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Episode 123

July 28, 2021

123: The Inner Work of Facilitation with Quanita Roberson

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    Intro

    It took me nearly one year to arrange this interview, due to just how popular, committed, and focused Quanita Roberson is.

    But I would have happily waited a decade for the value, kindness, and wonder she imparts in conversation. Quanita is the founder of Nzuzu Consulting and focuses on the deep, fun, and easy flow of energy to address embedded trauma.

    Her insights into the human condition, our experiences, and the role we play as facilitators are genuinely groundbreaking.

    We talk about grief, faith, community, privilege, slowing down, divine order, and lots of things that aren’t technically to do with facilitation but, really, are fundamental to our work.

    This is a special episode and one I hope will stay with you for a long time.

    Find out about

    • Getting out of our own way so we can get out of our participants’ way
    • Why we need to ‘clear the decks’ in the room before we begin a session
    • How we can see fear as in invitation, not a warning
    • Why grief underlies a lot of the ‘bad’ things we feel (e.g. shame or guilt)
    • Learning to grieve – alone and together – and how we can facilitate this
    • Understanding ourselves and our communities as part of nature and the divine
    • Why, in the Information Age, embodiment is more important than ever

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    And if the idea of NeverDoneBefore 2021, the community of facilitators, caught your attention; click here to explore it in more detail!

    Questions and Answers

    01:28When did you start calling yourself a facilitator? 03:47What makes someone a facilitator and what makes someone a trainer? 04:47How can one be present and absent at the same time? 06:13Do you and Tenneson Woolf have a routine for ‘clearing the decks’ when you work together? 09:39What has your journey of inner work looked like? 13:25How do you translate and transfer the lessons from your own inner journey into a group setting, to help the participants in their own journey? 15:59What is the role of the group when you are guiding them through their journeys? 18:55To help a group through feelings of shame or guilt, then, do we first need to help them realise they’re actually dealing with grief? 22:20How do you open the space to discuss grief in a ‘professional’ environment? 23:49How can we learn to grieve? 26:54How do you think the pandemic affected us and our relationship with grief? 35:00What does it take to create a community for grieving in a professional space? 41:22What does the Circle practice mean for you and for groups? 44:43How do you catch yourself focusing on the methodology rather than the experience? 47:11Can we grow into embodiment? 50:50If somebody wanted to begin a journey towards the perspectives you’ve shared, how would you advise they start? 52:15What keeps you grounded and aware in times of crisis? 55:11What keeps you grounded and aware in times of crisis?Was there anything you wanted to discuss that we haven’t spoken about yet? 57:45What keeps you grounded and aware in times of crisis?What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this conversation?

    Links

    Nzuzu Consulting, Quanita’s website

    Fire and Water Leadership, Quanita’s Rite of Passage course

    Facebook Group

    Episode 27 with Tenneson Woolf

    Connect to Quanita

    LinkedIn

    Twitter

    Instagram