If you have encountered pay scales in the NHS, you will be aware that they were overhauled a few years ago. This was done using something called the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) which was the basis on which comparative grades were built up in the service. The theory was that skills could be compared … Read more
The model which follows was developed in a coaching session with a client who was experiencing a process of massive change for the organisation that she was leading. At these times it is often difficult to see ‘the wood for the trees’. One can easily feel overwhelmed with the volume of work that needs … Read more
I’m in the middle of an exercise to write a poem a day for November – the resulting collection, once edited, will be called ‘November Suite’. I am using various exercises to generate material. For example, I take the last line of the previous poem and google that phrase. Then I follow the links and … Read more
I am looking at print-on-demand publishing services like Lulu.com and Createspace.com. Both of them offer services which mean that you can turn a pdf file into a book manuscript which can then be printed off as a book. These can be printed when required so rather than printing a thousand books and watching them gather dust … Read more
I am in the middle of a few hours working on the ‘Archetypes at Work’ manuscript. I have pushed the word count up to 18,000 words which is really encouraging. I have just used a quote from Bartok: “What is new and significant must always be connected with old roots, the truly vital roots that … Read more
I said in mid-September that I had nearly completed the latest poetry manuscript, ‘Scrapes against the Soul’. Well, I have been stuck on the last poem for a few weeks now. It is a long piece which captures my experiences of Liverpool in the late 70s and early 80s. I’m hoping to have it finished … Read more
Archetypal Descriptors are evident in the work of Handy, Morgan and Neville & Dalmau. In most cases a formal mythological framework is used. Most commonly this tends to be Greek Mythology, since this is a symbolic structure with a wide currency. Having set out the limits to the approaches already developed in this area, the … Read more
The latest collection of poetry is nearly completed. I am in the middle of the final poem which is an extended piece called ‘seventy nine to eighty two’. Here’s a verse from it: Watching bands at Eric’s – seeing Simple Minds Keyboard player with his head between the beams Music bouncing off walls, everyone saying … Read more
The brain works best when it has a pattern to recognise. When we are young this is how we multiply the capacity to learn. Rather than seeing everything as fresh and having to decode it, we search through our neurone connections for something that resembles what we are seeing. So, when we see a dog, … Read more
The key to great biography work as part of a process of self-development is to ask great questions. A few years ago I met Rennie Fritchie who shared with me the ideas she had about Biography Work. She published on this. I tried the exercise which focused on 9 key questions – and the results … Read more