blog: news and opinion

The other side of the development coin

23rd March 2013

A humorous short video on the perils implicit in development professionals 'knowing what's good for their clients'.

The S-curve

22nd March 2013

The S curve, developed by Dr Peter Robertson, is a model of organisational development. To survive in the long-term, organisations need to jump from the stage of squeezing out efficiencies and closing down the old business model to starting again with designing a new future.

United Nations launches International Happiness Day

21st March 2013

Higher GDP doesn't make people happy. Does being happy enable higher GDP? Does it enable more productivity, creativity and engagement in your organisation? And does being unhappy or stressed diminish your organisation's GDP?

The crazy ones

17th March 2013

"The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Trust at work

16th March 2013

Leaders who trust their people, and who are trusted, tend to be rewarded with engagement, motivation, discretionary effort, creativity, retention, integrity and better decision-making. Look to the NHS for some examples of trust that's missing.

Throwing light on the coaching journey

13th March 2013

“Visible reality is only a small crumb of what's really out there". 'Light Show' at the Hayward Gallery in London illuminates the coaching relationship as enabling the coaching client to see their challenges and their options with greater clarity.

Obvious to you, amazing to others

11th March 2013

Obvious to You, Amazing to Others‘ is an engaging little 98-second cartoon about the value of not underestimating your creative talents: to you they’re normal and everyday, but to others they may be exceptional, exciting and inspiring. Thank you to the 30 Day Challenge, run by Screw Work Let’s Play, for alerting me to this. It’s an energetic programme, supporting and challenging participants to stop just thinking about or talking about what they love doing – and to start taking some action.

The coach's presence - and the leader's results

8th March 2013

Simply by being there, in the room with the client, as coach or therapist or consultant, we impose our ego – whether by directing the conversation via the next question we ask, offering an interpretation, offering a particular exercise or experiment, or picking up on this or that point that the client makes. In the process of building a co-created relationship, how can we not get in the client's way?

The leader, executive coaching - and lack of ego

5th March 2013

One of the foundation stones of executive coaching is the need for the coach (and the coaching) to be ‘ego-free’ (or at least ‘ego-minimised’). If the coaching client is going to achieve meaningful and lasting results, the coach has to get out of the way: they need to open doors (and windows) but the executive’s success will be what they create for themselves.