Archive for February, 2008
To be influential - be influenceable
Posted by Sharon 27 February 2008I’ve been running a number of workshops recently that revolve around enhancing participant’s influencing skills - for those in matrix management situations and those in technical or professional advice roles. I’ve been struck by the difference between what I call ’service oriented’ people and ‘professionally / technically oriented’ people. The professionally / technically oriented […]
Good, Better, Best - what are good enough goals?
Posted by Sharon 27 February 2008I’ve worked with two separate management groups recently, both of whom had the words, better or best in their goal statements, e.g. we want to be the best in market X. When I challenged the groups to explain what better or best would look like, there were different views that had to be talked […]
Creativity at Work
Posted by Sharon 27 February 2008I’ve been enjoying the creativity and innovation discussion on the Creative Skills Training Council list, so I was very intrigued to see a short piece in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, stating that ?What If! – who bill themselves as the world’s largest independent innovation company - is closing down its Australian operation because “Australian […]
Facilitation intro activity - What brings you joy?
Posted by Sharon 25 February 2008A while ago at our monthly Sydney Facilitators Network meeting I ran an introduction activity which was powerful in connecting me to the members of the group.
We asked everyone to share what they did for work, what brought them joy at work and what brought them joy outside of work. I got great insights […]
Check out the Thinking Toolkit
Posted by Sharon 25 February 2008I’ve just come across a good webpage by consultants Lawrence Poole and Suzy Ethier called the Thinking Toolkit. I like their concept of using nature simulations to expose manager’s thinking patterns - and their heuristic thinking page has some good ideas about how to practice creative thinking.
Miha Pognacik - A passion for music
Posted by Sharon 19 February 2008Well Monday started well and continued to get better. The theme of growth and renewal repeated itself at lunch where we had a wonderful taster of the work of Miha Pogacnik, violinist and inspirational activist. In less than an hour Miha showed us the traditional corporate pathway vs the alternative - of letting go […]
Leadership from the creative state
Posted by Sharon 19 February 2008It’s 6am. I can’t sleep, so I’ve gone online to look for articles on Transformational Leadership, my latest topic of study. I find an inspiring interview with Robert E. Quinn, author of the Competing Values Framework, among other great books.
He reminds me that as an educator “when we look only at the thinking, […]