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.
Saying yes || 🎙️ Episode 322 on The Courage to Facilitate Without Fixing
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Dear Reader, I’ve written many newsletters on the power of saying no and the value of setting boundaries. I've written very few on the beauty of saying yes. Last weekend, I said one - and heard one back: I proposed to my girlfriend. And she said yes. We’ve entered a new chapter. A new phase where the I turns into a we, and where the most private thing - a romantic relationship - suddenly becomes public. It feels like a significant shift because a lifelong commitment puts everything else into perspective. I’m no longer experimenting alone but with someone, and the art is not to lose ourselves in this new we. Funny enough, I met the love of my life - with whom I already share the same first name - online. Not the swiping kind of online!! Mirjam booked an exploration call, and at the end of it, she suggested we meet for coffee. My response: “I don’t do coffee.” It could have been the most expensive no of my life, but she decided to join the NDB community. There are things even the best facilitators cannot plan or predict 😅 What I learned from facilitation is that it's good to have frameworks as long as we dare to bend and ignore them when they no longer serve the purpose. Facilitators design boundaries to protect what matters. And sometimes, what matters most sneaks in through the back door... Just like in facilitation, structure holds space but it's connection that transforms it. Real MaJic doesn’t follow a script - it emerges the moment we choose to stay open, stay human and stay vulnerable enough to change direction if necessary. That coffee I said no to? It turned into a lifelong yes ❤️ 🎙 Meanwhile, on the podcast…Hailing from Quaker circles and Berkeley’s grassroots community movements in the 1960s, is the sagacious Parker J. Palmer – activist, facilitator, teacher and author. His unconventional entry into facilitation was piqued by a fascination with circle-work, which inspired a 30+ year career spent holding space for the mutable truth to emerge. This is a wise, thoughtful conversation grounded in a lifetime of Parker’s lived experiences. From authoring your own life, to questioning the truth with kindness, being aware of hubris and approaching facilitation with fresh curiosity every day. There’s an incredible amount to learn from Parker in our conversation alone, and I hope you’re as inspired as I was! Find out about:
🎧 Click here to listen to the interview 📥 Check out my 1-page summary 👀 Watch the unedited interview on Youtube 📌 Find podcast episodes that match your needsDid you know? You can search all episodes by keyword on our Buzzsprout page to find exactly what you need. Click here to find the episodes by keyword. 🔖 Inspiration at Your Fingertips: Get the Podcast Summary eBooksAre you looking for inspiration for your next workshop or guidance on which podcast episode to explore next? Discover the eBooks compiling summaries of all 300 “Workshops Work” podcast episodes—a rich collection of facilitation insights and practical tips. These digital coffee table books are perfect for sparking new ideas or delving deeper into workshop best practices. Click here to get your copies. That’s it from my side! I hope you enjoy the content and find inspiration in the stories and the podcast. I wish you a moment this week that reminds you that some boundaries are meant to bend. 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, Last week, I spontaneously moved in with my partner. This might sound normal, especially since we just got engaged. But for a long time, I believed that the best relationships lived in two separate homes. That the magic was in choosing time together, not defaulting into it. And I still think that matters. The choosing does. What I’d forgotten is that cohabiting doesn’t mean letting go of choice. It just means you have to design for it. Not once, but continuously. You don’t just...
Dear Reader, What do you do when they’re on their phones? In last week’s training I delivered, one of the participants shared how much it annoyed them when others used their phones during a session. It felt disrespectful, they said. We explored ways to handle it. One person suggested naming it in the ground rules. Someone offered a tactic to bring the group’s attention back. What stuck with me wasn’t the strategies — it was the phone itself. Or rather, the role it plays. Because I do it too....
Dear Reader, So much for breaking the rules 🤪 I thought I was writing a book about unprofessionalism. Turns out, I’ve been writing it like the most professional professional ever. Somewhere between the index cards and the imposter syndrome, I lost the thread and the soul. The tough love from my book coach (thank you, Jane!) came like a velvet slap. She didn’t say anything I didn’t already know. But hearing she expected more made me admit it to myself: I hadn’t actually broken out of the...