Episode 06: Competition, Collaboration and Community With Myriam Hadness
Dec 15, 2023
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Skilled facilitator Myriam Hadnes discusses the importance of collaboration in business, building a community, clear communication, and financial transparency. They share insights on organizing a virtual festival, creating community through vulnerability, and the evolution of the Never Done Before community. Tips for beginners in facilitation and training are also provided.
Collaboration trumps competition in the facilitation industry, fostering shared learning and growth among professionals.
Building a strong community requires managing financial aspects, attracting the right members, and balancing structure with emergence.
Trust and transparency drive collaboration, emphasizing abundance mentality and service-oriented approaches for facilitators and trainers.
Deep dives
The Evolution of Never Done Before Community
Miriam Hadness discusses how the Never Done Before community evolved from her experience as a freelance facilitator to creating an ecosystem for facilitators worldwide. Initially hesitant about competition with other facilitators, the start of the pandemic emphasized the need for collaboration. Miriam transferred autonomy and responsibility to the community members, fostering collaboration and shared learning experiences.
Challenges and Successes of Building a Community
Building the community of facilitators posed challenges in balancing structure and emergence, attracting the right members, and ensuring financial sustainability. Miriam highlights the importance of clear communication, community management, and cost considerations, including tech subscriptions and staff salaries. The community's growth and evolution require a strategic balance between leadership and member participation.
Promoting Collaboration Over Competition
Miriam and Kirsty discuss how trust and transparency drive collaboration over competition in the facilitation industry. Their shared values of abundance mentality and service-oriented approaches align to enhance the learning and growth of facilitators and trainers. They emphasize the importance of promoting each other's work, building trust through positive interactions, and demonstrating synchronicity in teaching and coaching.
Advice for Aspiring Facilitators and Training Professionals
Miriam advises aspiring facilitators to seize every opportunity to practice and learn by facilitating and participating in well-facilitated workshops. She recommends following content creator Thomas Landtahler in social media and suggests the book 'Don't Just Do Something, But Stand Here,' emphasizing the importance of presence, listening, and holding space in facilitation.
Wrap-Up and Appreciation
After a dynamic conversation on collaboration, community building, competition perception, and professional advice, Kirsty expresses her gratitude for Miriam's insights and contributions to the podcast. The episode ends with a quickfire round of questions focusing on social media, recommended book, and advice for newcomers in the facilitation and training industry.
Dr Myriam Hadnes is a skilled and passionate facilitator. During the pandemic she wanted to create a space for facilitators and trainers to come together and learn from one another. What started as a collaboration between 30+ people in 2020 has now turned into a global community in 2023.
In this episode we talk about:
what collaboration means in business,
how important it is to be clear about what you are seeking to achieve and name why you are there.
We explore what it takes to build a community.
The hidden financials in a community that are not always visible to the outside world.
And we talk about why we think we are not in competition with one another any more!