realisedevelopment.net

Just another WordPress site

Archives for March 2009

Inspiration and Learning from the Arts

by

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright and critic

Inspiration from Haneberg and Strickland

by

Just listening to Lisa Haneberg’s podcast with Bill Strickland.  I can’t get enough of these ideas.  They consider a really powerful question along the lines of:

Will your life be a reflection of your environment or a reflection of your vision of how you want the world to be?

How can we build a relationship with our clients that is strong enough to allow us to ask this question?

If you have done my enterprise coaching programme you will (I hope) recognise this as a classic and powerful ‘confrontational’ question.  It is one that we should aspire to ask in our work with clients.

Making the right choice in relation to this question could be fundamental in helping stimulate a more enterprising culture in some of our most disadvantaged communities.

We should also consider this question in relation to our own practice and the nature of the relationship with our own organisation.  If our organisation is obsessed with outputs and targets does that mean our service needs to reflect that?  If our employer is bureaucratic and process driven do we choose to reflect that – or a more entrepreneurial culture?

Do we have the courage to take a different route?

Bill talks about changing the environment, physical and psychological, to provide a context that is affirming, positive and facilitative of peoples’ assets rather than focusing on, labelling and magnifying their deficits.

Enterprise professionals as custodians of the human spirit.  What a vision.  Now where was that business plan.

Give the podcast a whirl – watch the videos – you could even read the book!

The Knowing Doing Gap

by

Mind The Gap

The single biggest challenge in my work with managers is to help them cross the gaping chasm between knowing and doing.

The open sores of apathy and fear that stand between understanding and acting.

What I teach:

  • communication,
  • building relationships,
  • feedback,
  • coaching,
  • delegation,
  • performance management and so on,

is all pretty easy to understand.

Knowing this stuff is not the problem.

The problem is taking what is known and understood and acting on it consistently and skillfully.  This takes both courage and skill – but mainly courage.

  • Courage to say things that we wouldn’t normally say
  • Courage to step outside of habits and comfort zones
  • Courage to live in the face of tension
  • Courage to open and honest

So what is stopping you from acting on what you know and understand?

Courage or skill?

I am working on a number of new approaches to provide a series of nudges to bolster courage and skills and to help break free from old habits and routines.

Watch this space!

Blowing My Own Trumpet!

by

Couple of pieces of feedback about small pieces of work. 2 hour diagnostic conversations with managers of enterprise services followed up by brief 1000 word reports back to them.

Hi Mike,

thanks for this….you have managed to capture exactly my vision, and my apprehensions, in regards to the the service and expressed it in a way that is so much more professional than I could ever do myself.

and,

Dear Michael,

Thank you so much for meeting with me last week and for the report you kindly sent us.  It was very helpful to talk through the issues and to have them laid our so succinctly in your report, which despite identifying several areas that need addressing, I found very encouraging.

I am not quite sure the best way to approach [our funders] but do feel I it would be beneficial to send them a copy before I see them.  Are you happy for me to do this?  I shall also send the information to our Board to reflect on and I have requested that we find some time to work on the issues you highlight.

…

You also suggested I should contact someone from the council about taking the market plan forward into the city.  Are you happy for me to takes some quotes from your report to send to [ list of councillors], if we are going to progress our move into [the city centre] it will only happen by having all of them on board.

I look forward to hearing from you and again many many thanks for your time, encouragement and assistance…

In both cases the intervention has led to clearer understanding and a series of actions designed to take things forward.  This IS the enterprise coaching cycle in practice.

If you manage an enterprise service and would benefit from a similar service do get in touch!