AI Disclosure: The first draft of this post was written by a human, Beth Cougler Blom, and was then enhanced in conversation with ChatGPT.
Sometimes all it takes to move a learning event forward is a short consultation with a learning designer. And sometimes, that consultation reveals something you didn’t even know needed fixing.
Recently, an organization reached out to book a consultation with me about potentially incorporating some Liberating Structures* into an upcoming workshop. We scheduled a meeting, and they sent me their workshop materials to review in advance. As I reviewed their materials, I noticed something important. Although the workshop included several participatory activities, the overall design wasn’t aligned with what the organization was actually trying to achieve. There was a fundamental disconnect between their intended goal and what participants would be doing during the session.
And I suspected they hadn’t noticed it yet.
When we met on Zoom, I started by asking them to clarify what they wanted participants to take away from the workshop. Then I explained that, although they’d hired me to suggest Liberating Structures, I’d noticed some broader design issues that I thought were worth discussing. Would they be open to hearing what I’d noticed?
Absolutely.
I explained that while their existing activities were participatory, they weren’t necessarily going to help participants achieve the intended outcomes. Being participatory, after all, doesn’t automatically make an activity effective. We talked through some revised learning outcomes and explored an alternative activity that would better support those outcomes. The new approach would also give participants a more authentic and meaningful opportunity to practice skills and behaviours they would use well beyond the workshop.
Suddenly, we weren’t just talking about adding a few new activities. We were rethinking how the workshop could accomplish its purpose. And that’s where the real value of the consultation emerged.
The client was extremely pleased with the new direction and excited to put the changes into practice. What had started as a request for a few activity suggestions had turned into an opportunity to rethink the workshop in a much more meaningful way. In just two hours of my time—one hour reviewing materials and one hour meeting with the client—we identified a significant opportunity to improve the workshop’s design. The organization came looking for activity ideas and left with a clearer understanding of how to make its entire session more effective, along with a concrete idea they were eager to implement.
This experience reminded me of something I think is important for anyone working in a consulting role. It’s easy to focus on delivering exactly what a client asks for. And, of course, we should listen carefully to what our clients tell us they need. But sometimes our greatest contribution comes from noticing what they haven’t noticed, asking a question they haven’t considered, or respectfully challenging an assumption that’s shaping their approach. In learning design, that often means looking beyond individual activities to examine whether the outcomes, content, and activities are working together.
Our job isn’t simply to provide the tools or techniques clients ask for. It’s to bring our professional judgment to the conversation and help them make better-informed design decisions. Because sometimes the most helpful thing we can offer isn’t the solution someone came looking for. It’s helping them see the problem—and the possibilities—in a whole new way.
Could a fresh perspective help move your workshop forward? If you’re planning a workshop or learning experience and would benefit from another set of eyes on your design, my 1:1 Consultation Session might be just what you need.
Liberating Structures are a collection of 33 facilitation methods designed to engage people more fully in meetings, workshops, and other group experiences.