Stuart Eglin Online

Stuart Eglin Online

Posts Tagged Personal Development

That Extra Push

Jun 14

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Coaching | No Comments

I know this isn’t terribly original, but it is very important!

First a comparison:

When we take a walk, and we don’t know the route – the walk out always feels slower and longer than the walk back. Of course it isn’t, it’s the same length. Because the route is unfamiliar and there are no points by which to judge how far we have got, it can seem like an incredibly long way. Sometimes we do the walk – and just before we reach our destination, we feel like we can’t go any further. There is an overwhelming desire to give up. Only when we actually get there do we find that we could have given up so close to our goal.

The analogy is clear for something like a walk. But what about the goals we set ourselves? What about the dream we have, something we really want to achieve? We push away at it. To misquote Robin Sharma, we need to take small steps each day which add up to something huge over time. But just before we get there – and of course, we don’t know we are nearly there – we feel like giving up on it. It feels like a futile effort – too much time being spent on something that may ultimately come to nothing.

 This is the critical spot – the point where we need every resource we can find to persevere. How do we do that? What will help?

  • A support network to help us with perspective
  • Revisit the reason why this is a goal – find the passion again
  • Think again about the effort that has got us to this point
  • Just do it – just stay with it and find a small reward to keep going

Then, as the summit appears, we can stand on the top, hold our hands above our heads and feel the cold air on our faces as we look the furthest we have ever seen. And feel the soul rush of being on top of the world.

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The Coaching 30: #4 – Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Deliverables

May 24

Posted by Stuart in Coaching, Personal Development, Writing | No Comments

If you have encountered pay scales in the NHS, you will be aware that they were overhauled a few years ago. This was done using something called the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) which was the basis on which comparative grades were built up in the service. The theory was that skills could be compared across professions, so that everyone (except for very senior managers and medics, interestingly!) could be put on a single pay spine with grades stretching from the most junior to senior managers.

Well, I was thinking about this the other day. I was in conversation with someone about how to best market oneself when looking to change jobs . (They were looking to change jobs, not me, I hasten to add). There is no doubt that the Knowledge and the Skills that you have are important attributes to describe. But if you stop there, the CV ends up looking very dry, just like everybody else’s. Sure, we need to describe our Experiences, the depth and breadth of it. That helps – but there is one more dimension to ourselves which really helps us to stand out from the crowd.

Deliverables – the things we have achieved in the jobs we have held. In some cases deliverables might be actual products – a report, publication, a new innovation. Sometimes it might be a significant change in a service. Identifying these deliverables – perhaps, 5 or 6 key ones – and setting them out clearly in your CV will really help to differentiate you. Above all else, it shows that you can really deliver in jobs that you do.

So, perhaps we should be talking about Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Deliverables.

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Meditation

May 21

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development | No Comments

Here I am, sitting on a train travelling back from London on a Friday afternoon, writing direct to computer. I’m thinking about some of the things that have pre-occupied me this week. There is so much chaos around for me at the moment. As an antidote to all the upheaval I am meditating regularly.

I have created a small “shrine” in the corner of a room. It is nothing sacred or special in the traditional sense. I used an upside down cardboard box covered with some really nice blue material. Then I placed a Tibetan singing bowl and a small oil burner on the top. It didn’t feel quite right, until I had the inspiration to place some cards on the top with pictures of Tibetan Buddhas (Vajrasattva, Medicine Buddha and Buddha Shakyamuni) on them.

I am sitting for about 20 minutes each day, and am contemplating a range of topics:

• Fear of death
• Fear of loneliness
• Fear of success
• Beauty
• Creativity
• Tranquillity
• Power
• Peace

Sometimes I just concentrate on the out breath and try to still the mind. These seem like two very different types of meditation, each with their own place. It’s curious, almost like a neurone realignment takes place after meditating. I feel like a different person.

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The Coaching 30: #3 – A Working Model for Handling Change

Mar 22

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Coaching, Personal Development | No Comments

 

The model which follows was developed in a coaching session with a client who was experiencing a process of massive change for the organisation that she was leading. 

At these times it is often difficult to see ‘the wood for the trees’. One can easily feel overwhelmed with the volume of work that needs attention, and confused as to the priorities. The model identifies three pillars of activity – business as usual, transition, and self care. The model applies equally to issues relating to the organisation as a whole and to the individual working within the change process. 

The first pillar is the essential activities which the organisation needs to address to keep going whilst change is taking place. It is important to stay focused on this if organisational and individual performance is to be maintained. 

The second pillar addresses the activities that need to take place to create the transition to the new. This may involve setting up time limited task groups, a wide range of organisational development activities, helping people to adapt to the change, offering key support. 

The third pillar is important because it acknowledges the fact that it is all too easy to forget our own needs as leaders of change. Addressing self care ensures that needs are met, and resilience during the change is maintained. 

Above the pillars sits ‘Legacy’ – the need to ensure that the organisation looks at the things which it has been doing in the past that need to be retained – either as activities or as tacit knowledge. Ensuring that we capture the legacy is a way of maintaining respect for the work that everyone has been doing. 

Below the pillars sits ‘Values’. We work from a value base which determines how we function on a day to day basis, how we make decisions. It is important to stay in touch with our core values as we lead people through the change to ensure that we maintain integrity and are able to take people with us on the journey. 

So, that is the model. How does it work? It helps us to see that there are activities in each of these boxes that we need to give attention to. In order to take things forward with balance we need to be mindful of activities in each box, so that we do not neglect any particular area. 

The model builds on the work of William Bridges in his book ‘Managing Transition’, and on the work of Stephen Covey in ‘The Eighth Principle’ which looks at the importance of leaving a legacy. 

The coaching client I worked with on this model found it really useful to orientate herself as she worked through the change process.

It helps to keep looking at the model and ensure that each of them is being given the appropriate attention.

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The Coaching 30: #2 – Handling a crisis

Mar 18

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Coaching | No Comments

OK, so you have a crisis on your hands. And then that is followed with another crisis. You are really clear that the challenge for you above everything else is to find a way to avoid feeling sorry for yourself. Finding a way to ensure that you don’t start to look for as many things going wrong as you can. The slippery slope into pity is easy to slide down. So, what do you do to counter this?

Well, many people advocate positive thinking and taking your mind off what is happening. But that amounts to a process of denial. Ignoring negative feelings doesn’t make them go away. They just end up being submerged and surface sooner or later.

One solution, which creates a helpful balance, is to use a small notebook. If you already keep a daily journal then you could use that. Take two facing pages. At the top of the first page write “Pity Page” and write down everything that is going wrong for you – ensure that you get out all of the associated negative feelings too. Once you get to the bottom of the page you need to stop! Don’t be tempted to go onto a further page. The next page needs to have the following title at the top – “Passion Page”. Here you can write down everything that is going well for you, everything for which you can be grateful, everything you have done that was good. No matter how negative you feel, there will always be something great – even if it is the sun in the sky or the food on the table. Again, work to the bottom of the page and then stop.

You’ve had the opportunity to express some of those negative feelings, but have also balanced that out with the passion of living. Now take a deep breath and move on to the next thing!

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The Coaching 30: #1 – Celebrating Procrastination

Mar 16

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Coaching | No Comments

So we all find it difficult at times to apply ourselves to the things that need doing, when there are lots of things that don’t need doing, but we want to do because they are fun!

This morning I was supposed to be settling to the redrafting of the new book which I feel like I have been working on since the beginning of the 18th century. I have been sitting down to do this for weeks now, and only succeeding maybe one in six times. The rest of the time is applied to other useful things, but not the task in front of me.

It’s a great way to clear backlogs of papers, and wipe away the dust. There must be a good book to be written on the subject of everything that can be done when you’re trying to avoid doing the main task of the day. Except that you probably wouldn’t get round to writing it, because you would find heaps of other things to do. Let’s face it, even writing weblogs is a good way of avoiding doing that difficult task.

Well, this morning I managed to overcome the problem by spending half an hour on an exercise from Julia Cameron’s book ‘The Artist’s Way’. The exercise is called ‘Blasting through Blocks’ and is well worth a try if you find it difficult to get on with things. She focuses on the two big blockages – anger and fear. By bringing them into sharp relief we can unravel all sorts of baggage about fear of success, avoiding the risk of failure and so on. The key to the whole thing is that it really does work. It uses a simple set of questions which are worked through before settling to the project. You are basically looking for issues of resistance.

The questions are:

  1. What resentments do you have in connection with this project? 
  2. What fears do you have that relate to this project? 
  3.  Is that everything, or is there something else? 
  4. What do you stand to gain by not doing this work? 
  5. Make a deal with yourself – “Okay, Creative Force, you take care of the quality and I’ll take care of the quantity.”

Try working through these and see what happens.

Music and the letter B

Last night I surfed the internet and found musical downloads from Christian Fennesz (the guy who contributed to the last track on David Sylvian’s album, ‘Blemish’) – beautiful and mysterious music. And I found heaps of material in the archive of Resonance FM which is a London based music station broadcasting over the airwaves and the internet. Some interesting stuff here. I’ve also been listening to tracks by Farmers Manual and Autreche – strange noises, but interesting experiences still. On the CD player, I’m listening to Eno, Sylvian and the latest Radiohead album which is growing in my consciousness. In the car is ‘Heathen’ by David Bowie which has some incredibly catchy tunes on it. This morning my concentration was helped by listening to late Beethoven string quartets – Beethoven, Bartok and Bach really help me to concentrate. What is it about the letter B?

And why am I telling you all this? Sometimes music can permeate into the activities of the brain, and settle a distracted mind so that we can find our way to the work that we need to do.

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The Coaching 30 – an introduction

Mar 9

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Coaching, Personal Development | No Comments

Over the coming weeks I will be posting excerpts from a new booklet which I am working on. Called ‘The Coaching 30′ it will be available as a pdf downloadable file with 30 sections, each giving a tip or suggestion which I use in my coaching practise. Some of these tips will be ideas which I have developed in working with clients, others will be suggestions for materials, books and ideas from others – particularly leaders in the field who I have studied. The plan is to offer up some of the 30 tools and tips here on the blog. Then, if you want the whole thing you can get hold of the pdf. I hope you find the resources useful.

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Archetypes at Work – Notes for a book #3

Oct 5

Posted by Stuart in Writing, Θ Archetypes at Work | No Comments

Archetypal Descriptors are evident in the work of Handy, Morgan and Neville & Dalmau. In most cases a formal mythological framework is used. Most commonly this tends to be Greek Mythology, since this is a symbolic structure with a wide currency. Having set out the limits to the approaches already developed in this area, the Archetypal Casting Toolkit  which I have developed is contrasted with this metaphorical approach. The work of Morgan is central to metaphor and organisations. My development in this field sets out to demonstrate that analysis of this form is a useful background to more detailed specific work on individual analysis.

In interpreting the interactions of communities as they exist in the organisational context, it is important to ensure that the overall approach avoids the tendency to over-simplify. This is the weakness of a metaphorical approach alone that focuses too much on the organisation as an entity in itself, rather than unravelling in more depth the interactions and complexities of the numerous scripts that are in evidence.

However, the use of archetypes as themes that can be used as overlays, can generate evidence of the type of culture that prevails, a way of interpreting what is going on.

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Pattern Disruptors

Sep 2

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Writing, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

The brain works best when it has a pattern to recognise. When we are young this is how we multiply the capacity to learn. Rather than seeing everything as fresh and having to decode it, we search through our neurone connections for something that resembles what we are seeing. So, when we see a dog, we will make connections to any previous experiences of dogs and that will give us a wealth of information about dogs – what they look like, how they act, whether they are dangerous etc. This can be helpful for learning, but it is also important to ensure that we live safely.

So far so good! Problems arise with this though, when we come to realise that sometimes patterns do not serve us. These patterns, for example, can help to build phobias. Thus, an unpleasant experience whilst at a height at a young age can contribute to a fear of heights in the future.

I am laying this out in a simplistic way to illustrate the point. We build patterns over time and these can be incredibly useful or they can develop inhibiting loops which are not so helpful.

In our relationships with others we form all sorts of assumptions based on information. Thus, when someone tells us what they do for a job we will make judgements about their character based on that information. Sometimes this helps, often it doesn’t. We will also sometimes form judgements based on the way someone looks. If they resemble someone we already know we may think at a sub-conscious level that they will be similar. This is clearly bad logic!

When the pattern formed is unhelpful, or leads to bad logic we need to introduce pattern disruptors to dislodge the loop so that we think afresh and are able to start with new sets of assumptions. There are a number of ways we can do this. Examples would be:

  • Renaissance as a strategy (see earlier blog post)
  • Proactive steps and actions to disrupt the pattern
  • Encouraging reflection – time spent considering the pattern will help to unpick bad logic
  • Distraction techniques – designed to stop the brain from following the loop
  • Physical connection such as tapping or pressing fingers together to distract thinking and disengage an existing loop

Many of these techniques can also be adapted more broadly to tackle wider issues of organisational change where groups of people are working within patterns. Peter Senge’s work in this field (The Fifth Discipline), which looked at loop patterns and disruptors, is particularly useful.

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Biography Work

Aug 24

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Writing, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

The key to great biography work as part of a process of self-development is to ask great questions.  A few years ago I met Rennie Fritchie who shared with me the ideas she had about Biography Work. She published on this. I tried the exercise which focused on 9 key questions – and the results were really powerful. Looking back now at the paper I put together is really interesting. I will try the exercise again with the benefit of 10 years hindsight. Here is a useful format to work through, based on Rennie Fritchie’s work:

PART ONE – Plotting the Stars

1. What kind of human being do you want to be? Describe the kinds of skills, abilities, qualities, disposition, character and understanding you want to have.

2. What do you want to do with your life? Think in large as well as small ways of achievements, actions and important issues for you.

PART TWO – Mapping the Journey

3. Where are you? Describe fully your current stage, both personal and career.

4. How did you get there? Look back in your life and trace all the elements, happenings and people who have influenced your life path.

5. Where do you want to go? Using the material from 1 and 2 begin to describe your real intentions.

6. How will you get there? Refer to the information you have gained about your journey in life so far and consider new ways.

7. What will you do when you arrive? Begin to sketch in your intentions and actions.

8. Where to next? Life is a continuous process, so begin to look beyond your immediate horizons.

9. How do you begin?

PART THREE – Starting Out

10. Plan of action

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Archetypes at Work – Notes for a book #2

Aug 10

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Θ Archetypes at Work | No Comments

Active Living Dispositions

Archetypes, as they manifest themselves in organisations, are not illusory qualities; they are not some apocryphal acts of the imagination. They have a reality and substance in the greater community of the people who comprise the organisation. They are active living dispositions which impact on our everyday life.

 Let us stop for a moment to look at the organisation. What is an organisation? Does it have a meaning and context beyond that of the people who work within it? Often, we tend to take concepts like ‘organisation’ and build around them a sense of the object. The organisation becomes an object in its own right. This does not make sense. It is true to say, that when we talk about organisations, we may be referring to a number of attributes – the people, the buildings and their fabric, the role and purpose of the organisation. However, in all of this, there is the intrinsic role of the people as the key component parts. For, without people we have no organisation.

The objectification or personification of the organisation is a step that takes us further away from the productive scope of the organisation. It removes us from the true essence of the organisation – we move away from the soul of the organisation, away from the sense of the organisation as an active living disposition. In removing the focus from those people who work in the organisation, we diminish the soul within the organisation.

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The importance of reflective practise

Aug 5

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Writing, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

What do I  mean by ‘Reflective Practise’? This is the regular habit of asking yourself questions about how you are going about your work, your daily habits of living. Finding the opportunity to step back, and take a critical (but positive) look at what is working, what is not working, and what the key learning points are from the day.

Doing this on a regular basis is key, writing it down is also a fundamental part of the learning process. The act of writing ensures that the points are captured for future reference, but it also ensures a level of objectivity through the writing act. Seeing the words on the page helps to detach me from the points that are being made so that I can reflect on them, look at what they mean and take action based on them.

Key questions for this reflective practise would be:

  • What was good about today?
  • What 3 things worked really well?
  • What didn’t go so well?
  • What have I learnt from this?

Not too many questions – this isn’t meant to be a major exercise. And the questions are just pointers to prompt thinking.

If we are to move habits and behaviours, embedding those which are productive and doing something about habits which don’t serve us, we need reflective practise to act as a prompt to move us forward.

What did you do today? What were you proud of? Can you point to something and appreciate it, so that tomorrow you begin the day from a positive place and continue to build?

Commit to this new practise for 30 days and see where it takes you. New habits take this long to become embedded. Work with this as a form of self appreciation, and see how it builds a sense of direction and esteem. Good luck.

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Bugs and Buzzes

Aug 3

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

BUGS & BUZZES – an ice-breaker exercise for a group meeting. 

Ice breaking - ice breakers at work (ha ha!)

Ice breaking - ice breakers at work

 What it does

 This is a great warm-up exercise for the beginning of a group meeting. It can also be used in a one-to-one situation.

 In a group, it will change the atmosphere in the room and create a co-operative energy to prepare for the business of the meeting.

 How to play it

 The exercise is done in two rounds. For the first round, each person takes it in turns to describe something which is really annoying, something which ‘bugs’ them. It can be in any context, although it is helpful if it is in the relevant to the context. There is no judgement of that ‘bug’ – but the rest of the group has the opportunity to contribute with comments or suggestions for overcoming the ‘bug’.

 In the second round of the exercise, each person describes something which gives them a real ‘buzz’. Again, others can contribute and add comments.

 How it works

 The first round gives each person an opportunity to describe something which is causing problems in the daily work. There is also an opportunity to create a shared approach to problem solving. It also gives air-space to issues which might otherwise be considered too trivial to raise.

 In the second round, the focus on positive things which make each of us buzz, helps to create an environment of appreciative involvement.

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Networking: some key ideas

Jul 27

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

We talk about networking as though it is something which comes naturally to some people. Are you a good networker, is a question people often ask. But like many things it is a skill which can be developed. Often people think of networking as being all about how we build up contacts and make best use of them. This is like thinking of a car as a place to put petrol. It sort of misses the point!

So, here are a few ideas / questions about networking to push the thinking into some of the mechanics and principles of the activity:

Who is in your network?

Think broadly about this. Not just people who are close friends or colleagues. Improve your skills at collecting contact details for people. To get you started, use a mind map (or spider diagram) to set out the people who you are in contact with. Each arm of the map reaching out from you at the centre can be a domain or area of your life e.g. family, friends, work colleagues, people with common interests etc. Work on this for at least 30 minutes. If there aren’t at least a hundred people on this mind map you haven’t thought deeply enough!

Do you have an effective network planning tool? Is it backed up effectively?

There are many ways of managing a network. I use Microsoft Outlook’s Contact Database to capture my network contacts. It means that I have details with me at all times as I use a blackberry. It’s a great way to capture people’s contact details as well as snippets of useful information about them if like me you have a poor memory. The database should be backed up so that system failure (i.e. your computer dies) doesn’t mean that you lose all your contacts.

Do you review your network regularly?

I go through my network at least once a month, looking for people who I need to get in touch with to ensure that I am keeping regular contact. It takes maybe five minutes to just skim through all of the names A-Z and check for anything that jumps out at me. I usually come away from this with a few people I should drop an email to, or phone. And I may see someone in there whose details need updating.

Do you archive dormant contacts, and do you capture all contacts no matter how fleeting?

A network needs to be up to date.  The regular review helps you to keep it current. It’s also worth looking for people in the network who you haven’t been in contact with for some time. If there is no good reason to make contact now, archive the contact. Don’t delete it – you don’t know what is just into the future. You may have a reason to contact them which you are not aware of now. Try to capture contact details whenever you can. A business card, a phone number or email address. I input them into the database as soon as I can. If possible, follow this up with a quick contact if that is appropriate.

Who else should be in your network?

Take regular opportunities to review your network and think about potential gaps. Then take proactive steps to fill those gaps.

Do you have a worthwhile contact to make?

As I implied in the opening paragraph, effective networking is not about what you can get out of people, it is about what you can give. People are naturally suspicious of the “salesman” type approach to marketing where there is a pitch either explicitly there or implied. For effective networking it helps to begin by thinking about what you have to offer before you make the contact. That helps to maintain integrity in relationship building.

A key skill

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of networking. Relationships between us is what makes the world go round. The process of networking is at the heart of this. The first step of making the initial contact is something I used to find really difficult, particularly at networking events, conferences, seminars etc. I found a way round this by introducing myself and asking a quick question about the other person to get them talking about themselves. After a few goes at this it felt more and more natural. It has helped me to really enjoy the networking event.

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Leonardo – so much influence from so few paintings

Jul 20

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Books and Book Reviews, Personal Development, Things I found | No Comments

'Madonna Litta' by Leonard da Vinci

'Madonna Litta' by Leonardo da Vinci

I’m reading Michael Gelb‘s ‘How to think like Leonardo da Vinci’ which is an excellent book. I’m working through many of the exercises and finding them deeply inspiring. Over the weekend I did the 100 Questions exercise. It’s simple – in one sitting write down 100 questions in your journal that are signficant to you. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, and don’t worry if they are repetitive. This was a really powerful exercise. I’ve extended the exercise a bit by getting hold of a new notebook where I am going to generate thought-pieces on each of the questions, unpacking what they mean to me.

Anyway, the reason for this post was to highlight one small fact which I came across in the Gelb book, which staggered me. There are only 17 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci which have survived – that’s an amazingly small number. We all know many of these paintings. Of these, several are not finished!

Leonardo also produced an enormous volume of notebooks and drawings. But it’s the idea that he has developed such a formidable reputation as a painter from such a small body of work.

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A dangerous mix

Jul 18

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

People new into post often have big knowledge gaps as they work to understand the context in which they are working. This is not necessarily a problem in itself. We all climb up steep learning curves when we are new.

The issue then is not the lack of knowledge alone. There is also the issue of attitude taken to work. As is often the case, humility is an important characteristic to display in work (and in many other contexts too).

The dangerous mix is that of lack of knowledge (ignorance) together with ambition. The ambitious person will crash around in a new job, without thinking through the wider political context in which they are working. This is a dangerous mix – inadvertantly the new member of staff can crash around the system only aware of quick wins they are achieving with no idea of the broader implications of their actions.

So  – the lesson: avoid the volatility of mixing ignorance and ambition. Where possible encourage humility and the ability to see that asking for help and advice is a strength, not a weakness.

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Ideas like Stars

Jul 17

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

My head is full of ideas at the moment – a million ideas. Like a million stars in the sky. And that set me to thinking about the power of the metaphor.

  • which ones shine the brightest
  • which ones are dying
  • which ones are new born
  • which ones are nurturing life with their brightness
  • which ones need more focus with the telescope to see them clearly

I’m talking about ideas and stars here – it’s an interesting way to look at ideas and decide what to do with them.

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Creative Leadership Learning Sets

Jul 10

Posted by Stuart in Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

It was 1997.  I had heard of the concept of a Learning Set. It was something that appealed on a number of levels. For example, the idea of a community in action is one where it is possible to build links, to establish a ‘fraternity’ which can provide mutual support to managers who can often feel terribly isolated. But I was convinced that ‘building community’ would not be a sufficiently credible reason for forming a learning set.

The idea as it formed was remarkably simple. I wanted to be part of a Learning Set to share thinking on creative leadership. The subject of ‘creative leadership’ was taken from some online research I had done in the mid-90s looking at applications of creativity in leadership. 

There was a clear time limit to the learning sets – six sessions – so that participants could make an explicit commitment.

The idea was tested out with an informal group of colleagues in the first instance. This was well received. Several people suggested to me that the learning sets would be stronger if they involved people who were not already known to each other. With this in mind I approached the Head of Human Resources for help. She agreed to send out the ‘flier’ to Human Resource leads in NHS organisations in the North West of England.

The letter seeking expressions of interest was intended to solicit sufficient interest to form one learning set. In the event there were well over 100 responses within two weeks. An untapped need had been identified. The challenge was one of determining how best to meet that need.

I was keen to develop an organic structure fit to the needs of each particular group. However, I lacked the confidence to challenge the advice I was being given. The traditional model of a Learning Set requires a facilitator to lead the process – this was the approach which was adopted. It took time to locate eight facilitators, but this was achieved and the Learning Sets began to meet.

From the outset there was an issue within the group of which I was a member. Was our group leader a facilitator or someone in control? It felt as though the role of facilitator took away from the autonomy of the group. I was keen to take the group into dynamic territory where it would develop its own agenda. I wanted to see what the archetypes would create. The facilitator, who set out a clear set of issues to be covered over the six sessions, resisted this approach.

The pitfalls of the approach then, were related to this tension over the existence of a facilitator and whether this was beneficial to the process.

From the outset, there was immense scope for building a sense of community, but this was not really progressed due to an overwhelming sense of over-dependence on one person. That person (me) had a full time job to fulfil, and was therefore not able to pursue newsletters and other communications channels to create a sense of a ‘movement’ being developed. This would have been the real strength of this initiative if it had been possible. As it was, there was no opportunity to communicate across the learning sets, other than through the facilitators.

This problem was one that I raised at a meeting of the facilitators half way through the six months set for the initiative. We agreed that a shared event would be useful to bring all the participants together and share experiences. It took some time to arrange this event, so it happened when most of the learning sets had reached the end of their time allocation. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity to experience some of the magic of the group event.

Although the various learning sets had each gone about things their own way, they had all seen the need for greater communication between the sets. Some felt that the sets would be a useful way to overcome the feelings of isolation often felt by managers within organisations. There was a general view that peer group support from outside the immediate environment was really helpful.

The shared event day had a feeling of celebration about it. There was a remarkably positive response to the process. The lack of focussed content did not appear to have been a problem – many of those involved suspected that this had been a deliberate decision (as it was). Some even queried whether it had been a conspiracy to see how those involved would react to the lack of structure.

In retrospect, there was clearly much scope for building on the model which was developed here. At the one-day event there was an expectation of magic, which became self-fulfilling to an extent. If a similar exercise were to be attempted, more focus would be given to the need for a clear strategy for communication and specific assignment of roles. It would also be critical to follow through the requirement that the groups should be self-managed (see ‘Maverick’ by Ricardo Semler, 1993) as this would have generated a significantly different community (see ‘Different Drum’ by M Scott Peck, 1987).

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Renaissance as a Strategy

Jul 8

Posted by Stuart in Personal Development, Θ Coming through Change | No Comments

This post describes a technique which I developed a few years ago as part of my PhD thesis:

The work of the Archetypal Psychologists was grounded heavily in the culture and ethos of the renaissance, particularly the Italian Renaissance. For example, James Hillman and Thomas Moore both make frequent references to the work of Marcilio Ficino, an Italian writer, philosopher and adviser to the Medicis. Hillman talks about Archetypal Psychology as a Mediterranean psychology – full of olive oil, wine and the heat of the sun. He develops an imaginal view of the Renaissance. As ever, he is not interested in literalism, but rather in living in the image and what it represents. Thus, he takes the meaning and value-laden nature of the Renaissance and works with this. Let us follow his lead then, and develop further applications of archetype.

The material which follows grew out of an afternoon’s work aimed at developing an approach to a specific career development problem that I had identified.

There were a number of blocking issues in the workplace which needed resolve. In response to these problems, I developed a new model as an approach towards resolution. It became known as “Renaissance as a Strategy”. The issue identified was one of sustenance in a job. The career path for NHS managers typically involves a succession of jobs changing every couple of years. This is seen as essential to ensure that the individual has a wide range of experience in different sectors of the NHS.

The challenge comes when the individual needs to consolidate skills at Director or Senior Manager level. At this level it is expected that the pace of job changes within the career will slow down. I had often been critical of this turnover approach anyway, as it leaves clinical staff feeling cynical about the impact of managers who come and go, and never seem to stay around to follow through the impact of their actions.

For this reason, I had decided in consultation with a mentor that it was important to consolidate different skills and settle into a job for longer than two years. This would present a different set of problems to those associated with frequent job change.

Thus, the model which was developed was aimed at dealing with problems of fatigue, boredom at repetition, and above all, the need to refresh the personas which evolve in the individual over time. In other words, the need to reinvent the self.

The issue then, was identified as:

 ’renewing the self so that tiredness of old views can be overcome.’

The tiredness of views encompassed two perspectives – the views I was holding about the work, and the views others were holding about me. The model would use two key approaches:

  • Specific highly visible actions
  • Persona shifts in archetypal mode

The first step, identifying specific highly visible actions, is a fairly standard approach to profile raising. It amounts to finding the things that count and doing them! This involved working through the key objectives for the year, mapping them to the critical “must do’s” and then setting out a manageable number of key tasks that would create visibility.

The second approach complements this, and aims at tackling the problems of “close-down” generated by the archetypal interplay within the work place. Over time, the members of a team build up archetypal maps of each other. They expect each other to behave in particular ways, and adopt specific aspects of their own archetypal cast in response to this. Thus we get interactions within constrained scripts. This can be useful for creating stability and predictable work environments. It is counter-productive though when the group needs to respond to changing situations.

The approach I am developing here is aimed at achieving a shift in the archetypal script.

In order to carry out persona shifts, the individual carrying out the exercise needs to interrogate their own interactions and look for archetypal traits. Thus, within my own workplace I was aware that I adopted a ‘puer’ archetype on a frequent basis, particularly in interactions with my manager, who would adopt a mother archetype. This was useful in some aspects of our interactions, but it was creating some limits that were proving unhelpful. Being the only male within a team, I was also working very heavily from an anima perspective in order to blend in with the prevailing culture. This was beneficial a lot of the time, but it had its limitations in some situations within the team, and was problematic in interactions with individuals from other teams. I was becoming type-cast!

The ‘persona shift’ identified first then, was the need to shift from the puer perspective to a different aspect in interactions with my manager. What would have a dramatic (and positive!) effect for all players involved? It would be important to avoid head-on conflict.

There were a number of possible options to adopt. For example, an interaction using the anima (feminine aspect of the male), or the senex (wise old man), or aspects of the shadow. There was also scope for using my own mother complex to interact with the mother complex in my manager.

Clearly, the options around the anima and mother complex might be productive in interactions with the manager, but would not shift things forwards with other members of the team. However, before jumping to conclusions, it is important to proceed to the next step.

This involved use of active imagination, taking a specific incident and testing out different archetypes with it to speculate on the outcome. This was attempted. Clearly, to be most effective and least contrived, a number of archetypes needed to be adopted.

In testing out the model, I adopted the senex and anima voices to support interactions. Over a number of months the nature of the dialogues between the manager and myself shifted. This changing of patterns takes a little time, but it can work well in situations where there is a need to shift the context, particularly where there are problems with conflict. The effect on the self of this type of exercise can be a form of forced or induced individuation. Old habits die hard, but they do die over time.

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Celestine Prophecy: an experiential guide

Feb 16

Posted by Stuart in Blog posts, Books and Book Reviews, Personal Development | No Comments

MICRO REVIEW


This book, written by James Redfield and Carol Adrienne builds on the original book “The Celestine Prophecy” written by Redfield.

Sometimes these add-on books are just an excuse to sustain an idea, keeping sales going by selling second book to those who bought the original book. In this case though, this books adds a lot to the original work with plenty of thought-provoking insight. It is a fascinating read with plenty of useful exercises. Each chapter takes one of the nine insights from the original texts, expands on the ideas behind the insight and then has a series of exercises for individual use and workshop ideas for group work.

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