What I do
I work collaboratively with leaders to help deliver better results through the ongoing development of self, teams, groups and networks and inter-dependent systems of activity.
- As needed conversations and support.
- Coaching for “vertical” leadership development.
- Hosting developmental communities of inquiry.
- Team and group coaching to improve relational coordination.
- Facilitation to maximise the benefit of participation and engagement.
- Consulting to help identify the next adaptive move(s).
- Systemic organisational development support.
My commitment is to work in partnership with my clients and colleagues. I seek to be very attentive to any tendency on my part to want to take over or to think that I know more about their work than they do. The starting point for my work is curiosity, dialogue and participative inquiry – not diagnosis! I try to operate in the spirit of “humble inquiry”.
“… the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not already know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.”
Edgar Schein
For me development means more than incremental change. It suggests something about the cultivation of new possibilities. It also hints at a view that situations, institutions, organisations, groups and people are always developing and evolving. Especially in these more “liquid” times, I think it is helpful to think in terms of ongoing processes rather than static states of affairs.
Focusing on self, groups and systems of activity shifts attention away from particular, discrete aspects of the ways in which people work together to a more systemic view that takes the interdependence of many kinds of action as the primary focus. In highlighting this shift I also want to signify both a “zooming out” to get a wider view and a “zooming in” to notice important details and contradictions that contain the seed of possibility.
For a confidential discussion please contact me.