What’s it like to host a Learning Marathon? Part One.
Interview with Enrol Yourself founder, Zahra Davidson
Since joining Enrol Yourself as an intern, I kept hearing from various participants about what exciting or inspiring things they had been working on, learning and doing. I was very lucky to get a behind-the-scenes look into what Enrol Yourself does, however, I wanted to learn a bit more about the hosts’ experiences and their diverse range of backgrounds. To find out more, I sat down with a couple of previous and current hosts to hear about their journeys and how their facilitation craft has grown.
The first of the hosts who I sat down with is Zahra Davidson, and if anyone knows Enrol Yourself, it’s her. Zahra has worn a lot of hats during her time at Enrol Yourself, as a founder, leader, facilitator, previous host and alumni, so I’m incredibly excited to have the opportunity to speak with her.
If you could tell me a bit about yourself, a bit about your background? What inspired you to become a facilitator and create Enrol Yourself?
I think at the beginning I had very similar motivations to other hosts for starting Enrol Yourself, at that stage it was something that I really wanted for myself and something that I couldn’t find out there existing on the market. I was really keen to assemble a group of people around me who also wanted to learn, develop a project, be more creative or pursue a goal. I wanted to have that dynamic, sense of and purpose and creativity around me through other people. The motivation was to host that, so I could have it for myself too. Through the work that I had been doing, such as service design, working with learning programmes, as well as being in a startup environment, I had already gained experience in facilitating workshops and events. Plus, I had acquired ‘people-organising’ skills, in terms of admin and in terms of working face-to-face with groups. So, the idea of assembling this type of group was then very appealing and not scary.
I know it’s been some time since you’ve hosted a Learning Marathon, could tell me what that experience was like and if there was a key moment or highlight that stuck with you?
Having worked with 3 peer groups back-to-back, each one 6-months, the highlight of the whole experience has been the group of people involved and what that produces is really unique every time. The group dynamic has been different each time, I’ve seen various ideas circulate around groups and catch on in different ways. Seeing people influence each other in that way has been so fascinating. One good example of that was with the third peer group. We had a several people in that group who were pursuing very personal projects, but also a number of people who wanted to be very playful with the work that they were doing. We ended up having a number of people at the end of the Learning Marathon who produced a performance to a public audience for the Showcase. There was a real sense of people infecting each other with their confidence to be able to do that. I think it was serendipitous, you can never predict at the beginning where a group’s chemistry will take you and that’s always been amazing.
There’s a power and strength of having people together in the process that are quite different and that would traditionally never be grouped together in education because they don’t fit in the same subject bracket. The space then becomes completely non-competitive because they’re not trying to take the same path through life. In turn, it enables people to take some more risks and be a bit more playful with what they’re doing because there’s no group moderating effect. Likewise, it can lead to a lot of cross-pollination because there is always something you can connect back to your own project, even if their work is really different. We tried to design the process so that you’re hearing about how your peers are exploring their questions and what they’re working on or thinking about all the time. So, you can think ‘what if I approached my question like that’, which provides a rucksack full of new ideas and approaches for you to use.
Was there a particular moment or something that you’ve taken away that was transformational for you as an individual or as a facilitator?
Between those three 6-month processes, the big learning curve for me was letting go of control and not taking responsibility for the outcomes of others. We have this ethos that each person comes in with their own question and they set their own bar for success. As a result, I can’t tell you if you’ve done enough, only you can tell me that. But when you’re in the position of leading a group, it’s completely natural that you have all of these feelings and thoughts like ‘this is where people should get to, are they getting enough value from the process, and what can I do to ensure they’re getting more from it’. A lot of judgements and doubts come along with it. For me it was a process learning not to take on responsibility for everyone, which is still a work-in-progress. The shift for me when I was working with the third group versus the first group was massive.
Working simultaneously as both a facilitator and a participant, it’s only natural that you feel responsible for other people’s learning journeys as well. It’s hard to detach yourself.
Yeah, it’s really hard and something that helped me with that was doing coaching training. All of the ethos of coaching is around the coach playing a very small role in a conversation, so the coach should be speaking no more than 10% of the time and it should be about the other person’s space. They have the answers, you’re not advising them, you’re just asking them helpful questions and you know a process of questions and structure of conversation which you can bring to help support them to find their own answers. All of that was very useful for me. I really loved the idea in coaching that the more I do to push someone towards a certain amount of progress that I think that they should have, the more I might be taking away from their opportunity and learning direction. I started to think of this line between myself and the other participants and what I can offer up to that line.
Did you find it helpful to develop your own question alongside everyone else while you’re also taking on the role of a facilitator? Did it add an additional dimension of complexity to the group dynamic?
It definitely adds a layer of complexity, but it’s been essential for the group dynamic because otherwise I’m playing a different role from the rest of the group. If I’d be playing just the role of the facilitator, then it becomes even harder for me to instil that culture of actually ‘I don’t have the answers’, and to share the responsibility for things collaboratively (should be collectively?) between group members. So, you either get pushed into the role of leader/teacher or you get pushed into the role of administrator and actually having a question too, and really exploring it means to be on the same journey as everyone else, not only guiding that journey. Sometimes it is tricky playing both roles, but I think it’s worth it.
What have you taken away from your peer groups along the way? What have you learnt from them?
What I think they’ve given me is an opportunity to work really closely with so many different personality types, backgrounds, skill sets. I almost have examples of individuals that are archetypes for certain things that I’d like to develop in myself. For instance, I’ve worked with a couple of people who are able to say ‘no’ very effectively and have excellent boundaries, and they’re able to prioritise their own wellbeing when they need to. I think it’s been hugely valuable for me to observe the way they work and have the opportunity to discuss this with people who approach things in a very different way. That’s really helped me find a better balance, particularly as running a small business makes it difficult to have those boundaries.
Another thing is linked to the creative process and some of the people I’ve worked with as buddies. At the beginning of the Learning Marathon process, we were still figuring out how two people with questions that weren’t obviously connected could get the most from each other. With several people, we developed really effective ways of coming up with ideas together. In the third group, my Learning Question was how can I design my business so that it’s not designing me?’ A lot of what I wanted to do with that question was to have more space in my life for creative activities that didn’t have an instrumental purpose. By seeing things from my buddy’s perspective, who’s an artist, I was able to give myself permission to do the things that I actually want to do.
As hosts, we likened being in a peer group to sitting in a circle of mirrors, where each mirror is at a slightly different angle and therefore shows you a slightly different reflection of your face. Each person offers you a slightly different perspective on what you’re doing and on yourself that you wouldn’t otherwise have on your own.
In terms of facilitation and the practice of it, where would you see your facilitation and coaching skills take you in the future? Do you have any next steps in mind within or outside of Enrol Yourself?
The facilitation role that I’m playing within Enrol Yourself has shifted from working with groups, to working with hosts themselves. For example, we’ve been doing group calls all together, where each host might bring a challenge that they’re facing with their peer group and we’ll discuss it together. That’s a fantastic thing to facilitate because everyone is a facilitator and all I need to do is occasionally ensure everyone has their own space within the conversation. So, I think I’ve had an incredibly cushy experience with facilitation within Enrol Yourself because the people involved have decided that they want to commit to the 6-months and want to be there. I think in the future I’d be really interested to work with very different groups of people as well. However, I’m also very keen to continue to grow a community of people who do this type of hosting and facilitation.
With coaching as well, I’m not doing much one-to-one coaching and I’ve become very interested in group dynamics. Over the next couple of years, I’d love to do training courses that are more specific to working with groups and which would encompass all sorts of fascinating things, including group dynamics, group coaching and techniques that stem from psychotherapy.
In terms of the bigger picture, what do you envision for the future of lifelong learning?
Lifelong learning has the tendency to be a buzzword and I think it’s really important to balance any dialogue and narrative around employability, with a more holistic approach to learning. While working with Enrol Yourself, I’ve become aware that it’s easier to fund and support directly vocational solutions or ventures, which is understandable. As the world is changing, people will hold more jobs throughout their lives and as a result will have to cope with a lot more change and therefore will require a lot more learning. Although that’s valid, there’s an additional human side that is excluded from the discussion. The emphasis gets placed on what can we retrain people as, when in fact there’s a lot more going on for the people affected: they’re having to reform their identity, live through insecurity and uncertainty. The real opportunity of lifelong learning is to support people through those kinds of transitions, not just in terms of the skillset that they have.
How you deliver learning is a crucial component. As there’s a general shift in delivering more learning content online, we’re missing a huge opportunity to deliver learning in a way that brings and connects people together, therefore making them more resilient and if not happier, at least more able to weather life transitions in a healthier way. The delivery of learning around those changes is everything and I hope to see that opportunity really used. The social potential of lifelong learning is huge, but it’s often seen as secondary to the dialogue surrounding skill gaps, which is a shame. All the stats on anxiety, depression and loneliness should be considered together with, rather than separate from, stats on skill gaps and lack of lifelong learning, because there are overlapping opportunities there. I hope that’s possible in the future, and it’s certainly something we’re trying to do with Enrol Yourself.
To learn more about Enrol Yourself and to get involved in hosting or participating in a Learning Marathon, visit the Enrol Yourself website.
