Insights & tools
How can you foster a culture of communication in your organisation?
Like so many things, fostering a culture of communication has to start at the top. If leaders really want to have a two-way dialogue, they need to have an open-door policy, make time to listen, be open to new ideas, and not only act on good ideas, but acknowledge...
How can you make sure that everyone contributes in a meeting?
If you have a meeting, hearing the voices of all attendees could be a game-changer. Of course, it depends on the meeting: if you’re delivering a state-of-the-nation talk to the company, perhaps you’re more interest in cascading information down rather than getting...
How can you diffuse drama in your team?
The Karpman Drama Triangle defines the roles that people take on (and can switch between) in stressful, emotional or high-conflict situations. Dr Stephen Karpman identified three main roles that emerge: the persecutor, the victim and the rescuer. We can often find...
What if there was a process for soliciting honest, neutral input for your ideas?
You’re a creator. Perhaps you’re creating a new strategy, a product, a play, a novel, a team, or something completely different. You’re part-way through. You think you’re on the right track. And you have decided that you want to share your idea and get feedback and...
What if there was a process for giving kind but honest feedback?
The good news is that there are loads of interesting models, but which model you choose to use depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you want to give feedback on work-in-progress—a creation of some sort—you might want to take a look at Liz Lerman’s deceptively...
What if it was possible to have productive, conflict-free conversations?
Conversations are life’s “grease”. Good conversation make things go smoother – work, relationships, buying something at the store, understanding a complex idea, and more. The challenge is that so many conversations become charged and filled with conflict below the...
Reframing can change hearts, minds, and souls – er, soles?
As a fish hugger (compare with tree hugger), I am always baffled at how people describe sea creatures as ugly. Who do we think we are that we can make value judgements about these extraordinary living neighbours of ours? Perhaps they'd rather be judged "ugly and...
A workshop on navigating websites
Thanks to the rather wonderful Rasheed Ogunlaru, I've been asked by the British Library if I'd like to run some 90-minute sessions to help people think about what they need to think about when they are thinking about websites... Too many instances of the word "think"?...
Think a chat might be worthwhile?
It's always good to talk. That way, we can learn more about your specific needs, and we can give you some ideas about how we might work together.