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Episode 150

February 2nd, 2022

150:Re-Thinking Facilitation: a means of corporate therapy with Jordan Bower

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    Intro

    Is ‘facilitation’ the wrong word for what we do with corporate clients? Jordan Bower thinks it might be and proposes a new terminology to better suit our work…

    Welcome to ‘corporate therapy’!

    Jordan and I discuss some big questions in this episode, including the future of facilitation, how to focus on individuals when working with a corporate, and whether one-off workshops are a waste of everyone’s time.

    You might expect a conversation full of intense curiosity and deep questioning might be hard work – in fact, the conversation was full of light and laughter.

    So, sit back, relax, and let’s dive into some of the big questions of facilitation, its future, and how we can take the profession to another level.

    Find out about

    • Why facilitation is better understood as an infinite process, rather than linear progress
    • How story theory relates to workshops, and why the things we want and the things we need aren’t always the same
    • Why the quickest route to failure is to worry about failing
    • How abundance and sharing have become the hallmarks of true power
    • Sage advice on the process of pitching facilitation services to a new client
    • How to help clients lean into their emotions when it doesn’t come naturally

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    Questions and Answers

    00:56When did you start calling yourself a facilitator? 07:31What changed in your mindset and skillset, as you went through this challenge? 09:49What have you learned about storytelling – and what is something that people continue to get wrong about it? 13:23How do you help people break out of the vicious circle of shallow ‘wants’ and into deeper ‘needs’? 15:13How does (what sounds like) a very one-on-one practice translate to work at an organisational level? 17:58What strategies do you use to get your finger on the pulse of a company? And how do you help them see the stories they tell themselves? 21:48What do you think has caused this great shift in the function and purpose of organisations? 26:07Do you think the collective experience of uncertainty with the pandemic has driven companies to look to facilitators rather than consultants? 28:36Do you think ‘one-off’ facilitation is over? Can we achieve meaningful results in a single workshop? 31:51What’s the inner game for facilitators in this future of ‘corporate therapy’? 38:10 How do you know when to step into authoritative facilitation and when to step back? 01:48How do you balance providing the facilitation that you know works, with giving your clients a sense that what they want is also being honoured? 03:34Do you have a favourite exercise that helps people in corporate settings lean into emotion? 10:51 How do you get through to somebody who won’t engage emotionally or fully? 14:29What makes a workshop fail? 15:13Is the best way to avoid failure to have no desired outcomes or ambition? 18:54Do you believe in the effectiveness of internal facilitators? 22:27Comparing organisations with buffets! 25:13Jordan shares another great icebreaker activity. 27:42Jordan shares another great icebreaker activity.What does reinventing facilitation mean to you?

    Links

    Website

    Connect to Jordan

    On LinkedIn