A while back I was packing up after a fairly complex and involved Board awayday. I had my usual overflowing kit of materials, flowers, pens etc that are all stuffed into a flight case, plus a mobile whiteboard and my rucksack. I collected all my belongings and we waited as a group by the lift…
Budgeting is always more art than science; all that precision to the nearest pound or often pence is a misleading if comforting fiction of control. The future is always unknowable and uncontrollable but we have to have budgets to work to so we create them and hope that others: staff, suppliers, partners and customers behave…
On reading and discussing Susan’s post about Ending Well last week I was reminded of the various insolvency cases I was involved in while working as part of Arts Council’s Recovery Programme (a lottery funded programme for arts organisations in danger of imminent insolvency). I can absolutely endorse her point about emergency insolvencies being something…
What’s missing from Zoom reminds us what it means to be human Enlightening piece from Steve Blank on why video conferencing is tiring, frustrating and a poor substitute for talking to people in the same room The world in a dandelion A beautiful and evocative post by artist, print maker and fine art photographer Katayoun…
You may have noticed a few core themes cropping up in our posts and letting go has definitely been one of them. When we posted ‘What might have been and letting go’ a couple of weeks ago it prompted some reflections from Susan about her experiences as an insolvency practitioner. We are all being faced…
I am in my second year of studying for a masters in innovation, creativity and leadership. I started the course to refresh my consultancy skills, to make sure that I remained relevant, useful (and worth paying for) and to give myself a structured opportunity to learn. It has been a much richer experience than I…
In the space between chaos and shape there was another chance. (Jeanette Winterson) One of the most common words I’m hearing at the moment, and possibly saying, is transition. That is probably a good thing, but I am beginning to worry it will lose its potency, a bit like resilience, agility and disruption have done.…
Last week I shared a piece on being present in these confusing times and Adam Annand commented that it resonated with his training as an actor. Naturally, I asked if hew would say a little more about it and am delighted to welcome him as the first of what I hope will be many guest…
Hard to believe it’s Friday again! Here’s another loosely curated selection box of things we hope will inform or inspire. Access, advocacy and expertise Brave and thought-provoking piece from Unlimited’s Jo Verrent I’ve just updated our risk assessment, a task I do every three months. It looks dramatically different and a hell of a lot…
When Susan and I work with our partners and clients we are usually collecting data from all sorts of sources from the moment we make contact, including when we step through the front door of an organisation for the first time. We know how important these first stages are because we are seeing things with…
Presence is more than just being there (Malcolm Forbes) Yesterday, I was very conscious that I had to change tack a number of times; different tasks, sectors, groups, and areas of focus. I felt the need to apologise in advance to someone that I might not always be as present as I would like at…
Yesterday morning went pretty well, I got some writing finished, decided how I would approach two presentations I have to do, organised my day, and decided how I would approach various upcoming commitments. By early afternoon I could feel a bit of a dip coming and after several video conferences I was feeling pretty fuzzy.…
When we originally created the Guidance everything was in one document and it was, to be frank, a bit unwieldy. We then split it into two parts: The Guidance, a summary of principles to consider The Toolkit, a collection of tools, frameworks and checklists that we and our clients have found helpful Managing financial difficulties…