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5 January 2012

Think of hope as a doorstep

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, coaching, HR, learning theory, learning transfer, life, motivation, recruitment, relationships | Tags: , , , |
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Ah yes, January. Bit of an opinion divider as months go. Some of us are raring to go, all ‘out with the old and in with the new’ – purging ourselves of brandy butter and port, and filling the void with earnest resolutions. Some of us are closer in sentiment to an old Flanders and Swann song:

Dark November brings the fog/Should not do it to a dog.
Freezing wet December, then/Bloody January again!

My own take on resolutions is probably closer in spirit to an Oscar Wilde quote – “The basis of optimism is sheer terror”. The spur to think about changing things springs predominantly from the horror of the idea of more of the same old same old. Which in turn requires a modicum of awareness that things could at the very least be different, and possibly better. Faced with thinking or feeling “Uh oh, here we go again”, one answer is to go somewhere different.

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1 November 2011

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”, or “Kirkpatrick must go!”

Posted by robert terry under behavioural change, coaching, evaluation, HR, learning transfer, line managers, motivation, organisational development, relationships, talent management | Tags: , |
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Every now and then, a foolish notion takes such a firm grip on the public consciousness that no amount of hard evidence to the contrary can persuade its believers to put aside their convictions and embrace what is frequently an unpalatable or less interesting truth. Some such notions emanate from the ‘supernatural’ school and demand high levels of blind faith from their adherents. The absence of anything remotely evidential in the stories that surround faith-based urban myths presents no problem to their originators who, through their powers of persuasion and the vulnerabilities of their audience, succeed in recruiting armies of supporters to their cause. The uneventful passing once more of Harold Camping’s revised deadline for the end of the world on 21st October is unlikely to persuade his followers that The End Times is a put-up job any more than readers of horoscopes will cancel their subscriptions just because none of the foretold events actually happen. Faith like bindweed once established, is tough to kill.

Some urban myths are lightweight confections whipped up by pranksters seeking nothing more than the inner satisfaction of knowing that they have duped the gullible. The recent Kidney Heist Hoax is a masterpiece of the genre. In its frequent beery re-telling the narrative gathers both mass and momentum like a snowball rolling down a ski slope. Each storyteller attaches his or her own embellishments and invigorates the story by making it their own; or at least “a friend of friend’s”. These myths derive their currency from the frequency with which they are told and the conviction of the teller, no matter how implausible the story itself may be. It would seem that for many, a myth repeated often enough will assume the authority of truth.

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28 September 2011

Ready for our close-up: ASK Breakfast Briefing at BAFTA

Posted by Ed under coaching, learning transfer | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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BAFTA entrance It was Norma Desmond who uttered the immortal line “I’m ready for my close-up”, in the timeless classic Sunset Boulevard. With two days to go, we’re mightily glad – and not a little relieved – that our own close-up role at BAFTA this Friday (30 September) will take place in altogether brighter circumstances – and that we are not just ready but brimming with positive anticipation.

A jointly hosted event with MDA Consulting (with whom we recently announced our strategic alliance), we will be greeting 140 guests from some of the world’s leading blue-chip organisations at our Talent Management Breakfast Briefing. The morning’s programme includes presentations on the success of ASK talent management and OD projects by representatives from Invesco and the National Audit Office, as well as break-out sessions on a range of key organisation and personal development topics:

  • Talent Management
  • Executive Coaching
  • tASK (ASK’s unique business simulation methodology)
  • Learning Transfer and Application
  • Executive Assessment
  • Change.

The event is already fully subscribed (so much so that we are operating a waiting list), but please contact us if you would like to know more about our work in any of these areas or to attend any of our future events. We’ll also be publishing a report on the event next week: why not subscribe to our blog by email (see the link in the right-hand column) to be among the first to read more?

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28 September 2011

Guest Article: Odysseus the ‘resourceful client’? Human agency, coaching and change from Antiquity to the City – Dr Nigel Spencer

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, coaching, leading performance, learning transfer, life, management, organisational development | Tags: , , , |
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(The following guest article has been authored by Dr Nigel Spencer, Head of Learning and Development for Simmons & Simmons: you can read Nigel’s biography in our Guests section.)

Coaching encourages us to presume that the ‘client is resourceful’, and we have read a lot about our clients’ ability to define and achieve goals, driving change within themselves and, by implication, through the organizations or social contexts they inhabit. But are there limits to their ability to do this, and how much change can coaches and clients respectively achieve? In short, where do individuals reach the limits of their ability to influence their environment? And what are the implications for our effect on those we coach and for our ability to effect organizational levels of change?

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22 September 2011

Book Review: Awaken, Align, Accelerate, edited by Scott E. Nelson and Jason G. Ortmeier

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, book reviews, coaching, leadership development, leading performance, learning theory, line managers, management, organisational development | Tags: , , |
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While the world – and certainly many of its organisations – is always in need of more skilful, insightful and capable leadership, it is hard to argue with an authentic heart that the world is crying out for more books on the subject. Thankfully, just as some leaders rise above the multitude, some books stand taller than the mire of self-help tools and celebrity business hagiographies that continue to flood forth. While some of the latter may provide inspiration to improve, or a spark that sets an individual off on a personal development path, comprehensiveness, rigour and practical usefulness tend not to be high on their authors’ agendas. For the leader (at any level), coach, L&D or HR professional who is looking for something that truly provides these so-often lacking qualities, Awaken, Align, Accelerate should be an addition to the Leadership bookshelves that they can wholeheartedly welcome.

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30 August 2011

In the Psychometrist’s Chair: Episode 3 – The Hogan Development Survey

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, coaching, evaluation, HR, motivation, psychometrics | Tags: , , , , , |
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There are probably some fairly bad taste jokes to be cracked in the context of psychometrics about ‘not knowing your own strength’, and I’ll try to avoid them. But as psychometric instruments go, the Hogan Development Survey is different in identifying those strengths that can, indulged to excess, undermine us. Sometimes referred to as ‘The Dark Side’ rather than ‘The Development Survey’, it will help to keep in mind that the reference is to the less desirable aspects of our personality that may escape our ability to control or conceal them when we are living or acting under pressure.

Pausing to exhibit my capacity for mangling metaphors (even when not under duress), this isn’t so much a matter of a double-edged sword as a flip-side. Nor is it about avoiding going to extremes: some behaviours – passionate, excitable enthusiasm is important in driving or inspiring others – don’t benefit from being over-moderated. It’s not that this is something to be avoided – a lack of enthusiasm isn’t an improvement – rather than recognising what too much of it can be like not just for the individual but for others, and how it might demonstrate itself in stressful situations. There’s a big difference between The Duracell Bunny and The Moody Diva, and not just in how cuddly they are.

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16 August 2011

In the Psychometrist’s Chair: FIRO-B

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, coaching, evaluation, leadership development, motivation, psychometrics, relationships | Tags: , , , |
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In the previous episode in this series, I related the experience of completing the MBTI questionnaire and receiving facilitated feedback. But if MBTI is mostly about the individual, giving feedback on relationships with others more by inference and implication, FIRO-B is explicitly about the individual, others and the relationship(s) between the two. This is an instrument that looks at the ways we wish to behave towards others and others to behave towards us, and illuminates that these may be very different even in a single dimension: FIRO-B can illuminate many things, not least that “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” may be a familiar expression but it can also be highly inaccurate in describing our behavioural patterns.

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9 August 2011

In the Psychometrist’s Chair: Episode 1 – MBTI

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, coaching, communication, leadership development, learning theory, life, motivation, psychometrics, relationships, teamwork | Tags: , |
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There are many different psychometric instruments in use, not just in leadership or management development, but also in the recruitment and personal development fields and others. As it occurred to me that very rarely do you get to read a first-hand account of the process of completing some of these questionnaires and receiving feedback on them, I took the opportunity to follow up a fascinating session by an ASK colleague during Adult Learning Week by completing a range of the most commonly used tools and receiving facilitated feedback on them. In this first post in a series, I’ll cover MBTI® (later posts will cover FIRO-B® and instruments from the Hogan stable), and I hope they will provide not just interesting reading, but an insight into the psychometric experience for those who have yet to undergo it or are apprehensive about doing so.

Like many other organisations, ASK frequently deploys a range of psychometric instruments. As we value professionalism, client confidentiality and well-being, we only do so where those administering the instrument in question are licensed to do so, and all feedback is facilitated by trained professionals: while we can’t claim to be unique in this, many individuals each year receive feedback from the use of psychometric tests that is unmediated, unsupported and unfacilitated. (Given that any psychometric tool is a form of mirror to be held up to the person completing its questionnaire, this is never something that we would recommend.)

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