Journal

Missing Persons?

2011-10-02T19:34:33Z

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?

Peter Koenig Workshop (Update)

2011-09-07T06:00:15Z

Posted by Ian Young Follow me on Twitter

Peter Koenig

It’s pretty dramatic being alive just now. With the convergence of crises happening in our economic and financial systems, in business with people losing their jobs, in society with riots in our streets, in the environment with hurricanes threatening New York… there seems to be no easy prescription available. Trends analysts and forecasters say that these conditions will pertain for at least the next 12 years, so we cannot adopt a holding strategy and simply “sit things out” until conditions return to normal. It seems that there is no “normal” to go back to.

These issues in the global field affect our lives more personally. Many of us are facing complex situations that are making different and deeper demands on us and on our resources than before. How do we speak to our needs at such a time? How do we address the deeper issues of personal and collective consciousness?

With this in mind, meus is holding a very different kind of enquiry into “money and you in turbulent times” as a special response to the convergence of crises in our lives right now. We are taking the opportunity of working with Peter Koenig, who many of you might know from our Money Seminar and Source series of workshops.

Peter describes below what will be different about this open enquiry:

“This enquiry will be an open flow ‘drop in / drop out’ process where you can come for some (or all) of the time using the so-called Law of Two Feet. We will hold space in London from 0930 – 1730 each day from 10th – 12th September and you are free to come and go as you feel.

For anyone who wishes to join, there is a possibility (but not an obligation) to make a financial contribution. As a research process it's intended to evaluate current/future needs and consider direct responses to them – to develop a pool of shared information from which everyone can draw and good "products" can be formed.

A central focus of this open flow enquiry is not so much money as YOU - How do you position yourself, your family and your life for now, the present and future? The process of the Money Seminars and Source, developed to help people materialise their incarnate purpose without (financial) compromise will be available, but not necessarily a central component.

No registration is needed, you can simply turn up.

The locations where we will be are:

· September 10th and 11th: Regents College, London

· September 12th: The Jamyang Rooms, London

If you are free and would like to come along, we’d be delighted to see you there. You're encouraged to come with your own pre-reflected objective, personal enquiry or question - chances are this will yield the most interesting and effective results - but there's also no obligation around this.

Photo-Dialogue

2011-09-06T12:40:03Z

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Steve Marshall : Self-portrait

Vision. It's a visual thing.

When I first started reseaching imagery for our 'photo-dialogue' process I used to claim that we lived in a visual world; Flickr had 3 billion images and YouTube received 5 billion views per month. Today those numbers are beginning to look trivial. YouTube exceeds 10 billion views per month in the U.S. alone. Flickr, now one of many photo hosting sites passed 5 billion in 2010 and users continue to upload over a billion images per year.

We are becoming increasingly visually literate as our world is filled with visual media. TV, internet, streaming video and 'play-it-later' technologies all provide compelling messages (and lots of 'noise') which dominate our communication. Against such a dynamic, constantly changing background, the static text of a corporate ‘vision statement' languishing in a filing cabinet while people go uninterrupted about their daily work becomes a stark reality

Language has long been a poor tool for encompassing the fast-moving complexity and subtlety of modern organisations. Procedures are out of date before they have been published and written descriptions cannot offer sufficient clarity.

Shifting from language to visual has clear advantages; Gartner Group analyst Lou Latham says 'Organisations who can add visual interaction to their communication have better comprehension, a higher level of trust, and more accountability among their employees'. Many leaders now know that ‘vision’ requires more than a tired verbal mantra. Visual literacy begins with developing a personal vision and then enables others to build and share their own visions. So, what are the benefits of bringing visual 'technologies' to the 'vision' conversation?

Images cut through linguistic barriers and jargon
Images can be easily disseminated and reproduced
Interaction and creativity increase as typically 'quiet' participants find their voice
Imagery is fun and offers deep insight
Images can leave a long and lasting impression
Images support the potential to easily develop significant dialogue and meaningful organisational change

The simple notion that a picture tells a thousand words opens up new vistas as we address the increasing complexity of modern organisations - especially when we begin to engage people in envisioning their future.

It's time to illuminate creative, visual, conversations.

Steve Marshall is a founding partner and director of meus. His cutting edge work combines photography, art, and enquiry as a spur for dialogue, innovation and change.

Presence at Work

2011-08-29T09:17:06Z

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.

Love and Social Hierarchy

2011-07-29T14:51:03Z

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Many thanks to friend and colleague Veronica Scheubel for sending us this video (16:52) of Alain de Botton describing a 'kinder, gentler philosophy of success.'

Alain talks about the contradictions and paradoxes that surround ideas like love, meritocracy, snobbery, self-esteem, equality and envy. We are told that, in a world that supports the spirit of equality, anyone can rise to the top yet those who fail to make the grade are seen as 'losers'. He asks us to be less judgemental of each other, noting the frequently random, haphazard nature of success or failure.

De Botton reminds us that we can't have it all and that we need to recognise areas where we cannot succeed. Critically, he claims is that we should make sure that our ideas of success are our own, rather than criteria that are 'sucked in' from parents, media and materialist society.

Is there a Doctor in the house?

2011-07-26T09:53:45Z

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

We are celebrating the arrival of a new Doctor in the meus fold!!

Last week we heard that Ty Francis, whose crazy idea it was to bring a bunch of friends and colleagues together into the first meus conversation at Hawkwood, has received his PhD.

Dr. Ty Francis

Ty's thesis describes how we can set conditions to encourage creative learning and 'breakthrough' for individuals and groups. The completion of his PhD is the culmination of a sustained exploration into creative processes in business – a journey that led him to undertake extensive training in Gestalt and Systems approaches, and involved a deep commitment to the study of consciousness as a student of the Ridhwan School.

We now have three 'organisational doctors' working within meus (not to say, of course, that the rest of the team aren't also bristling with qualifications!) and we see this as an indication of the qualty and rigour that we bring to the creative process.

Through our combined commitment to learning and innovation we know that creativity can be tough. But our meus ethos is clear; if we are asking our clients to dig deep as we guide them through personal or organisational change, you can be sure that we have also walked along that path.

And, of course, we know that amazing achievement requires amazing celebration.

So, for our new Doctor, let's party!

Karoshi

2011-07-11T17:06:59Z

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

When Suzanne Quentin, one of the meus founding partners in the US, sent over this video I will confess that my first stop was the duration tag; 12mins 10secs...?

Then a thought flashed through my mind, "12:10 - Do I have time for that?".

It turns out that my reaction is precisely the point the film tries to make.

There is a gathering field of evidence that leads us to believe that overly busy lifestyles are corrosive at a number of personal, organisational and social levels. Prof Cary Cooper recently claimed the data shows that Americans die earlier from preventable diseases than people in Canada, Japan and the UK. He suggests that the overly-stressed US may be to blame.

And so the film hits us right between the eyes. Karoshi. Literally, death from overwork.

The film questions the meaning of life and the purpose of work then goes on to frame the qualitative difference between 'welfare' and 'wellbeing'. It turns out that this apparently semantic difference hides the potential for an enormous and meaningful shift in the amount of energy, vitality, and engagement we bring to our lives and work.

So, If you feel, for one second, that you don't have the time for this video, then heed the symptoms, watch carefully and take note.

This one is for you and, of course, me.

A Pause for Breath

2011-06-22T20:57:59Z

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.

Artful Humanity

2011-06-16T16:05:24Z

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

At meus we are always interested in gaining new perspectives and insights into the way organisations actually work. Aaron Koblin's TED talk on 'Artfully visualizing our humanity' is an amazing take on the use of data to provide fantastic visualizations that change our view of the world and how we live in it.

Aaron uses vast amounts of data, often supplied by vast numbers of people, and turns it into fantastic imagery. From traces of airline flights to a crowd sourced Johnny Cash video, his work is remarkable.

My favourite? The cell phone landscapes and the beautiful 'Happy New Year' moment!

Nonviolent Communication

2011-05-14T11:46:27Z

Posted by Steve Marshall. Follow me on Twitter.

Here is a shout-out for a 2 day NVC training offered by our meus colleague, Gina Lawrie, at Winchester Business School on 23-24 June 2011.

Many organisations are currently facing tough times and the workshop will enable participants to learn how to conduct difficult conversations, whether they be about redundancy, or difficulties with suppliers and customers, in a way that helps all parties to maintain trust and mutual respect.

Gina LawrieWith a background in psychology, social work and management development, Gina is one of the most experienced NVC trainers in Europe and is well-known for her teaching in many parts of the world.

She has also co-created a range of material for learning and practising NVC that have been translated into 7 languages and has recently been introducing NVC in Australia and New Zealand where she has been training trainers so leaving behind a flourishing organisation.

The meus team all are great fans of Gina's work - and the workshop promises to provide a top quality experience that will be challenging, supportive and fun.

For more details please go direct to www.winchester.ac.uk/crm or email: karen.blakeley@winchester.ac.uk