356 - Great Facilitation Requires Professional Risk with Rob Evans

What if being professional is sometimes the very thing that gets in the way of good facilitation?

In this conversation, Myriam and Rob Evans explore what happens when we take off the professional armour and bring more of ourselves into the room. Rob shares how humour, warmth and genuine curiosity helped him win over a room of Lufthansa engineers — not because he had performed professionalism perfectly, but because he was the only consultant who seemed to be having any fun.

From there, the conversation goes deeper into the tension between expertise and not knowing. As facilitators, clients often expect us to arrive with answers. Yet some of the most important work begins when we can confidently say: I don’t know the answer, but I know how to help this group find it.

Together, Myriam and Rob explore authenticity, vulnerability and the risks of showing up without armour. They discuss why playing it safe isn’t always the safest option, how professional responsibility can make us controlling or critical, and why endurance can disconnect us from the signals our bodies are sending.

They also challenge a familiar assumption about change: that people change because we give them a convincing argument. Instead, meaningful change often requires an experience — an emotional encounter with the possibility that something different can happen.

This is a conversation about facilitation beyond methods and techniques. About trusting curiosity when you don’t know the answer, paying attention to what is happening in yourself as much as in the group, and perhaps taking ourselves a little less seriously along the way.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

• Why lightheartedness can be a powerful facilitation resource
• The difference between warm humour and sarcasm
• How to confidently facilitate when you don’t know the answer
• Why playing it safe can create its own risks
• What authenticity asks of us when we remove our professional armour
• How endurance can disconnect us from the wisdom of the body
• Why emotional experience matters when people and organisations are trying to change

About this episode

This conversation was originally recorded for Unprofessionalism, my new podcast exploring the professional rules we follow without questioning them, and what happens when we break them.

If you enjoy the places this conversation goes beyond facilitation into how we show up as professionals, you can find Unprofessionalism by Dr. Myriam Hadnes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

Support the show

👉 What happens when being “professional” gets in the way of being human? My new podcast Unprofessionalism explores the rules we’re taught to follow at work, and what happens when we break them. Listen here: https://unprofessionalism.buzzsprout.com/  👈