I'm a recovering academic who uses her insights from behavioural economics to develop methods that facilitate collaboration. In my weekly newsletter, I share the summary of my latest interview on the "workshops work" podcast along with an application of facilitation as a life and leadership skill.
Finding Balance Beyond Metrics || 🎙️ Episode 353 on How to Facilitate Constructive Discomfort through Brave Spaces
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Dear Reader, What tells you that you’ve done a good job? Pause for a second before you answer. Is it a number, a feeling, a comment from someone else, or the simple relief of being done? Most of us have a metric, even if we’ve never named it. And once it’s there, it starts steering far more than we realise. I noticed this recently, in the most unlikely of places: on my meditation cushion. Before my last Vipassana retreat, a “good” meditation was easy to define. It was a sit where my mind stayed focused, or where I could feel those subtle body sensations, the pleasant tingling spreading through my body. I counted those sessions as successful. More focus. More sensation. Progress. It's only now I realise I was measuring the wrong thing entirely. The whole point of Vipassana isn't to chase pleasant sensations or perfect focus. It's equanimity—the capacity to remain steady whether you're experiencing pain or pleasure, distraction or concentration, itching or bliss. Equanimity is what teaches you that everything passes. The measurement completely changes the practice. Same thing happened with running. Initially, I was all about speed. Every run was about getting faster. When I began training for the marathon, it was distance that mattered. Then heart rate. Now it's about how my body feels. Where the strength comes from and how to avoid injuries. I want to increase the pleasure whilst running. Less friction, less pain, more joy. Each measurement shifted what I paid attention to, what training looked like, and most importantly, how I felt about my effort. Metrics shape our entire experiences. And this shows up in our workshops and meetings too. Attendance? Satisfaction scores? Retention? Promotion? Each one directs attention somewhere specific. None of these measures are wrong. But none of them are neutral either. Butts in seats versus actual engagement, pleasant experiences versus necessary discomfort, stickiness versus transformation. Just like meditation isn’t really about sensations, and running isn’t only about pace, collaboration or learning isn’t about the numbers we often track. The more interesting question is: what are those numbers training us to pay attention to? And what are they teaching us to ignore? 🎙 Meanwhile, on the podcast…Brave work is messy work. It’s an invitation into the dōjō – to be humbled, to get vulnerable, and leave behind what you thought you knew. Life-long learner, executive coach, culture consultant and facilitator, Dr. Dauv Evans joins me this week to journey beyond safety into the brave space arena. Together, we explore what it takes to build these spaces: the intentionality, the rules of engagement, and the assumptions we must leave at the door to have courageous conversations. From power imbalances, to conversations on race, Dauv shares his work in helping people to grow together and exist outside of their comfort zone with generosity and passion. A rich, practical conversation about how leaders can show up with humility when it’s needed most. Find out about:
🎧 Click here to listen to the interview📥 Check out my 1-page summary 👀 Watch the unedited interview on Youtube 🎧 Join the next podcast club gatheringWhile counting down the final episodes of workshops work until it's retirement on December 31st, I am inviting you to join me on Substack where I am creating a Podcast Club: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/ In January, we will gather around the theme of Polarisation in Facilitation. Click here to sign up for free. That’s it from my side! I wish you clarity in what you choose to measure, and gentleness with everything that passes. And if you celebrate Christmas, I hope it's a good one. I'll see you next week. Myriam
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How can we facilitate collaboration?
I'm a recovering academic who uses her insights from behavioural economics to develop methods that facilitate collaboration. In my weekly newsletter, I share the summary of my latest interview on the "workshops work" podcast along with an application of facilitation as a life and leadership skill.
Dear Reader, I came back from ten days of silence on Sunday. No phone. No writing. No reading. No podcasts. Just long hours of sitting, scanning sensations, and noticing how quickly the mind wants things to be different. Less pain. More comfort. A way out. Vipassana calls the practice equanimity. The capacity to stay with sensation as it is, without craving when it’s pleasant and without aversion when it’s unpleasant. Not suppressing. Not indulging. Simply noticing. When we stop feeding our...
Dear Reader, By the time you read this, I’ll be sitting in silence. Today will be day six out of ten. Ten hours of meditation a day. No phone, no notebook, no book, no calendar. Just me, my breath, and whatever Goenka has to say about observing sensations without reacting to them. It’s my sixth Vipassana (listen to my insights after the last), which means I should know by now that the first two days feel excruciating. My mind throws a tantrum like a toddler whose iPad has been taken away....
Dear Reader, I said yes. Too quickly. Again. And here I am, looking at the pile of broken glass, wondering what I could have done differently. Isn't it ironic that I'm a facilitator who literally teaches people how to work together. And still, I fell into the oldest trap in the book. Someone invited me to collaborate on something exciting. I felt flattered. My gut told me to slow down, to have a real conversation about how we'd work together. But I didn't want to be the difficult one....