Myriam HadnesFounder and CEO, workshops.work · Behavioural Economist | workshops.work | Host of the Unprofessionalism & workshops work Podcasts

NDB | Behind the Scenes with Gustavo Razzetti

26 Oct 2020 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:42

In this interview for the Never Done Before Festival, host Myriam Hadnes asks facilitator Gustavo Razzetti about his upcoming session. Gustavo emphasizes that participants should come without expectations, using the metaphor of "emptying your cup" to stay open to new content. He stresses that facilitation is an improvisational practice performed "on your feet," and that the success of the session depends as much on participants’ willingness to experiment as on any planned agenda. He wants attendees to leave feeling more confident in handling unexpected moments, viewing derailments not as failures but as normal opportunities for learning and creativity. Gustavo uses train and derailment analogies to illustrate that facilitators should be ready to abandon or rebuild plans, turning surprises into valuable experiences. The interview concludes with excitement about the festival and a call for facilitators, trainers, team leaders, and change agents to join on November 20th.

What can guests of the Never Done Before Festival expect from your session? Facilitation on your feet?
I don't know, like now I'm standing instead of being sitting for the interview. I think that less— it's— I want to remove the word expectations because usually when we have expect— I always, when I started any program, I tell people like the Japanese said, empty your cup. No, so make room for new things, for new content. So the knowledge that we have, the expectations that we have, fill that void and then don't allow new things to come. So I would say come without any expectations. I don't have expectations for the session. I think it's more about come with the right mindset, with it, with let's learn and let's experiment. And the success of my session doesn't depend on what I'm planning to do or what I'm improvised to do because it's all facilitating on your feet, but it's also about what people are willing to, to bring to the table and improvise and experiment with me altogether.
So what would you like the participants to think, do, and feel after your session?
I think they want to think about more confident about themselves dealing— as I mentioned the example before, you know, we're always going to face things that are unexpected. And facilitating is not like a train where you always have a track and you're just following the— you can stop, you can go faster, whatever, but still on track. No, it's gonna derail. So I think that instead of taking the derail as an exception, it should become the norm of a session. And actually, I think that we should be pushing ourselves, even if the session is a workshop or training, it's going great. Great. We even need to push ourselves because sometimes when the train derails is when, okay, we need to spend the night over here. So you get to go to a small town and learn a new place, whatever, that wasn't part of the journey. So I think that's part of the— I want people to think that basically facilitation is not just to follow plans, but also sometimes to everything that you plan, like tear it apart and start over. I want them to feel more confident about improvising. our facilitating in the field, no?
Love it. So excited to have you there. I'm excited. And hopefully we have many facilitators, trainers, team leaders, change agents to join us on November 20th. Never done before. Absolutely. Thank you, Gustavo.
Thank you, Myriam. Take care.