A Workshop Agenda No One Wants

By Hannah Baker

Dear Reader,

Last week, I posted a fake workshop agenda on LinkedIn.

The kind we’ve all been in that drains your will to collaborate.

I shared it as a joke.

It reached 100,000+ people • 800+ likes • 100+ comments • 20+ reposts

But the comments weren’t just laughs.

They were…grief.

People didn’t just say “ha ha, I’ve seen this.”

They said: “Oh no. I’ve run this.”

The real takeaway? We’re not bad at facilitation, we have to break the status quo.

We inherited a broken structure and have been asked to lead alignment without being taught how.

So I read through all the comments and pulled out five surprising truths about what actually breaks collaboration in real life:

1. Icebreakers aren’t the problem, irrelevance is​
   People hate exercises that feel disconnected to why they’re there. A warm-up that’s grounded in purpose? Totally different vibe.
2. The need for long recaps isn’t a people problem​
   It’s a process signal. When no one knows where decisions live, the team gets stuck reliving the past instead of moving forward.
3. Senior derailers are unmet alignment​
   Late-stage comments from someone senior isn’t sabotage, it’s a signal that strategic clarity wasn't locked in, you can plan for that.
4. Participation doesn’t mean progress​
   A room full of ideas on sticky notes may feel productive, but unless they converge, they loop. Outcomes need direction, not just input.
5. Facilitation fatigue is real​
   That feeling of carrying the whole session on your shoulders? It’s not just pressure it’s doing invisible emotional work.

After reading all those comments, I realized I’ve been quietly collecting my ways to handle some of these moments.

Not because I planned to, just because I’ve had to.

So I pulled them together into something simple, a set of tools I use when a session starts to lose focus or stall out.

I put them together in a free Workshop Rescue Kit.

It’s not a masterclass. It’s a field guide.

Each section covers:

• A common “oh no” moment (e.g., silence, derailment, overtalking)
• A simple facilitation move I use to respond
• Why it works (and what it shifts)
• A prompt for you to write your version in your voice

Because it’s not about sounding like me.

It’s about leading with confidence, even when things get messy.

If that sounds like something you could use when things go sideways, grab it here:

And if any of those five truths hit home, I’d love to hear which one. What’s your go-to rescue move when a session starts to spin?

Until the next meeting agenda fiasco,

Hannah Baker ​Facilitator & Co-Founder ​The Fountain Institute

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