The artefacts of organisational culture
17 February 2016The Senior Citizen’s Clubrooms where I was running a workshop seemed to have every nook and cranny plastered with small, and some not so small, laminated signs issuing instructions of what NOT to do or specifically how to act. It struck me at the time, as the sort of club I would want to avoid.…
Change your meetings, change your culture
1 February 20161st of February – it’s when the new year ‘really’ starts here in Australia. The kids are back at school, most people are back at work, we’re all planning our next holiday…the weather is great. It really does feel like the new work year has properly begun. And you’re stuck in a meeting! Johnnie Moore…
How to start meetings on time
2 September 2015I’m asked this question a lot. Meetings start late, and run over time. It becomes the norm, expected even. Everyone knows, and everyone compensates in their own way – generally turning up late. It becomes part of the way the organisation operates. If this is true for your organisation, or your group, there’s an easy…
How to do more of what works
15 October 2014Funny how things come together sometimes – an online course about decision-making in complexity and uncertainty, a book about being an astronaut, a workshop on social labs, and an exhibition on making animated movies. I didn’t plan it this way, it just happened, and now I have something to write about. I’m reading Chris Hadfield’s…
Language matters
24 September 2014It matters more than you think. The language we use reveals a lot. The language I use as a facilitator reveals a lot about me (so much so that Sascha Rixon did a whole PhD on facilitation language) and the language you use can be like an open door, welcoming me into your world, or…
Listen up. R U OK?
10 September 2012Some of us are better at noticing than others. Facilitators get a lot of practice at noticing. Noticing is not the same as knowing. I might notice someone frowning, but that doesn’t mean I know the reason why. I need to ask, and there needs to be enough trust for the person to answer honestly.…
Hi. Why do you do what you do?
7 April 2012Imagine if this is what we said to each other when we met for the first time? Imagine if we were able to answer the why, instead of defaulting to what? My friend Andrew Suttar has been exploring this and sharing it around The Hub in Melbourne. I’m thankful to him for challenging my thinking.…
Good advice
31 August 2011Two things caught me eye in the newspaper this week. Sarah Wilson was writing about trusting the process. She was referring to the creative process – the sometimes messy, unconnected, seemingly random process that we go through when being creative. The secret? Just start. Good advice. And the other was an interview with Eva Cox,…
Are you trying to win, or succeed?
14 August 2011Let’s say you have an idea. A great idea. And you want your work colleagues to know about it. There’s a meeting coming up where you might get a chance to share your great idea. What does winning mean to you? What about success? Are they they same thing? Many of us wouldn’t give a…
Exploring the edges of the way we work
4 August 2011I’ve started a little research project to explore the edges of how we work. When facilitating workshops with many different groups and organisations, there is sometimes a disconnect between what people want to do and how it is expected to be done. Approaches that were once just fine are now struggling in the face of…