I always enjoy the Christmas and New Year break, and return to work full of good intentions. However, like many, I have to work quite hard to ensure those intentions are translated into reality. All of us will have our own strategies for that: for me what works best is often recruiting an external conscience to hold me to my resolutions, so I am lucky to have an excellent coach and coaching supervisor in Ann Bowen-Jones.
This year looks to be an exciting one: in addition to current work under my own brand with a number of universities and commercial clients, there are several collaborative projects in the pipeline which, if they materialise, will be very interesting indeed.
And I really must get that book finished...
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Cardiff Futures
Following its success at Newcastle and Essex Universities, it was not surprising that Colin Riordan, the new VC at Cardiff, should launch the Futures Programme there more or less on arrival.
It was, after all, his brainchild at Faculty level in Newcastle (where it was shortlisted for Times Higher Award in 2008, and where a programme for professors using a similar philosophy and approach has just won a THE Award this year); and it was he who ran it at a University Level at Essex.
Despite this history of success, both he and I were aware that Cardiff would be different. For a start, it is a much larger institution than Essex (or Newcastle's HASS Faculty), and also much more diverse. Previously we had had delegates almost entirely from a humanities background: this time we are including medics and scientists.
So we were delighted to see the consolidated feedback from participants for the first module, which was as positive (or indeed more positive) than any we have previously seen.
We have just run the second module, focussing on Finance: that always has the risk of being a bit dry, but thanks to great presentations from our guest speaker Gill Ball, FD of Birmingham University, and participative sessions run by Cardiff's own FD and the Deputy VC, all participants seemed to engage and find the topic both relevant and interesting.
We also launched the Action Learning Sets, which form an integral part of the programme, and they seemed to go well, too. Due to time constraints, we use what I would term Brief Action Learning, but the methodology stands up very well even in very short sessions.
Needless to say, I await the feedback summary from this second module with interest.
It was, after all, his brainchild at Faculty level in Newcastle (where it was shortlisted for Times Higher Award in 2008, and where a programme for professors using a similar philosophy and approach has just won a THE Award this year); and it was he who ran it at a University Level at Essex.
Despite this history of success, both he and I were aware that Cardiff would be different. For a start, it is a much larger institution than Essex (or Newcastle's HASS Faculty), and also much more diverse. Previously we had had delegates almost entirely from a humanities background: this time we are including medics and scientists.
So we were delighted to see the consolidated feedback from participants for the first module, which was as positive (or indeed more positive) than any we have previously seen.
We have just run the second module, focussing on Finance: that always has the risk of being a bit dry, but thanks to great presentations from our guest speaker Gill Ball, FD of Birmingham University, and participative sessions run by Cardiff's own FD and the Deputy VC, all participants seemed to engage and find the topic both relevant and interesting.
We also launched the Action Learning Sets, which form an integral part of the programme, and they seemed to go well, too. Due to time constraints, we use what I would term Brief Action Learning, but the methodology stands up very well even in very short sessions.
Needless to say, I await the feedback summary from this second module with interest.
Friday, 30 November 2012
Times Higher Award
I am really pleased - and proud - to have been part of the team that won a Times Higher Education Award for outstanding contribution to Leadership Development last night.
This was very much a team effort, with Liz Kemp of Newcastle University's Staff Development Unit, and Gerry Docherty, Dean of Research, Innovation and Business Development. Together we had developed and delivered a programme for newly-promoted professors, Unpacking Your Chair (see here, here and here for descriptions of the fist three days).
This modular programme is designed to help participants explore the different ways in which they may develop their roles as professors. It includes discussing these issues with both senior members of the University's leadership team, and successful experienced professors, as well as exploring the expectations colleagues, Heads of School and others have of the professoriate.
The first cohort engaged very positively with the programme, and are as much co-responsible for its success as any of the rest of us.
Liz, (R) Gerry (L), and me with three of the cohort one participants (Adam, Kathryn and Mike) in a publicity shot for the THE Award.
This was very much a team effort, with Liz Kemp of Newcastle University's Staff Development Unit, and Gerry Docherty, Dean of Research, Innovation and Business Development. Together we had developed and delivered a programme for newly-promoted professors, Unpacking Your Chair (see here, here and here for descriptions of the fist three days).
This modular programme is designed to help participants explore the different ways in which they may develop their roles as professors. It includes discussing these issues with both senior members of the University's leadership team, and successful experienced professors, as well as exploring the expectations colleagues, Heads of School and others have of the professoriate.
The first cohort engaged very positively with the programme, and are as much co-responsible for its success as any of the rest of us.
Friday, 16 November 2012
Force Field Analysis
This is by way of an experiment. I have long used Lewin's Force Field Analysis (which he suggests as a change management tool) as a tool for generating creative ideas.
Here I have put together a brief (c4') video explaining how to use it in that context.
I will be very interested in any feedback.
Here I have put together a brief (c4') video explaining how to use it in that context.
I will be very interested in any feedback.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Meetings By Design - again
I am looking forward to doing the training for online creative meetings offered by Mike Clargo and Meetings By Design: participants' skills next week and leading meetings skills the week after.
Needless to say, both training days are run as online meetings, so I am able to do them from my base in the Lake District, while Mike runs them from London, and the other participants could be anywhere in the world.
I am sure they will be both enjoyable and useful and will post updates here as I go through them.
Needless to say, both training days are run as online meetings, so I am able to do them from my base in the Lake District, while Mike runs them from London, and the other participants could be anywhere in the world.
I am sure they will be both enjoyable and useful and will post updates here as I go through them.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Meeting by Design
I am currently reading Meeting by Design by an old friend, Mike Clargo.
Mike looks at the importance of meetings in organisational life: they take up a huge proportion of management time and are how most of a manager's or leader's work is transacted. He notes that their effectiveness is rarely rigorously measured, unlike any other key business process.
He also makes an important distinction between single-channel meetings (most typical business meetings) and multi-channel meetings (eg workshop style, with several people contributing at once in various creative ways), and their differing effectiveness in terms of generating real understanding and ownership of issues, provoking creative solutions, and building commitment to action.
From this he constructs his thesis that most meetings would be more effective if the meeting process were better thought through and more emphasis placed on multi-channel approaches.
Into this mix, he adds the web: the potential for online meetings. The immediate business case for these may be to save travel time and costs, but he believes their real contribution could be to transform our meeting behaviour. So rather than try to replicate traditional meetings but simply add video-conferencing, he advocates investing time to become adept with the full range of online meeting tools available in (for example) WebEx or MS Live Meeting, to transform online meeting processes - and then to play that back into face-to-face meetings, and transform them too.
This is a fascinating and stimulating read - and Mike clearly has experience of implementing this in real life with his client organisations.
For me the interest also lies in how this could transform the world of learning and development, and re-balance corporate training in ways that might be more conducive to the reflectives, the introverts and so on.
I will think - and possibly experiment - more with this, and may well blog on it further,
In the meantime, I strongly recommend Mike's book. The introduction can be read online, (http://www.meetingbydesign.org/the-book/read-the-introduction/) and if you are as intrigued as I am, you can follow the links to buy the rest.
Mike looks at the importance of meetings in organisational life: they take up a huge proportion of management time and are how most of a manager's or leader's work is transacted. He notes that their effectiveness is rarely rigorously measured, unlike any other key business process.
He also makes an important distinction between single-channel meetings (most typical business meetings) and multi-channel meetings (eg workshop style, with several people contributing at once in various creative ways), and their differing effectiveness in terms of generating real understanding and ownership of issues, provoking creative solutions, and building commitment to action.
From this he constructs his thesis that most meetings would be more effective if the meeting process were better thought through and more emphasis placed on multi-channel approaches.
Into this mix, he adds the web: the potential for online meetings. The immediate business case for these may be to save travel time and costs, but he believes their real contribution could be to transform our meeting behaviour. So rather than try to replicate traditional meetings but simply add video-conferencing, he advocates investing time to become adept with the full range of online meeting tools available in (for example) WebEx or MS Live Meeting, to transform online meeting processes - and then to play that back into face-to-face meetings, and transform them too.
This is a fascinating and stimulating read - and Mike clearly has experience of implementing this in real life with his client organisations.
For me the interest also lies in how this could transform the world of learning and development, and re-balance corporate training in ways that might be more conducive to the reflectives, the introverts and so on.
I will think - and possibly experiment - more with this, and may well blog on it further,
In the meantime, I strongly recommend Mike's book. The introduction can be read online, (http://www.meetingbydesign.org/the-book/read-the-introduction/) and if you are as intrigued as I am, you can follow the links to buy the rest.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Action Learning Conference
I went to the one day conference on Action Learning hosted by Lancaster University Business School yesterday.
The morning was a useful overview and reminder of the basics, the back ground and the application - including some fascinating videos of Reg Revan discussing the thinking behind Action Learning.
In the afternoon, we had a brief experiential session as Action Learning Sets, and a couple of Workshop sessions. These were all stimulating and enjoyable, and brought back to my conscious awareness how much of my work incorporates these principles, both using Action Learning sets as a part of leadership development programmes, and also in my coaching work. I particularly enjoyed the Advanced Skills session which encouraged a very self-aware approach to personal development as AL Facilitators.
As so often, much of the richness came from the discussions with, and contributions of, other delegates on the programme: there was a rich mix of academics, practitioners and business people, which made for very good conversation. All in all, an excellent and most enjoyable day.
The morning was a useful overview and reminder of the basics, the back ground and the application - including some fascinating videos of Reg Revan discussing the thinking behind Action Learning.
In the afternoon, we had a brief experiential session as Action Learning Sets, and a couple of Workshop sessions. These were all stimulating and enjoyable, and brought back to my conscious awareness how much of my work incorporates these principles, both using Action Learning sets as a part of leadership development programmes, and also in my coaching work. I particularly enjoyed the Advanced Skills session which encouraged a very self-aware approach to personal development as AL Facilitators.
As so often, much of the richness came from the discussions with, and contributions of, other delegates on the programme: there was a rich mix of academics, practitioners and business people, which made for very good conversation. All in all, an excellent and most enjoyable day.
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