workshops work
Welcome to “workshops work,” the podcast that transforms how professionals engage, inspire, and lead groups. Hosted by Dr Myriam Hadnes, a behavioural economist and facilitation evangelist, each episode dives into facilitation techniques and mindsets that make workshops successful.
Join us every week as we sit down with world-renowned facilitators and uncover their secrets to creating psychological safety, fostering collaboration, and sparking innovation. Whether you’re a Facilitator, L&D professional, HR leader, manager, coach or trainer, you’ll find practical tips, inspiring stories, and actionable insights to elevate your group dynamics.
From navigating conflict to unlocking creativity, “workshops work” blends theory with practice, ensuring you walk away with tools you can immediately apply. Dr Myriam Hadnes doesn’t just interview; she facilitates enriching conversations that shift perspectives and deepen understanding.
Let’s democratise facilitation, one workshop at a time.
Subscribe now and make your workshops work, every time.
Visit https://workshops.work/podcast for a free 1-page summary of each episode.
workshops work
021 - How to use Liberating Structures to translate the purpose into a process - with Max Brouwer
In this episode, I talk to Max Brouwer, a change-agent, scrum master and facilitator who also runs a solo consulting business max.co. The core of our conversation is the method of “Liberating Structures” and we dig deep into different exercises (so-called “structures”) and how to effectively apply them in different contexts. We also talk about the role of managers as “facilitating leaders” and how to avoid the “leadership bias” when a senior manager joins a workshop.
I was particularly curious to learn about Max’ experience of organizing Meet-up events that bring together groups of unrelated people to learn and experience “Liberating Structures”. Amongst others, I learned from Max a nice add-on to my favourite “premortem” exercise: After a brainstorm on how to fail a goal, he asks participants to highlight those items that they are already doing and challenges them on how to stop doing that.
Don’t miss the part when Max shares how he dealt with the situation when a manager started co-facilitating the workshop and questioned the process. And don’t miss our heartful laughs throughout the show (which I decided not to delete just for the fun of it).
Click here to download the free 1-page summary
Don’t miss the next show: Subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.
Feeling inspired by the conversation in this episode? We can have our own - take a seat at my virtual table as part of a Mastermind Group.
Questions and Answers
[1:36] If you were a hashtag, what would you be?
[2:26] What is a change agent?
[3:43] Can you learn to be a change agent and how do you become one?
[6:23] What have you learned from being a consultant about facilitation?
[9:09] Must the CEO be present in the workshop?
[11:10] Can you briefly explain the concept of “Liberating Structures”?
[14:49] Do you usually co-facilitate workshops with other practitioners of “Liberating Structures” (Liberating Structuralists??)
[20:05] Can you share the story about the manager who started co-facilitating?
[25:33] Can managers become “facilitating leaders”?
[28:03] Do you think we can create a “kitchen table” atmosphere at work?
[31:00] How do you adjust your string to different topics of a “Liberating Structures” Meet-up?
[34:08] Often I came across the method of ‘min specs’ – can you explain to me what this means?
[35:50] Which list is usually longer – the list of the dos or of the don’ts?
[40:28] How you design a Meet-up workshop for which you most often don’t know the group of participants?
[45:53] What makes a workshop fail?
[47:08] What shall the audience remember from our conversation?
Links to books and exercises we discussed:
- Lean Coffee (Meeting format)
- Impromptu Networkin
**
Click here to navigate through all episodes via this interactive podcast map.
**
If you're inspired by our podcast and crave similar conversations, consider joining Dr Myriam Hadnes' NeverDoneBefore Facilitation Community.
**
If you're keen to master the art of facilitation, discover our expert-led live, online Facilitation Courses at the NDB Academy.
**
If you enjoy the show, consider a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.