A very special episode with the co-hosts of Facilitation Stories: Helene Jewell and Nikki Wilson. They talk about how they joined the show, back when Pilar was also hosting it, the fears they overcame, how they’ve learned to podcast (they look after the whole workflow!) and what the parallels are between podcasting and facilitation.
Facilitation Stories, emerging from the International Association of Facilitators in England and Wales, focuses on the practice and business of facilitation. The podcast aims to share diverse experiences and stories related to guiding group discussions and collaborative efforts. Facilitation is the craft of creating spaces for meaningful conversations and helping groups reach a common outcome. This role is especially vital in navigating challenging discussions, often requiring an external perspective to foster impartial and productive dialogue.
Nikki and Helene share their initial reservations about podcasting, highlighting fears related to recording their voice, technical challenges, and engaging in interviews. Inevitably, both guests and Pilar (who’s also worked as a facilitator) draw a few comparisons with facilitation.
“I guess interviewing is a bit more like moderating, let’s say, than facilitation, where you don’t get too stuck into the content.” – Helene
“We’re interviewing facilitators who are used to being quite responsive to what comes up and thinking on their feet and all of those things. But a lot of us are quite used to not being the center of attention, actually. We set something up and then we kind of step back and actually being interviewed can fell quite exposing.” – Nikki
Helene and Nikki work organically together, allowing ideas to emerge, but keeping a structure to the workflow and schedule, framed by a board in Trello. Nikki’s need for forward planning combined with Helene’s more spontaneous way of working suits both of them.
It’s important to the co-hosts to position the show as a community podcast. They’ve changed the Intro and Outros to reflect this, and have added a quarterly episode, Chapter Chats, that spotlights another IAF Chapter. They try to balance the professional and life experiences of guests as well as whether episodes feel timely or evergreen.
While both Nikki and Helene enjoy recording, and have got used to the sound of their own voices when listening back, they sometimes grapple with the tech. Editing episodes takes a long time, and this stretches out when you’re doing it only once every month or two. Sometimes it feels like you have to learn the process over and over again.
Nikki and Helene are having a great time producing Facilitation Stories, and have learned a lot about themselves, podcasting and facilitation through it.
“I don’t have a kind of direct creative practice. I don’t draw or make things, but I just love generating ideas, the kind of “how can I support someone else to share the story about what they love to do, the thing that they’ve been exploring?” And so it’s just been a really enriching experience to be able to do that.” – Nikki
“Podcasting has also taught me to be a better listener, because there is that one to one conversation, and you really do need to listen. Not that I don’t listen when I’m facilitating, but it’s different. You’re listening for different things somehow“. – Helene
“When we talk about the intimacy in podcasting. We’re usually referring to the host and the listener, or the guest and the listener, but actually, the intimacy that gets created within cohosts is very strong.” – Pilar
Check out Facilitation Stories or find out more about Helene Jewell or Nikki Wilson.