Workshops

I know what you’re thinking – “how can someone who calls herself a ‘fumbler’ lead a workshop or speak at a conference? Don’t I want an expert to teach me stuff?”

 

Well, if you want a make-no-mistakes expert, you might need to find someone else. But here’s the thing – I’m a pretty good fumbler and I’m really good at encouraging other fumblers along their journeys. It’s one of my gifts. Moreso than many “experts”, I have the ability to be authentic, approachable, vulnerable, and really, really human. The stuff I teach in my workshops is the stuff that flawed and fumbling people can relate to because they’ll see hope for themselves rather than unattainable ideals.

 

I’ve been to too many workshops that left me feeling like I could never attain that level of perfection. I don’t teach those kinds of workshops. In fact, I teach the kinds of workshops that I’m passionate about, that I’ve spent a lot of time learning about, and that any fumbler with a little passion and desire can work their way through.

 

I have no upcoming workshops at the moment, but if you are interested in talking to me about a possible workshop facilitation or public speaking contract, you can find my email address on the “contact” page.

 

Some of the workshops and training sessions I have facilitated are:

 

• Creativity – an eight week session that helped participants explore their unique creativity and grow in skills, understanding, and enthusiasm. (AMAZING stuff! I saw some incredible personal transformations when participants started giving themselves permission to create and to FUMBLE! No perfectionism allowed.)
• Leadership – as part of the Prairie Leadership Development Network, I led participants through an understanding of their own leadership styles with an exploration of Kouzes and Posner’s 5 practices of exemplary leaders. (But you know what? Don’t tell Kouzes & Posner, but I threw out some of their stuff, ’cause it was WAY too unattainable for fumblers like me. You should have seen the relief in the eyes of the workshop participants when I said “you can ignore that – it’s just not possible”. Authentic, fumbling leadership is the best kind of leadership, if you ask me.)
• The Six Thinking Hats – this workshop explores team decision-making through the use of the six thinking hats. (You get to try on different hats and different personalities and fumble your way through the brainstorming process. Fun stuff!)
• True Colors – personality type testing that helps people understand how they relate to the world and the people around them. (I only partially believe in this stuff – see this post for more on this – ’cause I don’t think you can completely put any of us in neat little categories, but sometimes it’s helpful to have a place to start in our self-exploration journeys.)
• Spiritual Gifts – an exploration of participants’ unique giftedness. (Great stuff, but then again, it tries a little too hard to categorize people, so I like to adapt and offer alternatives.)