Training with Brené Brown part II: what I’ve learned as a Dare to Lead™ facilitator
In my last post, I talked about how I came to learn about the work of Brené Brown and my journey to becoming a Dare to Lead™ facilitator. In this blog, I’d like to share with you some of the most important things I’ve learned as a facilitator of the Dare to Lead™ programme, and how it’s helped me both personally and professionally. It’s not a definitive list, because every training is different and even as a facilitator, I’m learning all the time.
Draw on my own experiences and share with vulnerability
Integrating my own experience and stories is a really valuable part of training and development. As a facilitator of Dare to Lead™, I’ve learned to draw on my own experiences and share my vulnerability with the people I’m training, because it helps learners to connect with me and with the material I’m teaching. It also makes it easier for them to see how they can apply the material in their own lives.
Stay open-minded, curious and non-judgmental
We all have different values, lived experiences, hopes and dreams, and it’s so important for me to approach those differences in an open, curious way, which is free of judgement; particularly when I want to encourage, enable and empower other people to achieve their own individual goals.
Be willing to be flexible in order to meet the needs of participants
A willingness to be flexible is something that I’ve been integrating into my work and daily life for many years now. If I’m honest, I pretty much have this one nailed, because life has taught me in so many ways how important flexibility and adaptability are: we’re so often faced with change, that the ability to pivot and adapt to circumstances is an essential life skill, and this carries over into my teaching. As a Dare to Lead™ facilitator, I’ve learned how important it is to be flexible by adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of the people in the room, which are different each time. Throughout the pandemic this also meant adapting so that the course could be delivered online, and embracing the change with vulnerability.
Be courageous!
Brené Brown emphasises the importance of always showing up with courage, and this is just as relevant to me, as a facilitator, as it is to the participants on the course. In fact, I have to be even more courageous, because I’ve discovered that the more daring I am in my facilitation, the more daring participants will be in their exploration of the material. As you can imagine, this isn’t always easy, but it’s something that I’ve become more practised and confident at over the years.
Although I don’t have time to keep up with every piece of content that Brené creates, I do stay connected with her research and it continues to be relevant and inspirational in my own life as well as in my work. As a Dare to Lead™ facilitator, I’m happy to be sharing some of that knowledge and inspiring others to lead - and live - with courage, whilst continuing to learn, grow and improve my own training and development skills.
Dare to Lead™ workshops are available for individuals looking to develop their courageous leadership skills, or as a corporate version run by myself and other members of the Firefly group, where we specialise in executive and business leadership coaching and development. If you’d like to find out more about Dare to Lead™ workshops, then get in touch.
