My Argentine mother-in-law has a saying that she loves:
No es el trapo, es la percha. (it’s not the clothes, it’s the hanger)
My wife pointed out that trapo means rags, which is maybe the equivalent in Yiddish of shmata, which also means rags, but is often used to refer to a shabby dress you wear around the house. (Or at least, that's how my Jewish mother uses the word.)
Why am I talking about clothes and hangers?!
Well, the idea of the quote is that the clothes aren't as important as the person wearing them. The clothes are just rags. On the bed or on the floor, clothes are lifeless, inanimate. We animate them.
We make the clothes beautiful, not the other way around.
This quote came to mind recently as I sat down with two recent alums of the Facilitation Masterclass I host to dive into their experiences more deeply. In our final session of the masterclass, both of them shared reflections that made my ears perk up.
Making your own Games and Recipes
One said that they were hoping that the Masterclass would help them learn more facilitation games and tricks (which they did) but that the real benefit of the masterclass was that they learned to design their *own* games.
Another said that they thought they would get a cookbook, the secret recipes for leading powerful group experience (which they did) but that the real benefit of the masterclass was that they learned to cook up their own recipes, and to have the mindset of a chef as they designed workshops, meetings and projects.
You can hear their thoughts directly, here.
It's not the recipe that makes the chef. The chef enlivens the recipe.
This is why, in the Masterclass, there's so much work on who you are as a facilitator and leader in the masterclass: because your values drive what you create.
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