Meg Bolger is a perfect example of facilitation for good, founding and leading multiple organisations focused on promoting DEI and LGBTQ justice, awareness, and allyship.
On top of their incredible work towards facilitating a fairer, kinder world, Meg also has plenty of entrepreneurial spark, being the brains behind the wildly successful and much-loved Facilitator Cards.
Meg is a true facilitation geek.
Our conversation basically became a survival guide for new facilitators and a booster shot for more experienced facilitators. Unmissable.
This episode is part 3 of 3, divided as such because our conversation was simply so expansive and interesting that we spoke for far longer than a normal episode of the show.
In this section, we explore debriefing, time management, and reflective practice. Meg shares some amazing insights into how they complete their own version of a feedback form for themselves, how they time their workshops to keep people’s energy stores high, and how to align a group towards brevity and conciseness for the sake of everyone’s focus.
Find out about:
● The merits and shortcomings of qualifications and certifications in facilitation
● What the common causes of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ facilitation are
● Why a ‘failed’ workshop isn’t always a universal failure
● Meg’s favourite exercises, tools, and DIY fixes to common problems
● How to debrief yourself at the end of a workshop
● How and why to shape your workshops according to the energy levels in the room
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Questions and Answers
[00:54] How do you reflect and give yourself feedback after a session?
[06:48] Which exercises typically run on longer than you’d want them to?
[12:09] How can you diplomatically tell someone they’re taking too long to answer?
[16:55] How do you deal with participants who want to share every idea they generated in a brainstorm?
[21:24] How do you balance that desire for clarity with the need to honour people’s contributions?
[26:49] Discussing the value of experiential educators.
[33:14] Managing our triggers as facilitators and keeping our focus on the group.
[44:55] Do you think we can grow our self-awareness without being open to feedback?
[50:05] Is the inability to deliver fair, honest, constructive feedback endemic across the population?
[55:51] What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?
Special Discount for WorkshopsWork listeners
Get the 3-pack of wet-erase markers that pair with the cards on us with the code WORKSHOPSWORK when purchasing the facilitator cards with this link: https://shop.facilitator.cards/discount/WORKSHOPSWORK
Links
Meg's Business page
Facilitator self-feedback form
Article on ‘Watching your game tape’
Emergent Facilitation video
Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation
Meg’s facilitator hat (watch the video version of the show on YouTube to understand!)