Episode 9: The Digital Learning Architect & The Experience Facilitator === [00:00:00] Macy Robison: Welcome back. I am so excited to continue our exploration of thought leadership archetypes this week. So far, we've explored two powerful archetypes that provide a foundation, encapsulate your thought leadership. We've talked about the resonant orator who thrives through speaking, and the wisdom writer who creates impacts through thoughtful written content. [00:00:23] In today's episode, I'm sharing two archetypes that might be completely different from what you've considered before, the digital learning architect and the experience facilitator. Now, what I want you to know upfront is this. These two archetypes represent radically different approaches to transformation. [00:00:41] One builds comprehensive learning journeys. The other creates transformative moments of insight. One structures education. The other facilitates experience. If you've ever wondered whether you're someone who builds system and curriculum, or someone who holds space for deep group transformation, this [00:01:00] episode will help give you some indication, maybe help you discover where your natural genius lies. [00:01:06] Okay. I wanna ask you a question. Do you have that friend who can take any complex topic and explain it in a way that suddenly makes everything click? That person who creates step-by-step learning paths that actually get results? That's the digital learning architect. This archetype's primary expression comes through creating structured educational experiences. [00:01:27] They focus on systematic transformation through comprehensive complete learning journeys. Now, this is different from what we've talked about with the resonant orator or the wisdom writer. The digital learning architect excels at building educational architecture. It's not just teaching from a stage or teaching through a book. [00:01:49] It is designing learning experiences. So in the thought leadership space, when I think of this archetype, I think of people like Marie Forlio with B [00:02:00] School or Amy Porterfield with Digital Course Academy. Marie didn't just create a business course, she designed a transformation system that starts from idea to business. [00:02:10] It guides entrepreneurs. Through building their business step by step. And Amy's Digital Course Academy isn't just teaching, it really is educational architecture that anticipates every question, provides clear progression through this process of building a sustainable online course and creates measurable results. [00:02:30] Amy is really unique in that ability to break things down step by step, especially things that she herself has done before [00:02:38] I've had a chance to work with Amy's team a couple of different times over the years, and it's so fascinating to see their process up close as far as creating that architecture for learning. [00:02:51] They're so systematic in terms of thinking about who they're trying to help, what is the end result they want to achieve, and how do we [00:03:00] literally create a step-by-step process that will guide them every step of the way for example, the tech tools they might need and have a video created before they even think about asking for them. [00:03:13] It's really, really cool to see how a digital learning architect works and how that extends into their team and they create, that type of content. Obviously you don't have to have a team to be this type of archetype, but that thought process of how do I get someone from A to B and how do I meticulously build the bridge that is going to get them there and anticipate everything they might need to know and learn as they're moving across that I. [00:03:45] Bridge. It's really, really fascinating to watch. They do have a natural teaching ability, digital learning architects, and not only that natural teaching ability, but that clear explanatory style, breaking complex concepts into [00:04:00] digestible steps. It really does feel effortless for them. And what's really unique about them is that systematic thinking that organizes information intuitively. [00:04:08] Where other people see chaos, they see structure where other people might get overwhelmed by information or how broad and huge a task is to accomplish. They're able to create order. Their communication style is patient, it's methodical. I see this all the time. They really do anticipate where students will get stuck and they build those solutions in. [00:04:28] They future pace them perfectly as it relates to not only content, but how they're teaching their content. [00:04:34] So if you're wondering if you might be this type of archetype, just ask yourself, do you already naturally break information down into learning sequences? Do you get energized when you. Like really create a comprehensive content system. Do you anticipate where others will struggle to understand concepts and zoom in to try and figure out how to help them get through? [00:04:54] Do you find yourself constantly optimizing how information is taught? If you answered yes to [00:05:00] some of these, or most of these, you might be a digital learning architect. Now for their content development for digital learning architects, their intellectual property naturally organizes into educational principles. [00:05:12] Their principles become those foundational concepts of the curriculum. Their practices emerge as structured exercises with clear learning outcomes. Their processes transform into those step-by-step learning pathways that they love to build, and they also have measurable progress points. I find that their frameworks aren't just visual models, they're comprehensive systems that organize educational components into progressive learning experiences. [00:05:41] I've had a chance to watch Amy Porterfield build Digital Course Academy. Almost from the very start. I had both her courses that convert and webinars that convert courses. They were two separate courses, and I guess about seven years ago now, they took those two courses, combined them into one, and [00:06:00] they did it by offering a live experience. It was several weeks, halfway through they had everyone come to San Diego where she was based at the time and learn from her in person, get feedback from her team like you were supposed to get your course created, come to San Diego, get feedback from the team. And then the second half of this live experience was all about building a webinar for that course. [00:06:24] It was just perfectly paced, and it was so cool to watch it unfold, especially when I realized she was about to put this whole course on video. [00:06:32] It was just really cool to see how they were trying to think ahead for what was needed as they were building that course, they were organizing the progression of, you know, you have the idea, you brainstorm the modules, you create the course, you. Beta test it. You sell it with a webinar, like everything was paced out and they've continued to iterate and make it better [00:07:00] by interviewing customers, interviewing students, , and then systematically updating it as they go. [00:07:06] It really is such a great example, on what it looks like to think this way, what it looks like to have this be. Part of the core expression of your thought leadership. [00:07:18] And if you find yourself thinking this way, this might be your primary archetype. One thing I do want you to think about too, if this is your primary archetype, if you are a digital learning architect. You usually don't create courses as an afterthought. It is your creative process, so you can start there. [00:07:35] You're probably drawn to learning from people who think this way. You like to think this way, create this way as you're developing content. Maybe think of it in terms of courses. . [00:07:45] Now for your platforms, for your connections as a digital learning architect, that central platform, you do need a sophisticated learning management system. A place to store courses, a place to have people engage with what you're teaching. So it's not [00:08:00] just a website though. You do need a website. You need an educational ecosystem. [00:08:05] You might need a way to track progress. You might need a way to include assessment tools. You might need student communities, resource libraries that are organized by learning objectives. Very clear educational pathways become essential when it comes to your central platform. In some cases you can use an out of the box learning management system. [00:08:25] Something like Kajabi or Teachable or [00:08:28] Thinkific, you can build custom solutions using plugins like, , learn Dash. There's lots of ways to build that learning management system. Some people build them inside of communities like circle or Mighty networks or membership.io. There are lots of ways you can build that central platform, but in addition to your website or as part of your whole ecosystem, that's something you might want to consider. [00:08:56] Your connection strategies really focus on [00:09:00] demonstrating your content, having free educational samples that showcase the way you teach, creating, learning previews, webinars, educational partnerships with other people's communities, sharing student success stories as primary education tools. [00:09:15] Those connection strategies, they're really just out there teaching and providing value in advance and giving you the opportunity to see the beginning steps and what that might make possible and those, those kinds of connection strategies, they're not just promotion, they really are education. Many of them show up on social media, but a lot of people who are digital learning architects have success borrowing other audiences by being a podcast guest on someone else's podcast. [00:09:44] Or going into someone else's community. My friend John Meese does this all the time. He will be a guest teacher in someone else's community and teach something of value, and that gives him a connection, opportunity for people to come and learn from him. [00:10:00] So you've got the central platform where it's website plus some sort of learning management system so you can demonstrate how you teach. [00:10:11] People can find your courses easily. Those connection strategies really are about demonstrating what you can teach them, how your process works, how you think. , and then for commercialization, that business model really is gonna center on signature online courses. They might, you might have a couple, you might have tiered offerings. [00:10:30] Um, you know, Marie Forlio has B School as her primary signature online course, but she also has a couple of other courses like Copy Cure. She has one about time management, but all of those things feed into the skills that you need in order to run a successful online business. [00:10:47] There are also folks who are in this archetype that have membership based continuing education, communities. Pat Flynn does this. Stu McLaren does this, and that not only [00:11:00] creates, the opportunity for this continued step-by-step learning, but also community and recurring revenue. You could also include a certification program. [00:11:11] For practitioners of your methodology that can extend your reach. I've been leading a program like this for the last three years in certification. Certification programs are a really great option for a commercialization model for someone who is a digital learning architect. But here's the path I usually see. [00:11:31] So early stage, you've got free content that you're sharing. You start to maybe develop your initial course, um, mid stage for someone who's a digital learning architect. Maybe you've got a, a suite of courses, several courses, and you're starting to build community. Amy did this with her. Momentum membership. [00:11:50] If once you're finished with Digital Course Academy you have the option to move into her Momentum membership to build that community. And then from there you might have [00:12:00] enterprise programs or higher end Mastermind [00:12:03] but one thing I want to make sure I'm clear about this digital learning architect archetype. This is a really great way to build a business, but it is one of those businesses where. There's more going on behind the scenes than you might realize. [00:12:18] There's more team behind the scenes than you might realize. There's more of a robust email system than you might realize, especially depending on what you're teaching and the size of the course. So all of those things are things to consider when it comes to building a business model. [00:12:36] So let's now shift to something completely different, the experience facilitator. [00:12:42] While digital learning architects build structured learning journeys, experience facilitators create transformative moments through group experiences. Here's what I mean. Have you ever been in a workshop where something just clicked, where there was a group exercise that created [00:13:00] a profound shift in minutes that reading something could never have achieved the hours of reading, you would've never gotten to this shift without that experience. [00:13:10] This is what the experience facilitator does. Now, Michael Bunge Stanier, he wrote the Coaching Habit. I've had a chance to work with him a little bit. He is someone that I've seen personally facilitate. He spoke at a conference that I have been helping run for the last three years. Last fall, I just sat in the back of the room and marveled at his ability to move a room full of people toward really profound shifts in real time. [00:13:40] It is amazing to watch Now, he's a great author and he. Has so many other components of some of these thought leadership archetypes, but it was magic to watch him teach. It was a keynote, but it didn't feel like a regular keynote. He was down in the audience. He had [00:14:00] a a handwritten paper flip chart that he walked through with the audience. [00:14:04] He had them having conversations at their tables. And it was really powerful for the people in the room, and it was really powerful to watch. People have these profound shifts in real time. [00:14:16] It's almost like watching someone who's conducting a jazz band or I don't know, a gospel choir, someone who can feel what's happening in the moment and make adjustments that. Build in such a way that are so profound that almost change the direction of the song in real time and and change the experience the audience has. [00:14:40] That's what an experienced facilitator has the ability to do. They have this natural ability to hold space for group transformation. They can read the energy in a room and they know when to push. They know when to hold that they know when to shift. At its core, it's really just masterful teaching, but it takes into account that give [00:15:00] and take from the students in the room, from the audience, because people who have this archetype really possess intuitive understanding of group dynamics and flow. [00:15:10] Their presence can create safety for vulnerability. People open up because they sense this person can guide the experience skillfully. And what's really remarkable is often they can adapt their facilitation styles responsively to group needs. No two sessions feel exactly the same because they can respond to what's happening in real time. [00:15:31] I have a friend named Tim Arnold who embodies this perfectly. I love his content. You should check out his books. He's really, really impactful as a thought leader, but watching him take his content and use that as the basis for the facilitation that he can do with the companies he works with is really amazing to watch. [00:15:54] In fact, I've seen him not only teach his content, as a keynote, give that [00:16:00] back and forth reading in the room, delivering really powerful insights as part of that, more of a teaching moment, I've seen him facilitate and bring a group together and energize them teaching other people's content or just like leading a group experience that is a cocktail party. [00:16:17] He just is really naturally gifted at facilitating and adjusting on the fly to understand what is needed in the moment. I. So if you're hearing me describe this and you're wondering if you might be an experienced facilitator, I want you to ask yourself some of these questions. Can you naturally sense when a group is ready for a breakthrough and do you know what they need to get there? [00:16:40] Do you adjust activities on the fly? Depending on group energy, you can see that energy is waning. You know what you need to do, or you can see that it's a little manic and you need to calm them down. Do you find yourself energized by facilitating transformative experiences? And can you create safety for difficult conversations within minutes? [00:16:59] Can you see that [00:17:00] needs to happen and know how to create , that environment? [00:17:04] For experience facilitators, their intellectual property is, is really unique because it manifests itself in two ways. The transformative nature of what they do is really about the carefully sequenced activities that they help people create the transformation. [00:17:20] They come into a space with a transformation in mind, and they let the group guide them if they're really, really skilled at this. So when it comes to their transformational ip, that is a really interesting thing to try and figure out because where do you find the principles and where do you extract the practices and where do the processes and, and all of that come from? Well, let's go back to Michael Bunge Sander as an example. He is an author and he has, the Coaching Habit is a monster of a book. It's sold millions of copies. But the thing that's interesting about that book is. [00:17:59] It [00:18:00] really, if you look at it, it gives you the tools to become more coach-like in my interactions with people that I work with. It helps me develop the habit, like it says in the title of thinking, like a coach, of helping people come to their own conclusions of helping people like facilitate almost their own transformation through the questions that are asked, through the insights they receive. [00:18:24] As they're having the conversation, and that is best done in real time. And so sometimes the principles and the practices and the processes that are taught if you are an experienced facilitator, are about how to create that kind of experience for others. [00:18:42] John Bergoff from Exchange, they have such a great approach to actually helping people learn how to do this, to be facilitators. And if you look at some of the content on their website as far as their approach to [00:19:00] helping people create experiences like this, they do have practices and principles and processes and proprietary frameworks and all of them are focused on helping you learn how to create this experience for others. Michael's book, the Coaching Habit, like I said, it's a, it's a really great book and at its core there are seven questions in the book that he goes through and talks about how to use them in a conversation with someone. [00:19:27] I use the, I think he calls it the magic question at the end of any kind of coaching or conversational experience that I lead, which is what was most useful here for you. That question really opens up more of a facilitative experience for the people who are there because they reflect on what they learned. [00:19:48] I get to learn from them, hearing what was most useful for them helps me do a better job in facilitation. So the content development of this practices, [00:20:00] principles, um, processes and proprietary framework, it looks a little different than some of the other archetypes because the things that are created are about guiding facilitated experiences or helping you think more about your thinking, helping you think more about how to facilitate your own transformation which is just such an interesting thing to figure out when we're talking about. How to show up and, and talk about the value you provide or demonstrate the value you provide in other mediums. [00:20:40] I have a client I've been working with and that's been a little bit of the puzzle, uh, to figure out how do we talk on a website about the transformation you provide people, because people who work with you have glowing reviews and glowing reports, but it's really tricky to try and distill that down [00:21:00] to. [00:21:01] What that looks like. So if this is something you're grappling with, if you're trying to create content and you just aren't sure how to talk about what you do. There are ways through it. We'll talk about it in a future episode, but just know that it's not a bug. It's a feature of this particular archetype when it, as it relates to content development. [00:21:23] And that also gets a little tricky with your platforms in your business model, right? Your website, how do I show what I do? But if you can. Just, just like with the resonant orator, if we can get some video on your website, testimonial stories, transformational examples, events that you have coming up, those types of things on, on your website would be really helpful because those connection strategies. [00:21:52] That you want to use, really focus on demonstration experiences like offering tastes of your methodology. The [00:22:00] clients that I've worked with who are experienced facilitators who have this archetype, their most powerful opportunities to connect and eventually work with individuals have come from referrals for sure, but showing up on stage and basically demonstrating what they do. [00:22:20] And when you see something that's powerful demonstrated, you know, if the right person is in the room, they want more of it, they'll come up and talk to you, they'll wanna work with you. So connection is the borrowing of audiences really is about thinking of how can I get in front of other groups of my ideal client that I want to work with and demonstrate what I do? Facilitate a session lead a conversation, walk people through a transformation in real time, and then having referrals, having people talk about the transformation I've helped them experience. [00:22:57] You could even potentially [00:23:00] create some sort of documentary style content that shows real experiences. I remember years ago watching Tony Robbins documentary, and I was fascinated to see a little bit of insight into his process and the experience that people have [00:23:18] That business model. And if you're worried that if you are this archetype and you can't scale this business model to. Astronomical levels. Just keep Tony Robbins in mind. [00:23:29] The evolution for someone with this archetype follows this path. Maybe you start out doing small group facilitation and you start to really document your methodology. [00:23:38] What, what works, what do I need to know? What mindset do I need to walk in a room with? You know, the, do I need to have a flip chart instead of slides, um, that are rigid? Do I need to have a way to get everyone's attention back when they're having a conversation. [00:23:54] And then when you kinda get to the mid stage where you're co a little more confident, you might have [00:24:00] more than one experience offering. You may offer training to other facilitators. And then really at this advanced stage of this archetype, their business looks like having a global methodology, having the ability to train other people in what you do. You know, Tony Robbins has a lot of folks that are certified to coach for him and facilitate those experiences in small groups that people are having in the big room with Tony. I mentioned John Bergoff. They have facilitator training. That's really what this looks like at the advanced stage. [00:24:35] Now here's what I find interesting- some of the fundamental differences between these archetypes and some of the things that are similar. Digital learning architects really build systematic structured educational journeys. They create reproducible learning pathways. Obviously every person is going to maybe take something away, but the experience that they're gonna have going through the process of that educational journey is gonna be the same. [00:24:59] But [00:25:00] experienced facilitators create dynamic transformation moments. They create unrepeatable group breakthroughs. I think that's the reason. Going back to Tony Robbins, people attend his events again and again because they know when they show up at Business Mastery, they might even have some of the same speakers. [00:25:18] But you're gonna learn something different in that room just because of the way. The group facilitation goes or unleashing the power within, like there are structured parts of that experience but you're gonna come away with something different every single time just because of it's not repeatable. [00:25:36] Like the actual experience itself is not repeatable. It's almost like going to a Broadway show, , depending on the audience and their energy. , you'll hear actors talk about this all the time. We're performing the same material, but the experience is different depending on who's in the room. And that is very true of experienced facilitators and what they're able to accomplish and capture. [00:25:59] So one, [00:26:00] one architects structure, right? It's in the name digital learning architect. The other facilitates emergence. Now, when you look at previous archetypes that we've talked about, it's kind of like this. So wisdom writers share the digital learning. Architect's love of structure. They want to organize information, but writers do it through text. [00:26:18] While, architects do it through educational systems. That might include video and text and workshops and worksheets and, and different things where writers just do it through text. And then resident orators, they share the experience facilitator's ability to read and work with live energy. But orators primarily focused on speaking while facilitators are thinking about orchestrating the transformation of the group in the room. [00:26:44] Slight differences, very subtle, but different. Both types create transformation, but they have different mechanisms that they use. So think about that if you're a speaker and you love to speak, do you love to speak and speak at an audience [00:27:00] to help them transform? Or do you like to work with them with the energy in the room? [00:27:05] That's the difference between a resonant orator. An experienced facilitator, so to help you identify which resonates more, you know, keep thinking along those lines. If you thrive in group dynamic settings, you read energy and adapt in real time, create breakthrough moments through your presence and, and you prefer fluid responsive transformation, you might be an experienced facilitator. [00:27:29] And then on the other hand, you might be a digital learning architect. If you love to create comprehensive learning systems, think in sequences, educational pathways, and you get energized by building reusable content and you really prefer a structured transformation that might be a digital learning architect. [00:27:46] So as we wrap up the exploration today, I want you to sit with this question, how do you naturally create transformation? Do you build comprehensive learning systems that guide people step by step by step, which is what Amy says all the [00:28:00] time about her programs? Or do you facilitate transformative experience that happen in moments of group connection, like I witnessed Michael Bunge Stanier doing, or like I've watched my friend Tim Arnold, do [00:28:11] I have seen the relief on people's faces when they finally understand their natural archetype. It's like finding your home after years of wandering and wondering where you fit in when you have this contribution you want to make to the world. I. [00:28:24] So picture this. If you've been forcing yourself to create content the way everybody else does, when your natural gift is designing entire learning systems or guiding transformative group experiences, just take a deep breath and remember, your voice matters and your experience matters. [00:28:39] And this understanding of how you naturally express your expertise, that is the thing that actually creates sustainable impact. [00:28:47] If this exploration resonated with you, I would love to continue the conversation. You can find me at macy@macyrobison.com or connect with me on LinkedIn. We've got some more great things coming your way in terms of how to [00:29:00] engage with this content and, and work together with me and with some groups to figure out what your resonant thought leadership system looks like. [00:29:11] Whichever archetype you are, you're here to create transformation in your unique way, so don't fight it, embrace it, and let's build around it. Let's build from it because that's where your power lies. [00:29:24] Thank you for joining me on this episode of Own Your Impact. Next time we're going to explore the next two archetypes, the Transformational Guide and the Strategic Advisor. Cannot wait to explore those with you. Thank you for listening. We'll talk soon.