\u201cSerious results don\u2019t require serious behaviour\u201d is the motto of Mischief Makers \u2013 the international facilitation and training company. I\u2019ve just completed an 8-week block of training with them on leading groups, with a particular focus on hybrid settings \u2013 where you have some delegates in person and some joining online. It\u2019s been my biggest expense since I started freelancing (after tax, NI and pension) \u2013 so what was it and was it worth the investment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foundation Checking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve done lots of different facilitating in different roles \u2013 from training delivery to business improvement session but it\u2019s something I\u2019ve never had formal training in. I\u2019ve always loved doing it and it\u2019s an area I want to focus on more in my work, so it felt right to sense check the foundations I\u2019d built. There was a lot of content that felt really comfortable and known, which was massively reassuring. There was also a whole load of new and stretching content which was great for development \u2013 from learning arches to timeboxing and hybrid juggling to development tools. There was a whole treasure trove of gems and I feel I’m only scratching the surface of what’s to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asynchronous Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of my favourite things about the course was the way it ran asynchronous learning \u2013 that we met weekly for 2.5 hours but came away with a learning kit each week full of videos, additional reading, theory, exercises and reflective work. It could easily be a day a week if you delved deeply into the content and at times that was really tough to balance with a busy working week. But they did a great job of balancing heavier content with exercises and lighter reading, as well as reinforcing the slide deck and Miro content of the live sessions. It set the bar a lot higher than a most of training I\u2019ve done before and I\u2019ll take a lot of lessons forward for training I deliver in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International Network<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My cohort was 15 strong with delegates from Germany, France, Netherlands and Spain to name a few countries. Mischief Makers is based in Amsterdam so a number were local and able to attend some sessions onsite and the rest of us were scattered across Europe and joining online. What I loved about this was the different insights and approaches \u2013 a favourite phrase was \u201clet me know if I\u2019m being too Dutch\u201d as one delegate explained she thought Dutch people were known for a very direct approach in international relations! With a host of different careers, we all brought different perspectives \u2013 and that was really powerful as we learnt to work together and when we did feedback to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unserious Behaviour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mischief Maker\u2019s philosophy really resonated. It\u2019s something I\u2019m appreciating more and more \u2013 that I enjoy work more with an element of fun, and fun is a great aid to building relationships and cementing learning. When I come to do that professional strategy work, fun is definitely going to make the list. It doesn\u2019t mean that there aren\u2019t important times for serious, or even formal, work but that fun and play at work are hugely underestimated for the value they provide at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The course was jam-packed with content (and arguably could have run for a lot longer), but the key takeaways from me were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, I laughed a lot and I leant a lot. There\u2019s still loads more to keep learning but it feels like time well spent. It\u2019s reinforced my love of facilitation and learning is always best when you’re laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo by Pineapple Supply Co.<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cSerious results don\u2019t require serious behaviour\u201d is the motto of Mischief Makers \u2013 the international facilitation and training company. I\u2019ve just completed an 8-week block of training with them on leading groups, with a particular focus on hybrid settings \u2013 where you have some delegates in person and some joining online. It\u2019s been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[13,11,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cpd","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n