First Time Facilitator Having the courage to facilitate with flair with Suzanne Rose (Episode 196)
The magic of this podcast is that I get to connect with amazing facilitators around the world. I met today's guest through the podcast. She also lives in Brisbane and over the last couple of years we’ve hung out at various events, she's hosted some Flipchart meetups at her property and over coffees (and wine!) we've riffed off all of the topics related to group dynamics, learning and facilitation. Her passion simply shines through. So of course, I had to get her on the show!
My guest is Suzanne Rose and she is a Sergeant of the Queensland Police Service, having joined in 1998. She was poached by a spotter in recent years, and landed the perfect role for her personality, running professional development workshops for police training facilitators. This includes her favourite signature three-day facilitation skills workshop - 'Facilitate with Flair'.
Her role has led her to study the craft of facilitation beyond her organisation, and to learn what is best practice based on research from around the world, including studies from the fields of neuroscience and educational psychology.
We talk more about her Facilitate with Flair experience and how she navigates the mindset of "doing things differently" when working in an organisation which is hierarchical, and where things are done a certain way.
Suzanne is committed to transforming aspects of police organisational culture around training. She hopes to reduce the mortality rate with the cause of death being PowerPoint, and actively inspires facilitators to be brave enough to try more engaging and fun ways to deliver their sessions - even the heavy, dry and serious policing topics.
Suzanne is a full-time working mum who lives in Brisbane on acreage in koala habitat, with her husband and their two young daughters, a Labrador, pet chicken, and an abundance of wallabies, possums, rainbow lorikeets and kookaburras around their property. She spends any spare time making fun memories with her girls, and can't wait to take them on adventures through far-away lands abroad where nothing is taken for granted.
Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.
Tune in over here!
(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).