I love reading. I’ve always got a few books on the go at once. I also like variety, so I do read books from a wide range of genres. Years ago I set up a simple set of lists to keep track of my reading: Books Read – I keep a list of the books … Read more
I can point to a specific time at which my poetry writing shifted from early nonsense to something that I was proud of. I was working as a Community Artist at the time and the workshops we were delivering were inspiring my work into new areas. I was also experimenting with making small hand-made booklets. … Read more
I have spent today thinking some more about where I take the book manuscript which I have been trailing in this blog on coaching. It’s called “The Coaching 30” and comprises a set of tips and ideas for coaching. It is aimed at coaches and coaching clients. The ideas are taken from my own studies … Read more
With any activity like running events or meetings where there is a clearly defined objective, it is really important to do a review at the end of the day. Many people use “happy” sheets as a form of evaluation to get feedback on the day from the participants, but these have limited value. People either … Read more
This is just a really quick comment on the idea of team working and encouraging discussions in a way that resembles flash mobbing. What do I mean by that? Well, in the last few years I have become increasingly impressed with techniques for facilitation that rely on the wisdom within the room and push the … Read more
I have thought for a long time that the number three has a real magic for me. I won’t go into all the ideas about the Trinity and get all quasi-religious in this short piece, but three does seem to be a key number for the conscious mind. We are able to hold three … Read more
It has been a few months now, and the Academy is progressing really well. We have used the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and had a really useful workshop on that. Then we started work on our first book – ‘Transitions’ by William Bridges. The book we are working on at the moment is ‘Do More … Read more
I found a completely new idea, startling me as I considered it, and it appeared in a fascinating conversation with a colleague. We had co-created it. I am looking for the point of balance between head and heart. It’s the dance between the known and the unknown. I have written before about the way in … Read more
We spend so much time trying to figure out what other people are thinking, trying to second guess what someone means when they ask us to do something. This is the stuff of working life, the ambiguity that we face every day. We are given a project to deliver, or we are asked to become … Read more
On Sunday I settled down late morning to write a poem. It’s approaching the anniversary of my father’s death and I wanted to do something that would help with this. I was also keen to build on something I had already written. I took a poem from a collection of poems back in 1998 called … Read more