The moment I look for in every leadership workshop

The most resistant person in any workshop I have ever run has never been the most junior person in the room.

It is almost always the most senior position.

This is not because senior leaders are not intelligent. But because they have spent years being the person with answers, a workshop asks them, for a few hours, to be the person with questions. This is a very different posture. For some people, it is genuinely threatening.

The breakthrough, when it occurs, is always the same. This occurs when they stop exercising authority and start exercising. When they pick up the pen, make the sketch, and say the half-formed idea out loud. That moment when the room stops being a room of roles and becomes a room of people thinking together is what I design every workshop to reach.

Trained facilitators are essential for the success of any innovation workshop. They balance group energy, manage conflicts, and ensure that every voice is heard. I have sat in the facilitator chair at L'Oréal, Eurobank, Plaisio, and some prestigious agencies. The organizations differ every time. The moment of unlocking is always the same.

If your leadership team has not been in a room like that recently, they might need one more than they realise.