Policy Workshop Facilitation

Sharing an approach I’ll be using to kick off the facilitation of an HSE Leaders Forum tomorrow that I hope others might find valuable. Instead of starting with the usual introductions (name, job role etc), I want to focus on the reason we are there: discussing innovative ways to solve the challenges participants are facing in their workplaces or industries. Each participant will introduce themselves by sharing a challenge framed as a "How Might We?" (HMW) statement. This simple method encourages participants to: 1️⃣ Clarify the Challenge: Turning a health and safety challenge into an opportunity helps focus the conversation on possibility. 2️⃣ Spark Collaboration: Open-ended, opportunity-focused challenges invite diverse perspectives and ideas. 3️⃣ Create Immediate Value: Sharing key challenges helps everyone see where they can contribute and connect meaningfully - on the things that matter. "How might we better communicate critical risk management expectations with subcontractors?" "How might we reduce working at height activities in our business?" "How might we assure critical risk controls in real-time?" I’ve found this approach aligns discussions with what really matters, and leaves participants with actionable insights. If you’re planning a collaborative session, this could be a great way to shift from introductions to impactful conversations right from the start. Feel free to adapt this for your own forums or workshops; I’d love to hear how it works for you and if you have any other facilitation tips. #SafetyTech #SafetyInnovation #Facilitation #Learning

I’ve run close to 1,000 strategy workshops in the last 4 years. Here are 10 things I’ve learned... My journey with workshops started long before consulting. During my 22 years at Disney, I sat through thousands of them worldwide, most of the time as a participant. Back then, I thought I knew what made a workshop effective. I’d seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. But stepping into the role of facilitator changed everything, because my biggest lessons aren’t really about facilitation at all. They’re about how people behave when you put them in a room and ask them to think, decide, and commit together. Here are 10 of my main takeaways: 1) Frameworks help, but they’re not the point. They guide the process and spark ideas, but the real value isn’t in filling boxes or following steps. It’s in the conversations and decisions they nurture. 2) Silence is uncomfortable, but sacred. Psychologists say “group pause” is crucial for deeper thinking. Silence often brings honesty and insight if you know how to interpret it. 3) People are more scared of being seen than of being wrong. Fear of judgment makes people hide. You must create a safe environment, so they can contribute without performing a character. 4) Leaders who speak last enable better conversations. Teams thrive when leaders listen first and synthesize later. It prevents bias, widens input, and shows that every voice matters. 5) The best breakthroughs come after tension, not consensus. Consensus often dilutes outcomes. I prefer to shake things up with constructive friction that stimulates creativity and innovation. 6) Getting the problem right matters more than solving it on time. Framing the problem is more important than solving it fast. It's better to take time than arrive on time at the wrong solution. 7) Participants only see 10% of the facilitator’s work. Most of a workshop’s prework is invisible: structure, research, context. What matters is the energy in the room and the outcomes it creates. 8) You can’t plan for 100%. Something can go wrong. There are always surprises. Facilitation is less about the agenda, more about reading the room to adjust if needed. 9) The workshop’s quality depends on the quality of relationships. Even the best facilitation can’t fix a dysfunctional team. I invest a lot of time in team dynamics because it's the foundation for insightful conversations and alignment. 10) The workshop doesn’t end when the session ends. You must harvest the unspoken thoughts, reflections, and realizations that surface hours or days later. Follow-ups are key because breakthrough happens in the moments that follow. What all of this has taught me is simple: Workshops aren’t really about strategy, they’re about people. If you create the right conditions, the strategy will follow. If you don’t, no framework in the world will save your business. - - - PS: DM me 📩 if you’d like a peek inside the 25+ workshops included in the Brand Strategy Program✷.

Facilitation isn’t neutral. It never was. As a facilitator, you can shape the power dynamic in the room. Here are tips to level the playing field among partcipants: Rearrange the room—literally → Seating shapes hierarchy. Mix participants across roles, generations, and institutions to disrupt default power zones. Use anonymous input to surface truth → Sticky notes, anonymous prompts, or private submissions allow people to speak honestly—especially in power-heavy spaces. Rotate who speaks first → Don’t let the loudest or most senior voices set the tone. Use progressive rounds that prioritize those least heard. Try the fishbowl method to shift the center of gravity → Let underrepresented voices lead while others observe and reflect. Then invite others in—with intention. Name power in the room → Say the quiet part out loud: “We hold different types of power here. Let’s ensure no one voice drowns out the others.” True inclusion takes more than a diverse room. It takes facilitation design choices that center equity 🔔 Follow me for more facilitation tips #Facilitation #FacilitationTips

The Week Before Your Workshop Determines Its Success … After leading more than 1,000 workshops across the world, there’s one golden rule I’ve learned: Preparation, preparation, preparation. The week before your workshop is not the time to relax — it’s the moment to make or break your success. Here’s what great preparation looks like: • Know exactly who will be in the room — their names, their roles, their personalities, and their interests. • Understand their stakes — what motivates them, what worries them, what they hope to get out of the session. • Design your flow carefully — tailor your techniques and tactics to fit the group, not just the agenda. • Practise, practise, practise — rehearse key moments, transitions, and how you’ll handle tricky situations. • Visualise success — mentally walk through the day: how will you open, how will you energise, how will you land your key messages? Even after 1,000+ workshops with the proven FORTH Innovation Method I still practise before every session I facilitate. Not because I’m nervous — but because respecting the group means showing up 100% prepared. Great workshops are not spontaneous magic. They are the result of disciplined preparation behind the scenes. The real work happens before you even enter the room. #Preparation #WorkshopFacilitation #Leadership #InnovationWorkshops #FacilitatorTips #WorkshopDesign #PracticeMakesPerfect #designthinking #innovation

Running a workshop? Don’t just hope for engagement, design for it. It is 90% prep and 10% delivery. Here are my top tips for facilitating successful workshops: 🔍 Start with outcomes Be crystal clear on the why. What do you want people to walk away with? 💬 Design for emotion Map out how you want participants to feel before, during, and after the session. This affects everything from tone to format. 🗺️ Repeat the agenda Have timings and repeat throughout. It provides structure, helps people stay engaged and manages expectations. ⏱️ Make time visible Repeat timings on each slide and use timers to stay on track: • A digital timer on-screen (top right corner) during exercises helps participants self-manage. • A physical countdown timer with an alarm creates a clear transition cue. 📦 Timebox discussion: use ELMO Set clear boundaries for how long to spend on each topic. And when a conversation starts circling? Call out ELMO: Enough, Let’s Move On and add a note to revisit later in a Parking Lot. It keeps momentum high without cutting people off. 🤝 Keep it interactive Use group exercises and playback sessions. More voices = better thinking. Patterns often emerge in both the similarities and the differences. ✅ Recap achievements Before closing, reflect on what was accomplished. It reinforces momentum and gives people a sense of progress. ➡️ Agree next steps, with owners Clarity beats hope. Define what happens next, who owns it, and by when. Don’t leave it vague. Facilitation is a craft. Clarity, energy, and structure are your best friends. #BVSSH

4 Lessons I've learned from leading countless workshops & offsites: 1️⃣ Relinquish some control Early on, I made the mistake of trying to control the group discussion too much. But that iron grip of control prevented me from hearing some important insights that people wanted to share. Go in with a well-rehearsed game plan, but be open to surprises. Follow productive tangents if the group brings up something interesting. 2️⃣ Give yourself some wiggle room You don't always know where the energy will be in a conversation. It's hard to know if a specific topic will take 15 minutes or 30. To help with that, I've found it helpful to plan some buffer room in the agenda that strategically permits us to run over on one or two topics. 3️⃣ Prepare precise questions to ask I used to think it was okay to just have a rough discussion topic in mind. But then I realized I'd sometimes ask complex, poorly-worded questions that didn't yield helpful insights because everyone was confused. So I learned to prepare precise questions--ones that would elicit the specific insights the group needed to learn or discuss. 4️⃣ Mine for conflict Most people won't disagree with their colleagues unless you do A LOT of work to make it safe. Tell the group that disagreement is important because it makes us better and helps us know what everyone is thinking. Frame your questions as if you're expecting disagreement: "Who has a different opinion?" > "Does anyone disagree?" Occasionally inject your own disagreements into the discussion to prime the pump for others to share. Make it clear that for most questions and topics, there's no one right answer. We have to collectively find the best way to proceed, which involves working through multiple ideas. ******************** What are your favorite facilitation tips?

I had a chance to facilitate a workshop for 130 people. Here what makes it a success. 💡 CHOOSE THE RIGHT METHOD With 130 people and it needs to be a workshop not a seminar, we decided to break into 6 group which every group had 1 facilitator. We only have 2.5 hours so we needs to stick on the timing and start end on time in each activity. 💡 ENGAGING SESSION Need to ensure that each participant feels involved although they are part of a big group. It could be done by asking the representative of each group to share their opinion during plenary session or to ensure everyone contributes during small group discussion. 💡 MANAGE THE ENERGY This is a shared responsibility with the co-facilitator. Need to ensure that everyone is engaged in the discussion, have high energy, and eager to participate. When we see the energy down then we could have a quick intermezzo or icebreaking session to bring the energy back. 💡 PERSONALIZATION The small group discussion format is important to ensure that everyone have their voice to be heard which less likely to be done if we only have 1 big group with 130 people as participants. 💡 CHECK THE IMPACT Make them share the insight, key learnings, and also next action plan that they could implement in day to day work to make their work more effective and efficient. The success of a workshop is always combination of having clear objective to come up with the right format, good preparation, well coordinated facilitators, and good execution on the day. As facilitator, it is important to have high energy when we deliver the session since our energy is contagious. If anyone has additional tips for a successful workshop facilitation, feel free to write in the comment section! DM me for any potential collaboration!