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…
Another bunch of goodies that attracted our attention this week. Charity Commission guidance: Manage financial difficulties in your charity caused by coronavirus A really useful, straightforward summary of what trustees need to think about and do; definitely one to share with your board. Negotiating in a crisis: avoid the traps None of us are getting…
When we were working on our guidance for organisations facing financial difficulties no one had heard of Covid-19 and coronavirus was a generic name for diseases that cause respiratory tract infections. In writing the guidance we were responding to growing signs of financial stress among the organisations that we work with but we had no…
We have a couple more bits of news today; just to flag up some new resources and give advance warning of two webinars we’re doing on the 13th & 14th May. In a previous blog we mentioned we’d been working on some new guidance and a toolkit for Managing Financial Difficulties with Arts Council England.…
One of the most common workshop ice breakers asks you to tell your fellow participants something unexpected or quirky that they are not likely to know about you. I can still remember the shock and amusement when I confessed to my fellow Axis board members that I was a ‘Trekkie’ (for the uninitiated a fan…
…the provocation of hope is usually that a person is in some kind of trouble. (Lazarus and Lazarus, 1994: 72) A few years ago, I did some extensive research into arts and cultural organisations that were facing existential crises. I have to say it is quite sad to think how relevant that work has now…
When winds of change blow some build walls, others build windmills. Chinese proverb At the moment we are being asked to cope on many levels – individually, as families, with our peer groups and organisationally. Given how uncertain things are this is quite an ask, it’s no wonder there are moments of feeling overwhelmed or…
Its Friday selection box time again, here’s a few selected highlights from Susan and I for this week. The Coronavirus Time Capsule – Company Three An amazing project from the inspirational Company Three that has gone global, connecting teenagers across the world as they document their lives week by week. Huge ethical choices face those…
Just before the shutdown began, I was talking with one of my neighbours, a wonderful woman in her 80s who remembers the Nazi occupation of her native Holland. She remarked that the restrictions reminded her of that awful episode in that time was taking on the same odd quality: there was today when you focused…
As some of you know my creative practice is an important part of my life. I am not able to get to my studio at the moment and while I have often made work at home too, I have found it harder to focus at the moment. Last week, I was reminded of an exercise…