Reading Time: 4 minutes Appreciative Inquiry is a method for solving problems and implementing change by focusing on the positive. It emerged from the work of David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in the late 1980s, and has since been used by businesses, teams and organisations around the world. The Ai (1) approach is perfectly aligned with the strengths-led approach, […]
The Link Between Appreciative Inquiry and Strengths Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutes As I wrote the title to this article, I wondered how many people would read it and think that I had mis-spelled “business” as “busyness”. After all, a number of problems that we face in society today can be attributed to worshipping business as though it is the only legitimate human pursuit, and the only
What’s with the worship of busyness? Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutes Kindness. It’s a scorned, if not outright rejected concept in business – it’s too soft, too weak. We can’t be kind, because to be in business is to be tough, competitive, strong. Logic and rationality rule the roost. We don’t do feelings or soft, fluffy stuff. We’re here to do the serious stuff of business;
Kindness: a better business strategy Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes The element of communication is one of the most significant building-blocks to your organisational culture. We spend most of our days communicating with others. But how often do we stop to consider what we are communicating, and how we are communicating? And how do we know if what and how we are communicating are hitting
Culture element: communication Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutes Stories are a vital part of your organisational culture, whether or not you are using them consciously. This post explains why stories are so powerful, and how to use them to cultivate or shift your culture.
Culture element: stories Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes Organisational culture has been a “buzzphrase” for longer than I can remember. It’s the topic of vast numbers of books, 15 TED talks (when I last checked), and innumerable blog-posts (to which I am adding another with this!). But what is it, exactly? And why is it so important? And how do we create a
Reading Time: 7 minutes Have you ever wondered why some teams thrive in difficult times? Their leaders have learned how to create psychological safety. Team members and the manager trust one another, freely share knowledge, admit mistakes and generate creative and innovative ideas at the drop of a hat. Other teams and managers spend their time covering up mistakes,
Leadership Toolbox: how to create psychological safety at work Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutes So much has been written about work-life balance, but there are a number of problems with the concept. Work-life harmony offers a framework that acknowledges there is no one-size-fits-all approach for people and situations. Definitions Before we go any further, let’s look at some definitions: Balance Balance requires us to know the relative “weight” or
Work-life balance or work-life harmony? Read More »
