Jumping in

Jumping in

September 20, 2020

I live by the beach in Australia. Swimming in the ocean is something you either love or hate, and it sometimes depends where you live. In southern Australia, even in summer, the water is very cold. Really cold. On a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing better than diving into this cold water for immediate relief […]

There’s training, and then there’s Creative Facilitation training!

June 22, 2017

There’s lots of things I can’t do well – way too many to list here – but I can cook a pretty good risotto and I can host facilitation training that’s memorable. I know this to be true because I love designing and delivering training that rocks. Yes, it’s just as well I’m not offering […]

Games 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 […]

Imagine 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

‘Easy and safe’ is over-rated

October 26, 2016

Working with groups generates lots of dynamics. I want to focus on the dynamic between the facilitator and the group. There’s a long held position about facilitation that the facilitator needs to make the task easy for the group, and to create a safe space. I disagree. When I’m tired, feeling a bit vulnerable, and […]

The 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 […]

Best 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 […]

Engaging the Resistance

July 19, 2016

I’m riffing some ideas here based on the four themes we’ve been exploring for Creative Leadership: Having bolder conversations Connecting more deeply Engaging the resistance Staying alive Whoa! This one is hard! I’m not so sure about our “most difficult challenges” – there’s also “everyday challenges” – the things we, I, resist all the time. […]

Staying Alive

I’m riffing some ideas here based on the four themes we’ve been exploring for Creative Leadership: Having bolder conversations Connecting more deeply Engaging the resistance Staying alive To continue doing what you have always done is the easy part, it’s when you want to try something new, something fresh, maybe even unproven, that we enter tricky […]

Taming self talk

May 21, 2016

Sometimes, when talking with someone, it’s obvious that they are elsewhere. They have gone into their head. While we can’t know what the other person is thinking, it’s usually pretty obvious that they are not listening to us, maybe even no longer aware that we are there. It can range from slightly annoying to downright rude. […]