As a facilitator I’ve worked with a wide range of teams from those planning the strategic future of the company through to small teams trying to solve their day to day issues. I find the way teams work fascinating and
Your ATTENTION please!
I was highly delighted to read that the new UK Prime Minister David Cameron has banned mobile phones and the like from Cabinet meetings. Like most people I find a mobile phone a great way to keep in touch but
“So do we have a deal?”
With the British General Election having produced a hung parliament our political leaders are in the unusual position of having to try and strike a deal to form a government. As most facilitators will tell you, getting a disparate group
What does a facilitator do?
A question that regularly arises is “What does a facilitator do?” which is a very pertinent question, especially in a business context. I will now try and provide a little more clarity on what, in my experience, good facilitators should
As clear as mud!! Or what does a facilitator do?
There has been a really interesting thread on the Professional Facilitators Network on LinkedIn about “How to explain what you do“. Some of the ideas have been very well thought out and have made me think about my elevator pitch and
Business Efficiency Tools – Stronger in combination?
As a believer in taking the medicine I prescribe I’m always on the look out for opportunities to develop and improve my skills. Hence I recently attended an event at Midlands Excellence where Julian Beaney led a very informative morning discussing
Assertiveness – a key life skill?
Last week I was delivering a training day which focussed on assertiveness for half a day. Out of the 10 delegates for the afternoon only one was male and most of them were in their 20s. The majority of them
Brainstorming – effective tool, or comfort blanket?
I found this article about the reasons why brainstorms fail the other day and it got me thinking. Parker Smith raises some very vaild points about this tool. When I trained to be a facilitator, brainstorming is about the first
Sometimes it’s the small things that make the difference…..
Yesterday I was delivering a training course as a refresher to people who regularly organise meetings at a government organisation. As often happens in these situations there were complaints about the poor chairing of meetings, normally by those higher up
Stalking the corridors of power!
We recently had a last minute booking to deliver a training course for UKTI in London. A former colleague, Claire, who runs Catapult Consulting, had been working with Planet Training to develop a new course to get UKTI staff thinking