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In complex times, learners crave authenticity & connection.
Virtual training without reflection & change is at best educational entertainment: we say "wow" & then go back to doing things the way we always have. Does it have to be?
In 2019 our team took over 200 flights to facilitate sessions with clients in 24 countries worldwide. In 2020-2022? Just 7 flights… but training in 35+ countries virtually. Like the rest of our planet, we’ve grown through these years of challenges & changes: & within that space, we are profoundly thankful for the lessons & connections that have followed.
Over the last 3 years we have learned:
Conversations matter more than ever.
With face-to-face, many can gloss over poor communication & collaboration practices: but with virtual, these shortfalls are magnified. Mindful attention to how we interact, & how really present we are, matters.
We can’t press pause on our people.
McKinsey noted well back in March of 2020 that “companies can’t simply push the pause button on critical workplace learning” or they’ll find their people & themselves falling behind & less able to cope. We don’t continue training for the sake of continuing: we train to meet head-on that which rises before us.
There is no copy/paste for good virtual facilitation.
Zoom fatigue is largely a myth: the product of poorly structured sessions, but has taken on the air of truth as it is easier to swallow than a need to fundamentally change how we work. What creates engagement face-to-face is not the same, & we need to rethink interaction before, during, & after sessions to create meaningful learning journeys.
We’ve had enough training; it’s time to start un-training. Let’s begin.
How Knowmium sessions feel
A map of our conversations.
Our word of the day is “nod-crafty.”
What does that mean? It’s an 18th-century adjective used to describe the tendency to nod pretending to be listening & understand, while actually… not. Have we come far since then? There’s often a huge chasm between claiming to understand someone, & actually understanding them in a way that they acknowledge. Too often, as Stephen Covey once noted, “most people do not listen with the intent to understand, but with the intent to reply.”
Our practice, conversation architecture, is focused on bridging that gap— getting a true sense of where we are on the conversation map, how we can move to a better place for all involved, & when best to do so. This is a year for deeper conversations, & our workshops all center on different elements of helping you & your teams map that shared space: transitioning from loudership to real leadership.
What does that mean in session?
Priya Parker writes, “the way we gather, matters,” & never has that been more true than when we facilitate virtually. Good virtual training is highly interactive, tailored, & practical. What you won’t see: long lectures, overloaded slide decks, & quick jumps from one unlinked activity to another. Learning is a consequence of thinking & doing, not teaching.
We put humans first. In a time where tuning into a virtual session tempts many to disengage, warmth matters. There’s a Danish concept, hygge, that focuses on this creation of a welcoming & cozy atmosphere: this conscious cultivation of spaces for connection & reflection is core to what we do. When people step away from autopilot, when they feel safe to speak, we stop performing conversations in session, & start actually experiencing them.
To do so, we focus on crafting 5 key Cs:
Concepts:
What is the key objective of the session, what changes do we wish to create?
Connections:
How can we make this meaningful to the audience?
Conversations:
What discussions need to take place to make sure ownership transfers?
Concrete Practice:
How can we shift from knowing to doing?
Conclusions:
How can we sustain momentum & encourage continued growth post session?
Managers should ask their direct reports, “What are you learning?” as often as they ask, “What are you working on?” — Jens Baier, BCG
We build workshops that work:
Built for follow-through, not forgetfulness. Whether delivered via live online learning, classroom or a mobile app: good solutions stretch us to become more than we are, & discover who we are capable of being.
Knowmium offers 21 topics available in sessions ranging from 2 hours to 2 days— all designed & tested for strong virtual engagement. Each journey aligns with our core conversation map to help propel communication.
2022 Workshop Menu
Want more details on any program outline? We’re happy to share— just send a message to joshua@knowmium.com.
Change Your Conversations
Reinventing Remote
Our “intro to better virtual communications program,” to get everyone up to speed.
Moving Minds
Influence without authority & master persuasion’s push & pull of sharing & understanding.
Negotiate to Great
Leverage frameworks to build trust & achieve truly integrative deals.
Selling Virtually
Combine consultative & insight selling techniques to reach clients of today in virtual spaces.
Applied Improvisation
Get resilient, speak on the spot, & connect with your team & stakeholders.
Facilitation Mastery
Transform dull webinars into engaging & memorable workshops.
Change Your Messaging
Speak to Persuade
Craft memorable speeches that motivate change & spark conversations.
The Narrative Imperative
Turn data into compelling business stories that bring your points to life.
Executive Excellence
Improve leadership presence, communication, & career path-shaping.
The Write Way
Banish boring emails & postings with clear tools for busy readers. Also available for Equity Research teams.
Slides that Decide
Convert dull slide decks into visuals that guide focus & action.
Managing Brand You
Understand your unique strengths, grow your network, & share yourself.
Change Your Organization
Innovate to Great/Design Thinking
Think like a startup with iteration & other divergent tools.
Collaborate to Great
Get out of silos & develop teams that communicate, create, & solve together.
Coaching Culture
Differentiate managing from real coaching & accelerate internal learning.
Beyond Bias & Equality by Design
Two journeys in the D&I space that translate awareness into ownership & application.
Working Beyond Borders
Whether virtual or face-to-face, cross cultures to strengthen teams.
Build Better Meetings
Transform meetings into collaborative spaces where people really want to be.
Our team has a passion for changing the way we learn.
This extends from our workshop practice, into how we coach individuals through challenges & change.
We’re big believers in Nancy Kline’s note that, “Usually the brain that contains the problem also contains the solution.”Awareness is the easy bit: bridging the knowing-doing gap is much harder. As such, coaching is a semi-structured conversation with the goal of unlocking potential & problem solving around gaps. So how do we approach that?
Coaching for Change
We follow the BRIDGE method:
Build Trust:
Establish a relationship with the coachee.
Reflect:
Assess where we are now on the map, & what matters most.
Identify Actions:
Chart possibilities & design experiments for behavior & strategy change.
Deploy:
Between sessions, test out changes in the real world.
Generate Possibilities:
Conduct an after-action review in session & expand next steps.
Evaluate:
Measure coaching impact.
Coaching formats include:
One-on-one: either as a standalone personalized program or built to follow-up & support a workshop. Leveraged to support mid-tier to C-suite level individuals as they rise from regional to global roles, from individual contributors to people managers. We help develop leaders who speak authentically, collaborate across silos & grow their people as they themselves grow.
Small group coaching: designed to support and continue the learning of our workshops.
Coach the coach: sessions designed to help create internal coaching networks within your organization.
Toolkits & Commitments
Radically Remote
According to a study by ATD, in 2019 just 10% of training was delivered online. Today? Substantially more. Many facilitators are brand new to this, still. So it’s not surprising as Cindy Huggett notes, “Many virtual training programs fall prey to must include all this content in an hour syndrome.” People aren’t tired of virtual sessions, they’re tired of bad virtual sessions. It doesn’t need to be. Our free Radically Remote book, toolkit, & self-paced course have been used by thousands of facilitators & organizations worldwide.
Insight Fox
2020 did not create virtual selling (its use had already doubled since 2015), but it did significantly accelerate the transition. Our clients’ feedback has been that many are struggling to make that leap: leading to conversations that don’t connect, don’t demonstrate real empathy, & don’t serve our clients as trusted advisors. To help with this we’ve partnered with David Lambert, renowned author of the bestseller Smarter Selling, to co-author Insight Fox: Selling Smarter in a Digital World, along with a virtual selling toolkit.
The Giving Speech
We firmly believe in helping those who do good, to do better. For the 5th year in a row, we renewed our commitment to our community through our non-profit division, The Giving Speech, facilitating pro-bono sessions worldwide for organizations in need. If you work for an organization that needs our help, please get in touch.
Additionally, we’ve formalized our promise to being green by joining the Climate Neutral initiative, offsetting 100% of our emissions: one small step on our path to a better planet.
Hybrid Live Guide
We have all dramatically improved our skills of creative & collaborative problem-solving over the last few years. But one space that continues to challenge facilitators is leading learning when half a group is face-to-face, & the rest is still virtual. It’s no easy goal to try to merge these two very different worlds, & many measures end with half the audience feeling distantly left out. Our free guidebook helps bend borders & build bridges between the two spaces, enabling meaningful sessions in both.
