My Blog
This blog is for me, it’s my sketch pad where I think things through and work things out. Having worked ‘stuff’ out I think it’s good to declare it, so I am sending it to you. Hopefully you will also find it useful.
Latest Posts
If I was in charge I’d get people joined up
For those working hard right in the middle of an organisation it’s difficult to notice the gaps or overlaps or when things are not joined up. Here’s an example: you are in a busy café for lunch. You eventually catch the waiter’s attention and ask ‘excuse me, what’s soup of the day?’ He hesitates for…
Read MoreTaking my own medicine and not before time!
In the lead up to Christmas I was really excited to be starting a new Delegation4Results Programme with the leadership team of a national contractor though at the same time I was feeling quite stressed. I had had a chesty cough for about six weeks and just couldn’t seem to shift it. The day before,…
Read MoreThe calculus of teams, or is it an art?
When does 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 in terms of a team? Here the people are working against each other and the team output is less than the sum of their individual contributions. It’s dysfunctional though still producing. Getting things done is hard work and…
Read MoreFeeling tired (again)
First issued 15th December 2015 (This is my most read blog post in the last 12 months, its all still relevant so I am posting it again. I’m off to Nice again for Christmas, all the best for 2017) As Christmas approaches many of the people I am working with are feeling tired. A client…
Read MoreWhat’s the point of this, why bother …. Oh, It’s going to be the hard way!
There is a hard way and there’s an easy way, though the easy way may take years to master. For example an eight stone black belt can easily throw someone twice as big. She knows the leverage point at which to push with modest force and once sixteen stone starts moving with gravity it moves…
Read MoreWorking with a coach (Part 2) – shifting your default future
I ‘get’ coaching. It’s an amazing privilege to stretch a person or a team to achieve what they would not have previously thought possible. “Coaching comes from the world of sports and the arts, where athletes and actors receive coaching so that their work will become extraordinary instead of just okay” Steve Chandler, Author and…
Read MoreHow do you feel about this?
It’s good to ask people how they feel about this or that: the work we are doing together or the conversation we are having or what it’s like around here, or the film or that experience or the new process or programme, our relationship or whatever. Often people start their reply by saying “I think…
Read MoreWorking with a coach (Part 1) – a challenge for managers and leaders
[The challenge is right at the bottom] Years ago when I was a manager my coach said to me “Dave your communication is the response you get”. At the time we were working on my communication skills. I explained to her that I’d spend ages drafting memos (this was before e mail) yet seemed to…
Read MoreNo, this needs to be done properly
(1993) Having just finished a project with a team of seventeen staff, my boss Jim said to me “Dave we haven’t got that much on so I want you to run this small job”. He went on to say there wasn’t much in the budget for staff so you need to do it ‘one man…
Read MoreDropped right in it
Sometimes I ask people to look back over their careers to a time when they were most fired up, exhilarated, excited about their work. The most common answer I get back is “when I was dropped right in it”. Looking back over my 40 years in the construction industry that certainly is the case for…
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