Have you ever sat through a round of introductions where forty people each say their name and job title, one after another, and by the end you can barely remember your own name, let alone anyone else’s! Or maybe you’ve been in a small group workshop where the facilitator skipped introductions altogether, leaving everyone wondering who else was in the room! It’s happened to us too many times, so… Read more »How to do effective introductions
Why do we so often repeat the same advice to farmers, only to see little or no change on-farm? In this episode, we explore why nagging, reminding, or pushing harder rarely shifts behaviour in the way we hope. For enablers of change, understanding this matters, because our impact depends not on how often we say something, but on whether it actually leads to action. Let’s start with a familiar,… Read more »Stop nagging, start designing
Have you ever heard of rubberducking? It’s a simple yet powerful technique that can help us understand and explain complex concepts more effectively. If not, stay tuned, as we’ll explain it in this episode. The idea behind rubberducking is to explain something as if talking to a rubber duck. By verbalising our thoughts and breaking down the issue step by step, we gain clarity and insight, often finding ways… Read more »Use rubberducking for better explanations!
In this episode, we’re exploring two deceptively simple strategies that, when used together, can dramatically improve the quality of group conversations: the Think Pair Share method and the pause. Whether we’re facilitating in a farmer’s shed or on Zoom, these tools help us create space for quieter voices, encourage reflection, and ultimately generate richer conversations. Think Pair Share is a three-step facilitation strategy that promotes reflection, equity, and engagement.… Read more »Pair and pause for deeper conversations
These days it’s so much easier than it’s ever been to phone someone, as most of us have a phone with us at all times! However, it’s becoming apparent that we’re also more reluctant than ever before to make or receive phone calls. So, in this episode we’re exploring phone calls and their role in our work as enablers of change. As Shakespeare might say, “to phone, or not… Read more »To phone, or not to phone: that is the question!
In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most underrated tools we have as extension practitioners: asking questions. It’s easy to get caught up in sharing our technical expertise with farmers, but research shows that the simple act of asking questions—especially follow-up questions—can actually make us more effective at helping farmers improve their practices. We’ve explored using questions in previous episodes. We’ve covered using prequestions for videos, asking… Read more »The power of asking more questions
As enablers of change, we often need to communicate complex topics. We know people don’t like reading too many words, or watching videos more than a few minutes long. So in this episode we’re going to explore infographics and how we can easily create them in six simple steps. In today’s world, our extension messages need to be clear and concise to be able to cut through the plethora… Read more »Create infographics in six simple steps
We recently talked about asking better questions, and shared the idea of a pyramid of question types from Will Wise and Chad Littlefield. Well, we’ve now come across another article about asking questions and thought you might like to hear about its five types of questions. A recent Harvard Business Review article talks about the art of asking smarter questions. It gives the example of a CEO operating in… Read more »The art of asking smarter questions
The ability to ask better questions is crucial, particularly in our work as enablers of change. We often learn this skill on the job, unlike professionals in other fields, such as lawyers and psychologists, who receive formal training. By focusing on the types of questions we ask, we can better explore issues, uncover valuable information and understand the range of options available to us. Regular readers of our blog… Read more »How to ask better questions
In today’s episode, we’ll share some tips from actor and science communicator, Alan Alda, on how to express our thoughts and ideas so that everyone will understand us. We’ll also give some practical examples of how to use these tips in our work with farmers and other stakeholders. Alan Alda is a famous actor and a passionate advocate for better communication, especially in science and medicine. He believes that communication… Read more »Communicating and connecting with our audience
