We were all waiting to go into the room, one by one. The structure charts had been published, consultations held, and we had a pretty good idea of what was coming for each of us. As Emily left the room, she was ashen and tearful. She knew what was going to be in the letter…
I spoke to two creative sector coaches recently who both had work postponed almost immediately as lockdown began in the UK, they are yet to know if it will return. A friend gave up a full time job to go into freelance event organising just weeks before everything shut down. Many, many creative practitioners have…
The Projected Economic Impact of Covid-19 on the UK Creative Industries Report, projects that the creative sector will be hit twice as hard as the wider economy in 2020, with a projected GVA shortfall of £29 billion. Many creative sub sectors are expected to lose more than half their revenue and over half of their…
Art for social change – or social justice? A great blog from François Matarasso exploring the nature of the ‘social impact of participation in the arts’. Online gaming: the rise of a multi-billion dollar industry A stunning example of storytelling through infographics with some numbers to make us all think. Going solo: how starting solo…
A failure to plan is a plan to fail. Planning remains a key element in organisational success but it is a lot harder than it was before Covid-19 began creating uncertainty everywhere. Past performance is no longer a reasonable guide to future performance. Old assumptions of cause and effect may no longer hold. In such…
I’m going to college today, for the first time in three and half months. I’m excited but also have a niggling sense of trepidation. I am reminded of the Heraclitus saying, No-one ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and you’re not the same person. I have had a site map of the building showing a new entrance, new…
Having fun exploring business models The creators of the Business Model Navigator have made an interactive version of their work on 55 different business models available online for free. It is a really great tool if you are thinking about business model change and want some inspiration. The Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded 1.5m archaeological…
Are you having to make major changes to your organisation? Do you feel overwhelmed by the scale of issues your organisation is facing? Would you benefit from a supportive space to test ideas, share concerns, or simply talk your plans through? The All Change action group is being created to support anyone dealing with these…
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. Albert Einstein As some of you know I ask…
Reinventing the organisation for speed in the post-COVID 19 era One of the themes emerging from people’s responses to the COVID-19 crisis has been the speed at which individuals, governments and organisations have suddenly found themselves able to move and change. This article from consultants McKinseys outlines nine ways in which positive elements of our…
On Monday Dawn wrote about the central importance of behaviour in determining how, and how well, we can weather the current storms. Perhaps particularly in challenging times, when people’s ability to tolerate disconnects and dissonance is lower than usual, we are judged by what we do rather than what we say. To help with the…
Strategizing and planning are important but it’s how we are behaving at the moment that really counts. That’s what builds trust. I sometimes look at what the big consulting houses (Mckinseys, PwC etc) are up to and while it doesn’t always translate, the scale of resourcing for both them and the entities they work with…
Fabric of protest Fabulous monthly programme from the People’s History Museum in Manchester that combines creativity and social justice, encouraging people to create textile works in response to items in the collection. Building community connections online A great programme from the Jewish Museum London that encourages people to connect online through sharing creative work in…