What I learned about facilitating by doing stand-up comedy
July 16, 2018
Earlier this year I co-hosted an experimental event called Radical Acts. The premise being that we need to do things differently – maybe not big things, sometimes the smallest of acts can make a huge difference. For many people attending Radical Acts was just that – a radical act of stepping into an experimental event, […]
Read moreGames connect
April 28, 2017
On our recent trip to Mongolia, in winter, I knew we’d be spending a lot of time indoors, with host families and with each other. It seemed like a good idea to take some table-top games to play. I chose games that did not require any understanding of English: Ghost Blitz and Skip-Bo Both games […]
Read moreImagine if you were the type of leader YOU would want to follow
December 15, 2016
Fancy three days of fun, engaging learning on a theme of leading creative teams? Johnnie and I are bringing our Creative Leadership workshop to Melbourne, February 7th to 9th. Here’s some reflections from those who came to this workshop in Cambridge earlier this year. Lots more info and bookings here
Read moreThe two not-so-secret secrets about Creative Facilitation
October 24, 2016
There’s no big secret to Creative Facilitation, it comes down to two things: using creative processes that allow people to really participate, and showing up as a facilitator that people feel able to trust. The hard part is letting go of all those practices that squeeze the life out of meetings. We are social creatures, fundamentally […]
Read moreBest summer ever!
September 15, 2016
I’ve just had the best summer. Yet it wasn’t summer. Not here. And I wasn’t here. I was there, in the UK, hanging out with my friend and business buddy Johnnie Moore in Cambridge. There’s many reasons that it was a great summer, and one was the fun and connection we had in making a […]
Read moreFractals
February 17, 2016
Have you ever been to an event that is talking about being one thing while being something else? For example, a conference about innovation that uses well-established, mainstream and predictable processes? Or more specifically, focusing on creativity, for example, while sitting in ferried rows listening to an ‘expert’ speaker using poor powerpoint slides? With questions, […]
Read moreSerendipity and discovery
February 1, 2016
It’s hard to get back into work mode after the holidays. It’s tempting to put off the inevitable, but today I had a couple of meetings to go to in Melbourne with some spare time to wander the streets. A bookshop beckoned. There’s not many bookshops around these days, so I was tempted. I never […]
Read moreLearning is an adventure
May 30, 2015
Training is on my mind at the moment. I’ve always believed in the importance of helping others learn to do what I do with facilitation, and more, rather than build a dependence. The next couple of weeks are chocker block full of creative facilitation training – one of my favourite things to be doing. So […]
Read moreCreative Facilitation – New stuff. Yay!
April 23, 2015
How does a facilitator announce new stuff? A musician brings out a new song or album, an artist has an exhibition of their latest paintings, a writer releases a new book or poem – and a facilitator announces…”I have new stuff to share with you.” Sounds a bit lame really. Nonetheless, I DO have new […]
Read moreKinetic type AND language AND Stephen Fry
September 28, 2014
In my last post about interests, I mentioned that one of them was kinetic type. This can be traced back to early days in my career when I worked with a hugely talented graphic artist, Frank Moore, who taught me the ins and outs of typography (not to mention layout and design, pre-internet no less). […]
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