I love a good story. What I mean is the messy, unpolished and authentic stories people tell about real life. The stories I don’t like are the ones manufactured as part of ‘corporate storytelling’. To engage staff, get a message across, change culture (ha ha ha ha!), ‘sell’ the need for change or indeed ‘sell’ […]
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – The Soothing Balm for Pseudo Competence Syndrome
I’ve no Idea what I’m doing. Here’s a a confession. Quite a lot of the time I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. I don’t know precisely how things are going to end up. I’ve usually got a rough sense of the direction where things are headed. I’ll be aware of the danger zones […]
When do we stop learning from Beneficial Accidents? Tales from the Coal Dust Cresta Run.
The answer is… When we build our first Trojan Horse. I’ll explain why in a minute, but first a “lovely ramble down to an important point…” The Coal Dust Cresta Run. When I was growing up one my favourite playgrounds was the old quarry at the top of the street. It had been partially filled […]
Going Blind on a Spacewalk. Can Simulation Training Help?
Imagine you’ve made it to the International Space Station (ISS), left the ship on your spacewalk, then you go blind. What do you do? This is a guest post from my friend Sam Williams (@SamW112358 on Twitter). It’s Sam’s first post and is a prelude to him launching his own blog. Hopefully you enjoy it, […]
Is anyone deploying ‘Innovation and Learning’ people alongside COVID-19 Response Teams?
This is a genuine question. I only ask because there’s something from Dave Snowden rattling around my head that seems particularly relevant at the moment. “In a crisis, you should always deploy an innovation team alongside the business recovery teams…to capture the novel practice” The point of this statement (for me) is that during a […]
Regulation, Inspection and Audit. It really, really shouldn’t hurt… and ‘behaviour begets behaviour’.
Imagine a situation where you can measure the psychological and physiological effects of a visit from the Regulator. That’s what this fuzzy image shows. It’s actually heart beats per minute of the registered manager of a care provider, and the impact of a notice to visit from the Regulator. The ‘spike’ happens when the ‘regulatory […]
Project Learning Reviews are like a Cheese Fondue…
…basically you throw everything into a pot and mix it all together into a smooth consistency. Then you stick a piece of bread on a fork, pop it into the mixture, and see what comes out. That’s your project learning, driven by a thinking process called retrospective coherence. The Origins of Fondue and Project Reviews. […]
Cooperative Entrepreneurs Boot Camp. Mondragon Team Academy. Churchill Fellowship Post 4
Yesterday I had a “I wish I was 18 again” experience… I was wishing I was 18 again so I could go to Bilbao and spend four years doing a degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation at Mondragon University. I’m not kidding. This was all slightly unexpected, and I’ll cover that in the next post […]
Holding Up The Mirror. What does that even mean? How would you do it?
Here’s a thing. Have you ever had a conversation where someone says; “let’s hold the mirror up to that one”, you make agreeable noises and nod your head in a seriously earnest way? However, deep down you are wondering; “what on earth does that even mean?”, “how do we stick a project review action plan […]
Failure is Not an Option, and Neither is Blame, Most of the Time.
Here’s a quick quiz. Where did the phrase ‘Failure is not an option’ originate? Queen Boudicca AD 61, in her famous rallying call to the Iceni Tribe before taking on the occupation forces of the Roman Empire. Chief Engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1835. In his brief memo to all Great Western Railway staff, stressing the importance […]
What's the PONT 