Our understanding of behaviour in teams has been informed significantly by research into family dynamics. While teams are not families (though a family can act like a team), they have similar interactions, shared perspectives and allegiances. Among the most important of these are shared narratives. Studies carried out by Marshall Duke at Emory University found (more…)
Over the decades, I have developed dozens of models and frameworks. One I am especially proud of is also one of the least well known – the diversity awareness ladder. Created in the early 1990s, it was an attempt to understand the relationship between our internal, silent conversations when we encounter someone different and the spoken or written conversations we have with or about them. The more instinctive and lacking in reflection/ self-awareness that the internal conversation is, the more guarded and politically over-correct the external conversation we will be.
The Japanese concept of Ikegai is based around four questions. In any discussion of career aspirations, starting with these questions is a very practical way of focussing on what’s important.
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Read More How to help someone reflect on their future career: using the Ikegai questions
Whenever a valued executive retires after many years, he or she takes with them a wealth of experience, insight and wisdom. This valuable resource is lost for good.
It doesn’t have to be that way. A planned approach can ensure a significant knowledge transfer.
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The instinct to categorise and classify is one of the core characteristics of intelligence. It allows us to cope with complexity by creating patterns of connection that simplify decision-making. The downside is that it can easily also lead us to oversimplification. We tend to group people together by one or two characteristics, then over-emphasise characteristics that apply to only some people, who have those characteristics.
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A useful summary of research into successful online conversations, especially in group situations comes from Charles Duhigg,in his recent book Supercommunicators. He identifies four golden rules: These rules apply both to the spoken word and to comments in chat. Chat comments, especially when brief, are more likely to be taken ill, as unfair criticism. Other (more…)
One of the key aspects of a sense of work-life balance is feeling in control of your own time. Trouble is, for most of us, maintaining control over our time is increasingly difficult. I’m lucky to have a super-efficient PA, Amanda, who protects my diary. Yet even she can’t prevent the unexpected phone calls I...
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The struggle for gender equality has been the pioneer for all the other aspects of diversity and inclusion we now recognise in the developed world. The way diverse groups increasingly find a voice, the policies governments and corporations adopt to accommodate the needs of diverse groups and the rhetoric of diversity owe a massive debt (more…)
Read More The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is inclusion…
When I reflect on what I am grateful for, high on the list is having a son with Down Syndrome. Today (21st March, 2024) is World Down Syndrome Day – an annual event to celebrate the benefits that people with learning difficulties can bring to the world. A few weeks ago, my son Jonathan competed...
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When I first heard of coaching sessions, where both coach and client talk as they knit, my first thought was someone was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. There’s enough clack clack going on in many coaching conversations as it is. However, a recent paper from the Serbian Institute of Applied Coaching Psychology (more…)
Read More Tied up in knots? Does knitting therapy bind the coach-client relationship?