Missing Persons?

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Missing Persons?

(L-R from top)                                                                                                                  Sue Abbotson, Donata Caira, Louis Parsons,  Mike Brennan, Tim Malnick, Ian Young.

Not really - these guys were among those who were fully present when we met at The School of Life. The 'missing persons' charge was aimed at the inhabitants of meusHQ who had been somewhat conspicuous by their recent absence.

It's true, we have been a little low profile but we were able to show all the infrastructure we have been building; accountancy systems, social media, website, CRM system.... All carefully constructed so that we can develop our support for practitioners wanting to get the work that they love out into the public domain.

And the conversation soon switched into enquiry mode as we began to explore the ways of bringing our work to the world.  One of our colleagues noted that, "The intention between love and money was palpable, and I enjoyed meeting a lot of people coming from such a developed perspective."

So how might you join in this growing conversation?  

Sign up for our newsletter. Book on a course. Commission some work. Co-create and deliver an offer with us. Volunteer to support our work.... Any other ideas?

Presence at Work

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Tim Malnick

Tim Malnick was a founder member of our community in the days of the early conversations at Hawkwood when meus was stumbling into life.  Since then, Tim has regularly offered his thoughtful, guiding influence to the team and we are now delighted to collaborate with him on his workshop series, Presence at Work.

Beginning in September, Presence at Work is designed as a series of one-day taster workshops which are gateways into deeper explorations.  The workshops can be booked singly, in combinations, or as a whole series.  

Since companies like Google and sports stars like Jonny Wilkinson have become known for using meditation in their work, the potential of the practice has been brought back into the public arena.  Building on the foundation of awareness and mindfulness within the context of work, Tim will explore issues such as the paradox of ambition, the roots of stress and burnout, leadership and presence, and the nature of ethical decision making.

Each workshop includes teaching input using both ancient and contemporary frameworks, personal reflection, experiential exercises and  group dialogue to deepen your thinking.  For more details and a booking form, please see our events page on this blog or visit our website.

Diary Dates:

Workshop 1: 13 September - London

Workshop 2: 14 October - London

Workshop 3: 21 November - London

Workshop 4: 20 January - London

Workshop 5: 21 February - London

Tim Malnick is a founding associate of meus. He is a faculty member at Ashridge Business School, co-director of their MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility and a member of the Ashridge Centre for Action Research. He is also a visiting professor at Rotterdam Erasmus Business School.

A Pause for Breath

Posted by Steve Marshall  Follow me on Twitter

When I think back to my first days as a fledgling consultant, keenly independent yet hopelessly naive as I stepped out into the world of freelance practice, I realise how lucky I was to bump into people who freely gave their time and energy to help me on my way.  Over the years, things have changed for me but I still value those connections and, as we build meus, try to find time to help along anyone who might be in the same position as I was when I was starting out.

One of my good friends from the early days, and still a highly valued colleague, is Amanda Ridings of Originate.  Here we are messin' around at the Andy Goldsworthy exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park a couple of years ago. Amanda is, as usual, demonstrating crystal clear clarity as I mess around in the murk of Goldsworthy's dung-smeared window. (Erm, yeah, he really did that..!)

Amanda has been a key influence on my practice since the early days; we worked together on dialogue within the NHS and experimented with dialogue, tai-chi and visual methods with a specially selected group of OD practitioners in the magical setting of the New Lanark world heritage site.

I was fully underway with my doctoral studies when we made this picture and Amanda was starting to write about dialogue and mindfulness, both of which are cornerstones to her unique and impressive consulting practice.  

Anyway, Amanda's book, Pause for Breath is now out and here it is! You can read an excerpt on the ALIA website.  I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview and found that Amanda had written a real gem for anyone bringing dialogue and mindfulness to their work. 

This is what I offered for the back cover blurb: 

"I have a small number of books that rarely find their way onto my library shelves.  These are the ones to which I refer constantly and have become touchstones of my practice.  They are full of good stories, practical examples, interesting questions and well-tested wisdom. Over the years, they have become dog-eared, flagged, annotated and stuffed full of notes. They travel with me and I never loan them.  Amanda's 'Pause for Breath' will become one of those books."

Pause for Breath will be available from 4th July - you can order it here and I will have it on our 'Resources' sidebar in the next couple of days.

The Source

Posted by Steve Marshall. Follow me on Twitter.

Peter Koenig

After his weekend 'Money Seminar' (another planned for Autumn), Peter Koenig stayed in London for an extra day to share some of his research and thinking about 'The Source'.

Peter names a role that is not recognised within conventional management literature, the 'Source' of a project, entity or enterprise.  

As we enquired with Peter, we heard how he frames the Source as the single person who receives the idea or the vision for the organisation and then passes this on to 'helpers' or 'sub-sources'.  Recognition of Source energy is important in enabling the smooth running of an organisation; leadership without recognition of the source results in either a tendency towards authoritarian dictatorship or, alternatively, wheel-spinning egalitarianism.

As consultants and coaches, meus frequently works with leaders and entrepreneurs who embody the Source, and Peter's distinction between personal power, authority or charisma and the natural founding energy of the source felt critical.

Peter's work is ongoing and will be of anyone interested in leading or playing supporting roles in organisations of all shapes and sizes.  He is emphatic that the responsibility of the Source is invested in one person; a point which begs the following enquiry questions for organisations:

• Can there be a joint Source?
• How do two Sources work together?
• What are the implications for merger or acquisition?
• Can the same idea come from simultaneously to more than one person?
• Can there be a 'common vision'?  What is this and can we truly align?
• The question of succession.  How to transmit the role?

Let us know if any of these questions capture you or your clients.  We hope to be working with Peter again on this enquiry!

Conversations for Conflict

Posted by Steve Marshall. Follow me on Twitter.

We are in design mode at meus, blending our facilitation and dialogue offers, together with elements of non-violent communication and innovation practice to come up with a prototype enquiry into 'Conversations for Conflict.'

Perhaps it is a sign of the times that so many of our organisations are facing difficult decisions which place people into conflict. There are some harsh choices to be made about where axes could fall; your budget or mine, my job or yours?

In these circumstances, keeping a constructive dialogue in place is vital. Organisations can fall into complete dysfunction as job losses and budget cuts are realised. Damaging retrenchment, paralysis and and turf wars are all likely to ensue and creative options are left uncovered. Yet effective conversations can be managed even in the most difficult conditions.  

It is in the most difficult conditions that dialogue is needed.

So, here as inspiration, is a great TED film featuring William Ury, talking about the 3 sides of a conflict, the benefits of taking a walk and some curious mathematical camels...  

Give us a call or drop us a line if this kind of work interest you and join as we enquire together into how we might begin to solve some of the intractable problems we face in today's new world.