Before you say yes
A leader has made a decision and wants the team involved. You design a proper workshop. Then you ask the sponsor what will actually change based on what people say, and they pause — "we're fairly committed to the direction, we just want the team to feel heard." You've just been handed a brief to perform a workshop, not run one.
This episode looks at the hidden cost of running workshops that shouldn't have been workshops — the slow draining of what I call collaborative capital, and how it shows up as consultation fatigue. I name three signals that a brief is already decided (a sponsor advocating for a specific outcome, a timeline that doesn't leave room for the workshop to matter, and the word validate). Then a way out: reframing the brief around the questions that are genuinely still open — what would need to be true for this to work, what's the impact on your team, where are the gaps only you would know about — so you can give the sponsor something more valuable than the workshop they originally asked for.
Chapters
- Opening — the brief that's already decided- Collaborative capital and consultation fatigue- Three signals: outcome advocates, impossible timelines, the word "validate"- Finding the real question- What you protect when you reframe
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit facilitationstudio.substack.com
More episodes from "The Facilitation Studio"
Don't miss an episode of “The Facilitation Studio” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.
