harder to communicate your energy without body language.”
“Slowly expand your comfort zone, so once you’re more confident with the tools, you can try some more advanced methods.”
Leanne's upcoming virtual events
Go Live Before You Go Live: If you'd like to "go live, before you go live", Leanne Hughes is organising an opportunity for peers to practice sharing screens, putting out polls, using interactive instructions ("raise your hands!"), responding to the chat and more; in a safe training environment.
Free webinar: Over the last two weeks, Christine Burych and Greg Zlevor have had the unprecedented opportunity to take a two week long residency leadership training program for global leaders and turn it into a virtual program. In this 30 minute webinar, they will share with you the lessons learned while training this Fortune 50 company. Leanne Hughes is hosting this conversation. Click here to register
Continue the conversation when the show is over: Join The Flipchart community on Facebook!
Episode 111: Never let a good crisis go to waste with Murray Guest and Steph Clarke
*BONUS EPISODE* During these unprecedented Covid-19 times, I thought it would be helpful for listeners to lean into a conversation between their facilitation peers.
With less than 24 hours notice, I invited Murray Guest and Steph Clarke onto a Zoom call, to have an open conversation on how we're feeling, how we're responding, and how our clients are also adapting to the ever-evolving situation.
*BONUS EPISODE* During these unprecedented Covid-19 times, I thought it would be helpful for listeners to lean into a conversation between their facilitation peers.
With less than 24 hours notice, I invited Murray Guest and Steph Clarke onto a Zoom call, to have an open conversation on how we're feeling, how we're responding, and how our clients are also adapting to the ever-evolving situation.
Hope you enjoy this impromptu, imperfect episode!
About Steph Clarke
Steph is a Team Coach and was a guest on Episodes 33 and 53. She hosts the Steph's Business Bookshelf podcast, and
Steph is an accountant turned facilitator and team coach and pommy (that’s a Brit living in Australia for the uninitiated) based in Melbourne.
She loves finding tools, techniques and concepts that are proven and work so she can apply them and share with you and your teams. You’ll find that most of her workshops and facilitation combines the best of leadership theory, team coaching, the actionable science of behaviour change and habit building; along with the real life stories of her and her clients, to set your team up for success in effectively applying the lessons.
When she’s not transforming teams you’ll find her in the pilates studio, in the kitchen, on a plane or hiding somewhere with a podcast, book or a great Spotify playlist.
Listen to her podcast, Steph's Business Bookshelf - where she does the reading, so you don't have to!
About Murray Guest
Murray Guest is one of Australia’s leading Strengths coaches, helping over 1,000 people unlock and apply their strengths to achieve their professional and personal goals. As a Gallup certified Strengths coach he partners with organisations to build strengths-based cultures and realise the benefits a strengths-based approach brings.
The founding director of Inspire My Business, he combines his diverse experience in HR, QA and Business Development to inspire leaders and their teams along the pathway of change and continuous improvement.
His recognition includes one of only two coaches to speak at all three of the Gallup Strengths Summits in Omaha and receiving the HMA Excellence in Training Award for leading significant improvements as the Learning and Development Manager of Tomago Aluminum.
He's also the host of the Inspired Energy podcast and appeared on Episode 30 of the First Time Facilitator podcast.
About the host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences – that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Like this show?
Continue the conversation when the podcast is over, and join over 650 facilitators in my free Facebook Group called, The Flipchart
Like this show? Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally!
Click here to let Leanne know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
Episode 110: We all have a choice to get to the next level with Nicholas King
In this episode I chat with Nicholas about how to strive to become the best version of yourself as a facilitator and how to make a difference in others lives. I think that's one of our goals as facilitators: Create some type of transformation from when a participant enters our workshop. We want to spark some idea, or unique way of thinking that was different before our workshop experience.
In this episode I chat with Nicholas about how to strive to become the best version of yourself as a facilitator and how to make a difference in others lives.
I think that's one of our goals as facilitators: Create some type of transformation from when a participant enters our workshop. We want to spark some idea, or unique way of thinking that was different before our workshop experience.
Sometimes that change is raising your awareness levels on a topic, or spurring you to reflect on choices you make in work/life. While this topic does have a facilitation focus, there are also some terrific life lessons in the mix!
Nicholas is a wonderful, entertaining, humorous person + speaker and he’s based in Brisbane as well. We connected first through LInkedIn and then I met him and his wonderful wife Holly at the 100th episode party, and geez - he’s funny + a really compelling storytelling, so you can only imagine when he ramps things up for a presentation!
I like a bit of unpredictability and Nicholas blew me away with an example he shares in this one, relating to one of my favourite actors, Tom Cruise.
Nicholas also throws down a listener challenge in this one. Please connect with us both on Linkedin. If you can pull off what he did in a workshop, please record and share it!
About today's guest: Nicholas King
Nicholas King is a highly engaging speaker, MC, trainer, facilitator and coach that helps others become better versions of themselves.
He is the Principal Facilitator & Trainer | Sales Enablement & Performance at Oracle Sales & Partner Academy, where he provides training, facilitation and sales performance coaching within the Oracle Digital portfolio. He’s also the president of the Oracle Toastmasters Club.
He marries his 18 years of selling and sales leadership experience to deliver world class sales training and enablement on sales skills and methodology to enhance the performance of sales organisations.
Nicholas is an international speaker and with his company, Thinking Mechanics, delivers insight into the most important leadership role anyone of us will have, the leadership of ourselves.
Thinking Mechanics exists to help others who may "suffer" the same thought-life and need to help to set themselves free. The importance of this is tied to the fact that what you think about - and add belief to - will, eventually, manifest into your life.
In this episode you will learn:
Awesome gadgets to use during and after your facilitation
How to make your facilitation better and more effective
Tracking your performance to be consistent
The ‘why’ of connecting with people on social media
Resources mentioned:
Thinking Mechanics website
The claw: An x-factor powerpoint clicker!
One of Nicholas' LinkedIn posts about his favourite podcasts
Quotes:
“People get stuck because they are not aware of something. People can progress out of something they learn.”
“We all have a choice to get to the next level.”
“What you allow yourself to deliberately think or dwell on is fed to us by what we hear.”
Join The Flipchart
An incredible group of facilitators from all over the world, The Flipchart is a free group on Facebook. See you there!
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Episode 109: Facilitating your passion pivot (and being brave to step into it) with Scott Armstrong
It was really amazing getting on today’s guest and talking about things like career pivots, how to find our passion and more - this is from a guy who has not only pivoted but has done 180 degree turns into different careers.
His name is Scott Armstrong, he’s Canadian and he started his career as a corporate banker who was deeply frustrated and knew there had to be more for than pushing paper. He went on to work at Canada’s largest rehabilitation centre for abandoned exotic animals. Swimming with jaguars, running with wolves, playing in the snow with tigers, helping an owl take flight again.
It’s been just over a year now since I stepped out as a solopreneur and I feel like I’m still trying to find that ultra niche topic for me to really double down on. I run workshops on so many things: leadership, team dynamics, negotiation, communication, Strengths - I’m still a generalist and everyday, I try to think about what is it I want to focus on and become an expert in.
So it was really amazing getting on today’s guest and talking about things like career pivots, how to find our passion and more - this is from a guy who has not only pivoted but has done 180 degree turns into different careers.
His name is Scott Armstrong, he’s Canadian and he started his career as a corporate banker who was deeply frustrated and knew there had to be more for than pushing paper. He went on to work at Canada’s largest rehabilitation centre for abandoned exotic animals. Swimming with jaguars, running with wolves, playing in the snow with tigers, helping an owl take flight again.
After that he started helping people create their own Limitless adventure. Over the last 20 years he worked with over 2000 businesses and individuals to help them create and grow. His company Limitless is now a group of passionate people with enough life perspective and skill sets to help you dream, create and live a life that satisfies like nothing else.
In this episode, we talk about what left him to pivot and his fascination with getting others to lead limitless lives - and when he says limitless he means it, one of the images on the front page of his website, scottarmstronglimitless.com is an image jumping out of an aircraft.
If you are soul searching, driving to work, feeling like you’re stuck in the rat race, wondering what on earth how to find your purpose, you’ll find this interview and Scott’s work very appealing.
As a business owner, he also leads by example and shares a pretty vulnerable point about saying no to a job that he would have leapt to deliver recently. It’s part of staying strong and connected to his decision on his area of focus. He also talks through some very helpful Sales tactics if you are leading your own facilitation business at the back end of this conversation.
About today's guest: Scott Armstrong
Scott started as a corporate banker who was deeply frustrated and knew there had to be more for than pushing paper. He went on to work at Canada’s largest rehabilitation centre for abandoned exotic animals. Swimming with jaguars, running with wolves, playing in the snow with tigers, helping an owl take flight again.
After that he started helping people create their own Limitless adventure. Over the last 20 years he worked with over 2000 businesses and individuals to help them create and grow. His company, Limitless is now a group of passionate people with enough life perspective and skill sets to help you dream, create and live a life that satisfies like nothing else.
He also helps companies get the most efficient, effective and affordable productivity habits training for business leaders. Access your purest potential, creating a deeply fulfilling life of adventure and accomplishment, unearth personal passions and skills scarcely known to you.
In this episode you will learn:
Being brave enough to follow your passion and live your full potential
How to be open to learning and vulnerability during career transition
Finding your niche and stamping your expert as an authority
How to to get more sales as facilitator
Resources mentioned:
Join the Limitless Community on Facebook
Connect with Scott on Linkedin
You can shoot Scott a text, too! (+1) 778 836 3343
Episode sponsor: The First Time Facilitator Bootcamp
This episode is also sponsored by my first online program for facilitators called The First TIme Facilitator bootcamp!
It’s 5 masterclasses, a community and all the tools, checklists and resources I use to deliver workshops.
Doors close on Friday 13 March, I’d love to have you in the first group. You can join over at leannehughes.com/bootcamp.
Like this show?
Continue the conversation when the show is over by joining my free Facebook group called The Flipchart. We have over 650 facilitators, from all over the world, sharing ideas and asking questions, it’s a fun and supportive community.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode (and follow her behind the scenes on Instagram)
Quotes from my conversation with Scott Armstrong
“The vast majority of people, when it comes to finding their passion, either have a vague idea or they have no idea at all.”
“If you are thinking about transitioning, you have to be open - not just to learning but also being vulnerable.”
“Selling is a long term relationship, you should keep the conversation open.”
“Always look to provide value.”
Episode 108: Effective virtual facilitation using Zoom Webinars with Leanne Hughes
This is a surprise, pop-up show! I had so many of you asking questions about how to facilitate virtual meetings and webinars, so I've created a practical episode, on this very topic this week. It seems like there is more of a demand to do this well, particularly given world events like coronavirus, we’re seeing a lot of people’s travel stalling, recommendations to stop large conferences + gigs, so we need to find ways to recreate these connections virtually.
This is a surprise, pop-up show! I had so many of you asking questions about how to facilitate virtual meetings and webinars, so I've created a practical episode, on this very topic this week.
It seems like there is more of a demand to do this well, particularly given world events like coronavirus, we’re seeing a lot of people’s travel stalling, recommendations to stop large conferences + gigs, so we need to find ways to recreate these connections virtually.
I’m by no means a virtual facilitator whiz kid (face to face workshops are my bread and butter) but I've connected with some great people and picked their brain to give you some tips today.
Thanks for your in/direct contribution to this episode:
Juan Daniel Sobrado (you can listen to my conversation with Juanda on Episode 105)
Enlist in the First Time Facilitator Bootcamp!
Enrolments are open now and close Friday 13 March, 2020. Find out more about the First Time Facilitator Bootcamp.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Zoom webinars (affiliate link - thanks for supporting the show!)
Jonas' recommendation: The definitive guide to facilitating remote workshops
ATR2100 microphone
Join The Flipchart
An incredible group of facilitators from all over the world, The Flipchart is a free group on Facebook. See you there!
Episode 107: Get going (and then get good) with Kate Norris
Charisma: An important topic that we haven’t explored enough on this show. How do you know when someone is charismatic? What clues do you pick up? That’s a question I ask today’s guest, to get her thoughts on what it takes to be charismatic.
Charisma: An important topic that we haven’t explored enough on this show. How do you know when someone is charismatic? What clues do you pick up? That’s a question I ask today’s guest, to get her thoughts on what it takes to be charismatic.
And spoiler alert?
The good news is, we can all get a little more charismatic - listen in to hear how.
Today’s guest is Kate Norris. She’s a Presentation Coach, Speaker, Podcast Host and Co-founder of Presentation Boss.
Kate is a former data-analyst with a passion for presenting technical information, Her specialty is turning potentially dry information (especially numbers!) into energetic and engaging presentations.
When she's not at work helping experts communicate better, you can find her wiping baby spit-up off her shirt or answering the question "why?" for the eleventy-billionth time.
Her co-founder, Thomas Krafft appeared on Episode 51 of the First Time Facilitator podcast, sharing practical tips to make PowerPoint presentations more engaging.
Facilitation is all about communication. Kate believes that speaking is based on acquired skills that can be improved by a theoretical understanding, constructive feedback and practise. She believes that gifted speakers may be born, but effective communicators are made.
In this episode Kate talks about the importance of being engaging and charismatic as a facilitator to keep the energy going.
About our Guest: Kate Norris
Kate has a background in data analytics and finance, she is no stranger to finding an engaging way to present lifeless data in an actionable way.
Kate together with Thomas Krafft at Presentation Boss help organisation analyze every aspect of presentation skills, and passionate about empowering others to enhance their communication skills.
Presentation Boss runs workshops for those looking to improve their communication, presentation and data visualisation skills. They have a range of workshops available or can tailor a course to suit your business needs.
Resources mentioned:
Connect with Kate on Linkedin
Listen to the Presentation Boss podcast
Boost your facilitation skills
Sign up to my free webinar on 24 Feb, 2020: 5 unpredictable ways to start a workshop (that predictably work)
Get on the waitlist for the First Time Facilitator bootcamp. Doors open soon, and boot camp kicks off in mid March!
In this show, Kate Norris and I also throw down a challenge!
If you’re out and about in the morning this is a challenge for you.
Kate and I talk about saying hello to fellow morning walkers + joggers. We’d like to challenge you to get as many ‘hellos’ as possible when you’re out exercising this week. This challenge is all about getting out of our comfort zone.
Share your results with us - you can do that by tagging us on Instagram @leannehughes or @presentationboss, or simply post about it on LinkedIn, tag Kate and Leanne Hughes, or send us a message and let us know how you went. We’re all in this together!
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Quotes:
“The problem you are solving and the people you are helping are the core aspects of marketing.”
“Charisma is magnetism towards someone.”
“Get going, then get good.”
Listen to Other Episodes:
Episode 106: Why being “barely adequate” is a smart strategy for First Time Facilitators with Michael Bungay-Stanier
Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book, The Coaching Habit was an instant classic and one of the books that most impacted how I think and lead. I am eagerly anticipating the follow-up, deep-dive he’s written, coming out on February 29th. The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever is sure to be transformative.
I was lucky enough to interview Michael Bungay Stanier in Brisbane (Nov 2019). Watch the interview, instead!
I'm re-releasing an interview with one of the world's legends today!
It’s to celebrate the pre-order launch of Michael Bungay Stanier's (MBS) newest book, "How to Begin: Start Doing Something that Matters" is now available for pre-order.
It’s legendary!
Gosh I’ve been so excited to bring this episode to you! If you listened to my interview with Mark Bowden, you would have heard us talk about today’s guest, one of my all-time favourite thoughts leaders + author's, Michael Bungay-Stanier.
Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book, The Coaching Habit was an instant classic and one of the books that most impacted how I think and lead. I am eagerly anticipating the follow-up, deep-dive he’s written, coming out on February 29th. The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever is sure to be transformative.
In 2019, Michael was named the #1 thought leader in coaching by Thinkers50, the so-called Oscars of management. Michael was also the first Canadian coach of the year and has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014.
I was lucky enough to record this conversation with Michael when he was in Brisbane. In this conversation, we cover a ton of topics ranging from finding your purpose, to how a room should be setup, to how we can be more coach-like in our interactions, how we can give less advice as well (when it’s so tempting to give advice).
You can also watch this video on YouTube. In the video, you’ll see Michael share his facilitation toolkit (yup, he brought it along to the interview!) :World’s #1 thought leader on coaching, Michael Bungay-Stanier talks facilitation with Leanne Hughes
Michael also shares specifics on how to deliver activity instructions, including how to sequence question time in pairs and how to assess who speaks first in a pairing exercise, using humour.
Speaking of humour, one of the reasons I think Michael is one of my favourite authors, is because he is that funny. You see that in the way that he writes, the way he chooses his words - highly intelligent while keeping it real. It’s also why you’ll hear me laughing over the top of much of what he says #sorrynotsorry.
About my guest: Michael Bungay-Stanier
Michael’s the founder of Box of Crayons, a company that champions coaching skills as a force for manager excellence and leader capability. He’s a compelling keynote speaker, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand.
Michael has written and also been featured in numerous publications including Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, The Globe & Mail and The Huffington Post.
The world desperately needs more humble, curious leaders. His latest book, The Advice Trap takes us deep into the whys and then shows us exactly how to get there. Available February 29th wherever books are sold.
Resources mentioned in the interview:
The Advice Trap (official site, pre-order your copy today!)
Free webinar 26 February 2020: 5 unpredictable ways to start a workshop (that predictably work)
Want some new ideas on how to begin a workshop? I’m running a free, live webinar on the 5 unpredictable ways to start a workshop (that predictably work) on Wednesday 26 February, 10am AEST. You can find out more and sign up here (and don’t worry, if you can’t make it live but you register, you’ll also get the recording).
Like this show?
Continue the conversation when the show is over by joining my free Facebook group called The Flipchart. We have over 580 facilitators, from all over the world, sharing ideas and asking questions, it’s a fun and supportive community.
Tweet Michael your thanks + what you learnt from him (or, you can follow Michael Bungay-Stanier on Instagram)
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode (and follow her behind the scenes on Instagram)
Quotes:
“Great work has more impact and greater meaning.”
“Coaching is an essential skill and behavior of a leader.”
“Coaching is about you leading in a different way that will allow your people to feel more engaged, empowered and more focused on what matters.”
Episode 105: Legendary learning + the facilitation percentage game with Juan Daniel Sobrado
Legendary Learning is a resource managed by Juan Daniel Sobrado, helping to share ideas and tips to design and carry out more effective, participatory and fun training courses. In this episode I chat with Juanda about how we can deliver the x-factor during training sessions and presentations.
Here’s a question for you. Think about the last workshop you delivered. If you had to use a ratio, how much time did you spend speaking, explaining, emphasising vs the group speaking, sharing, contributing?
That’s a great reflection question, isn’t it?
I can’t claim it. It’s question that led today’s guest into becoming more curious about how to create interactive, engaging workshop experiences.
His name is Juan Daniel Sobrado (otherwise known as Juanda) and he's based in Madrid, Spain. If you’re in the Flipchart, you might recognise his name - he’s such a wonderful contributor to the group, providing helpful and innovative responses to questions from other facilitators in the group.
Legendary Learning is a resource managed by Juan Daniel Sobrado, helping to share ideas and tips to design and carry out more effective, participatory and fun training courses.
In this episode I chat with Juanda about how we can deliver the x-factor during training sessions and presentations.
About today's guest: Juan Daniel Sobrado
Juanda started working as a bioengineer at Medtronic, one of the largest implantable medical device companies worldwide.
He was growing professionally and he knew the world of sales and marketing. Juanda liked it so much that he trained in ESIC about marketing applied to the medical industry. He began to manage the marketing and sales of neuronavigators, intraoperative imaging systems (CT and resonances that are installed in the operating room) and surgical robots. This is what Juan does during the day.
At night, he hosts the Learning Legandario podcast (Spanish) and creates wonderful resources for learning and development on his website of the same name.
When he started working years ago, he mistakenly associated training with presenting. For a long time. he trained on how to design better presentations, how to choose words to connect audience and how to perform memorably on stage.
It was in 2012 when he discovered new ways to train and deliver workshops and realised he had to improve. He realised that there was life beyond PowerPoint. He learned to design participatory courses, and how he could get more effective training by making participants learn while having fun. That was when he promised not to deliver any more boring training sessions again.
Resources mentioned in this show
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Episode 104: When do you stop calling yourself a First Time Facilitator? with Leanne Hughes
When do you stop calling yourself a First Time Facilitator? How do you know when you've graduated to just being a "Facilitator"? I’ve given a bit of consideration to this and put together my thoughts in this episode.
When do you stop calling yourself a First Time Facilitator? How do you know when you've graduated to just being a "Facilitator"?
I’ve given a bit of consideration to this and put together my thoughts in this episode.
I talk about some key things to stop, start (and continue) doing, for example:
Stop apologising when you start a workshop (even if you've only been given a day's notice / an hour's notice to lead a workshop, yes - even when the tech is failing!)
Stop impersonating other people (draw inspiration - but try not to copy)
Think about your audience before you even consider looking at your content
Start developing a method to deliver your instructions clearly, succinctly and simply, in the best way for your participants
Find your own way to grab everyone's attention
Continue getting feedback and remember you can't control anyone's perception of you: You can only control how you show up
About the host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences – that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
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Episode 103: Learning to adapt, adopt and love change with Lydia Moussa
Academic, change facilitator & tech startup founder, Lydia Moussa, combines knowledge and evidence from her PhD in change implementation research, with years of change facilitation experience helps organisations deal with the process of change.
With the inevitable changes happening all around us, teams need to build their capabilities so that they can successfully adopt new change projects and confidently adapt to their ever-changing environments.
Academic, change facilitator & tech startup founder, Lydia Moussa, combines knowledge and evidence from her PhD in change implementation research, with years of change facilitation experience helps organisations deal with the process of change.
In this episode, Lydia and I talk about a clever metaphor she uses to describe change, which throws out the old, linear approaches used by organisations at the moment. She also shares a really neat tool she uses with her clients to understand their change priorities, a tool which I believe, as facilitators, we could also use to understand our client’s pain points. The other thing I love are three strategies that we can use, when we’re delivering workshops to academics or health professionals specifically.
Lydia and I also recorded this conversation on video: Leanne Hughes interviews Lydia Moussa (YouTube).
Lydia aims to shake up the change industry, by changing the way we look at change - from a simplistic linear process, to a more dynamic, human-centered puzzle. Follow Lydia on LinkedIn as she shares the top 20 evidence-based factors that affect the change puzzle.
In this episode you will learn:
How organizations can change the approach around change
How to have the growth mindset
Factors that affect change that can act as barriers or enablers for change
How organizations can become adaptable and resilient with change
About our guest: Lydia Moussa
As a former healthcare professional (pharmacist) and academic, Lydia specialises in facilitating change in both the Health Care industry and Tertiary Education.
She has worked with over 300 organisations including, The University of Technology Sydney, The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), NSW Department of Education, Australian Digital Health Agency, Roche Pharmaceuticals among others.
Her expertise in change has led her to publish her work in the Journal of Change Management, speak at national and international conferences & lecture at university.
Resources mentioned:
The Change Hub (check out their new website which will be live in February 2020!)
Like this episode?
Join the conversation when the show is over: Connect with over 530 facilitators from around the world, on our free Facebook group: The Flipchart
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Click here to send your thanks to Lydia
Quotes of the episode:
“We never shy away from trying something new that sometimes leads to failure but other times it just opens a whole world of opportunities.”
“When it aligns with something you are truly passionate about and it feels right, you just say yes to change.”“Everyone needs to be able to navigate change, not just those in leadership role.”
“To be authentic, you have to be what you say.”
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Episode 102: Using body language to create a powerful workshop experience with Mark Bowden
You know when you run a workshop, every now and then you peer around the room to see who’s paying attention, who looks interested (and, who doesn’t!) and you make judgments based on what you’re seeing from up the front of the room? I thought that was a key part of being a facilitator - being observant of your participant's body language.
You know when you run a workshop, every now and then you peer around the room to see who’s paying attention, who looks interested (and, who doesn’t!) and you make judgments based on what you’re seeing from up the front of the room? I thought that was a key part of being a facilitator - being observant of your participant's body language.
Well today’s guest has completely blown my mind on all of that. I wish I had spoken to this guy at the beginning of my career, this interview had a profound impact on me. I don’t want to give too much away before I share the episode, but I’ve got to say, it’s one of the most important conversations I’ve ever had - and not just because he played the Orc General in the Lord of the Rings movies, either!
My guest today is Mark Bowden, a global authority on nonverbal communication, voted #1 Body Language Professional in the world for two years running. He's a sought after keynote speaker internationally and president of the National Communication Coach Association of Canada, while also training groups and individuals on how to use their body language to stand out, win trust and gain credibility every time they communicate.
Mark is passionate about giving people the most influential and persuasive communication techniques to stand out, win trust, and build credibility every time they speak.
In this episode, you’ll learn about how you can project the brand image you want when you deliver a workshop, how to be a more 'lazy facilitator' and when to have/relinquish control.
If you'd like to watch Leanne Hughes' interview with Mark Bowden, you can watch it over on YouTube.
About our guest: Mark Bowden
Mark is the founder of communication training company TRUTHPLANE® his clients include leading business people, teams, and politicians, presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and Prime Ministers of G7 powers.
He is a bestselling author of 3 books on the subject of body language and human behaviour, with his first book Winning Body Language now translated into five different languages. Presentation trainer for The Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA, ranked #1 in the world by The Economist, Mark is also a member of the TED community having spoken at TEDx Toronto. Mark can be seen regularly on Canadian network CTV’s daily talk show The Social as the resident Body Language expert.
Resources mentioned:
Watch the interview! Leanne Hughes chatting to Mark Bowden on the First Time Facilitator podcast
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Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
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Quotes:
“Non-verbal communication can trigger other human beings into feeling like they have a very accurate assessment of what’s going on in somebody’s mind.”
“Stars are guiding light in the sky that in the darkness you can still navigate and get to where you want to be. Actors are like stars, we’re taking the journey with them to an emotional place.”
“Branding is the experience we want our audience to feel about us.“
“I avoid the idea that I need to be aggressive with the audience, what I need them to do, is to know that it’s fun and it’s safe around me.”
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Episode 101: 10 facilitation lessons from the last 100 weeks with Leanne Hughes + a bonus interview with Murray Guest
This week on the show sharing my Top 10 facilitation lessons learnt over the last 100 episodes. I’m going to compare the facilitator I was 100 weeks ago, with the facilitator I am now (or who I aspire to be), based on the information I’ve been able to extract from previous guests and experiences.
This week on the show sharing my Top 10 facilitation lessons learnt over the last 100 episodes. I’m going to compare the facilitator I was 100 weeks ago, with the facilitator I am now (or who I aspire to be), based on the information I’ve been able to extract from previous guests and experiences.
I also had a few listeners record audio and share what they have picked up from the podcast, which we’ll play during this special episode - thank you so much for those of you who took the time out to record! So amazing hearing your voices - thank you Suzanne, Juanda, Maryanne and Murray.
At the end of my lessons learnt, I’m also including an interview I did with Murray Guest on his podcast called the Inspired Energy podcast. I’ve decided to add this interview to this episode as Murray asks some awesome questions, we have a really fun conversation + I think it’s a nice way of introducing myself to you, especially if you are new to listening to this show.
About the host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences – that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Resources mentioned on this show
Join the First Time Facilitator boot camp - the waiting list is now open!
Murray Guest's Inspired Energy podcast
The workshop I attended in Singapore that I continue to rave about (connection, over content) was delivered by Sean D'Souza from Psychotactics. He appeared on Episode 22.
Like this show?
Join the conversation when the show is over: Connect with over 500 facilitators from around the world, on our free Facebook group: The Flipchart
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Listen to Other Episodes:
Episode 100: Facilitating conversations with the world's best performers with Jordan Harbinger
PISODE 100 IS HERE! This causes for a celebration, so I thought I’d get my favourite podcaster on the show. A guy that I’ve talked about many times on this podcast and shared his philosophy about building your network and relationships, and that guy is Jordan Harbinger from The Jordan Harbinger Show.
EPISODE 100 IS HERE! This causes for a celebration, so I thought I’d get my favourite podcaster on the show. A guy that I’ve talked about many times on this podcast and shared his philosophy about building your network and relationships, and that guy is Jordan Harbinger from The Jordan Harbinger Show.
Jordan Harbinger is a Wall Street lawyer turned interview talk show host, and a communications and social dynamics expert.
He interviews the world’s top performers — from legendary musicians to intelligence operatives, iconoclastic writers to visionary change-makers at The Jordan Harbinger Show, consistently holding in the iTunes top 100 after just a few weeks.
In this episode I wanted to focus on what it takes to facilitate conversations with some of the world’s most amazing people, he’s had Malcolm Gladwell, John Maxwell, Simon Sinek, Lisa Lampenelli, Kobe Bryant on his show.
This week's sponsor: Rapid Mentoring
This weeks episode is brought to you by Rapid Mentoring.
What is Rapid mentoring? It’s an amazing subscription program designed to help people make more of their life and career, in less time.
The mix of online learning modules and twice weekly bite sized emails over the 12 month subscription is terrific value at just $250 per year.
Thank you for supporting the show! Connect with the founder of Rapid Mentoring, Warren James on LinkedIn.
In this episode you will learn:
How to build trust with people by developing an ongoing relationship with them ("Digging the well before you get thirsty")
How to direct unique conversations and interviews by putting the effort in beforehand
How to connect with and book incredible guests on your podcast
About our guest: Jordan Harbinger
Jordan has hosted a top 50 iTunes podcast for over 12 years and receives over six million downloads per month, making The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the most popular podcasts in the world. The show was awarded Apple’s “Best of 2018” and is one of the most downloaded shows of the year. On The Jordan Harbinger Show, Jordan deconstructs the playbooks of the most successful people on earth and shares their strategies, perspectives, and practical insights with the rest of us.
Jordan spent several years abroad in Europe and the developing world, including South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and he speaks five languages. He has also worked for various governments and NGOs overseas, traveled through war zones, and been kidnapped — twice. He’ll tell you the only reason he’s still alive and kicking is because of his ability to talk his way into (and out of) just about any type of situation.
Jordan Harbinger is a member of the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Quotes of the show
“Charisma is a key component of being liked.”
“You can outwork other podcasters when you are willing to do what others are not.”
“The next level for me is finding not the well-known person but people with really unique and interesting stories.”
Like this show?
Join the conversation when the show is over: Connect with over 430 facilitators from around the world, on our free Facebook group: The Flipchart
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Tweet Jordan your thanks for appearing on the show!
About the host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences – that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.