Ritual Dissent: “We do that here. It’s just that the dissent happens once people have gone back to their desks and they destroy the idea” Anon. Just for the record, what I’m talking about here is: Dissent as a strongly held difference of opinion and Ritual as a set of fixed actions that are part […]
Facilitation Sketchnotes
I’ve been experimenting with some drawings / sketchnotes of facilitation methods I’ve used a lot, or fall back on at various moments. I was planning to have done something a bit more structured with them, but that’s proving to be a challenge at the moment – so I’m just parking 4 of them here until […]
Whats the difference between Co-production and the 6 Nations Rugby Championship?
Before giving you the answer I want to introduce the Armchair Critic. According to Cambridge Dictionaries online an armchair critic is; a person who knows, or says they know, a lot about a subject without having any direct experience of it. Recognise anyone you know? So… what is the difference between co-producton and the 6 Nations […]
Changing Faces, Changing Audit, and what really motivates people.
In 160 posts over almost three years of blogging I’ve never explicitly mentioned where I work or what I do. It is partly deliberate. Saying you work for an audit organisation prompts interesting reactions. I was recently introduced at a conference using the 19th Century Sir Charles Lyell quote: “An auditor is a man who watches the […]
Better Understanding – the benefit of meetings. Remember the first time?
Does anyone remember the first meeting they called? I can, it was quite an anxious experience. Suddenly I had POWER! Power to take people away from doing something useful and have them sit around a table with me for a few hours. Outside of the work that kind of power would be considered a big […]
Meetings are the symptom of bad organisation. Yes, but no, but maybe?
For anyone who works in a large organisation this will resonate. You can back it up with comments you might have heard over the years, like; “meetings suck the life-force out of me”, “that’s two hours of my life I will never get back” and “that was a big waste tax payers / shareholders money”. Top […]
Facilitation Essentials #1. Why I upgraded from a clockwork cat timer to a countdown /stopwatch app
I’m feeling very modern this week. I’ve upgraded one of the basics in my facilitation box, the cherished kitchen timer. Yes it was a clockwork cat, although it’s previously been a mouse and the inevitable chicken shaped egg timer. For me the timing device has been a very helpful facilitation tool, let me explain. Much […]
Graphic Recording – My (Very Slow) Time Lapse Photography
I’m not going to win any prizes for photography here; I just wanted to illustrate some graphic recording in action. I’m a big fan of using graphics as a method of knowledge exchange and communication. Previously I’ve mentioned the work of Paul Richardson who did great work at Public Services Wales Summer School and Delta7 […]
The Disconnected Jerk…. if I don’t like or trust you I’m not going to share knowledge.
Here are two explanations of the same point. The picture and the academic text, choose which ever one you prefer. Following the why is good practice such a bad traveller post last week I thought I’d better back it up with a bit of academic rigour. Where better to look than one of the Welsh […]
Graphic Facilitation….so much better than my notes.
Building on my enthusiasm for graphic facilitation (as mentioned in previous posts) I was fortunate to see Paul Richardson of apagraphicfacilitation.com in action at Welsh Public Services Summer School. In the spirit of a picture really does speak a thousand words and the drawings are so much better than my notes, here are a few […]
What's the PONT 