I met up with a consultant colleague of mine last week for lunch. We were discussing the dilemmas presented by the initial client encounter and the (sometimes) "impossible" tasks we are asked to perform. In his case he'd been asked to solve a dilemma he knew, and they knew, couldn't be solved. He seemed a bit stressed out by the impossible task and wasn't sure how he was going to proceed.
We kicked around the dilemma for a while until I asked him - what's your dilemma telling you about the client, the client's system and their dilemma? That seemed to be a lightbulb moment for him becuse his experience of dealing with them, was in fact, their own experience transferred on to him. While I'm glad the conversation was useful for my colleage it did get me thinking (apropos a previous post on whether coaches are coachable) as to whether consultants are consultable to (am I still speaking English??). I would love to run some workshops for Consultants - particularly those working on their own, where we could explore our innate intelligence and how working with our emotional reactions to clients tells us more than we imagine. I' not sure of the format right now - online? offline? Or whether consultants would be interested in this kind of intervention. I would love some feedback from those of you who work on your own as to how you reflect on your practice? and whether you would be interested in a workshop designed to help you capitalise on your emotional intelligence about clients?
I spent a great day yesterday with a group of Artists in County Tipperary. I was running a workshop on “costing and pricing your work” but that was only a ruse for the real learning which, of course, took place between the participants. I think we had some fun (I certainly did) and I think there were some shocks for people – particularly when we did some actual calculations of how much it costs to make work – most people came expecting the secret code to pricing not having given too much thought to what they are spending (visible and hidden) to create their art.
But what I was left with after the day was the overwhelming self doubt that plagues people who put themselves out in the world with work that is so personal. This isn’t unique to artists, it’s something that anyone who is self employed faces at some point in their career. One of the issues that arose yesterday was – how can I expect someone else to have confidence in my work if I don’t have it? We spend so much time wanting external affirmation about what we do and if we don’t have a strong sense of our own value then others’ opinions of us can either inflate or inflate our sense of self and we’re left powerless to have any impact.
Mayo County Enterprise Board are holding an event on Achieving Your Potential to mark International Womens' Day on 8 March. The location for the event is Pontoon Bridge Hotel. I'll be one of three keynote speakers and the focus of my presentation will be on the emotional factors that help (and sometimes hinder) our ability to achieve our potential. The other two speakers are
Darina Loakman, who runs I am a WHAM who will talk about: Achieving Your Potential: Working From Home
and
Aideen Kane, Television Producer, of GMTV, who will talk about: Achieving Your Potential: The Working Woman
There's a nice video piece here promoting the event created by Darina and the Western People picked up the event this week also.
If you are interested in coming along to the workshop you can contact Nicola Fitzpatrick on 094 9047597 or at nfitzpat@mayococo.ie. Don't forget to say hello if you are there on the night!
Yesterday I attended a workshop on blogging and podcasting organised by Theatre Forum and presented by Susan Hallam. I was there with a couple of hats on – for a start I was the only blogger in the room and as you know, I’m an advocate of blogging for the arts sector. I have written before about the minimal activity in this area for this sector in Ireland but I was really there for selfish reasons to learn a bit about podcasting. The podcasting section was brief and to the point and I got some useful starter material to think about.
The workshop was aimed at Ireland’s performing arts companies and was a basic introduction to the nuts and bolts of getting up and running with blogs and podcasting. Hallam is an advocate of Blogger as a publishing platform because of its integration with Google (makes a lot of sense in terms of SEO) but less sense when one of our main broadband providers can simply drop the connection (as Twenty Major discovered recently). Many of the people in attendance were very new to the whole area of blogging and seemed to get great stuff out of it.
However – I was surprised at Hallam’s stance on commenting.
Hallam doesn’t believe in allowing comments on her own blog (apparently the comments were from competitors critical of her work) – and she disagreed with me that commenting on other people’s blogs should be a part of your blogging strategy. I was genuinely surprised by that stance. Blogs are conversational media and conversations involve at least two people. If you don’t allow comments on your own blog and you don’t deem it to be important to comment on someone else's then the conversation on your own space is a monologue, not a dialogue - and if you're not reading other blogs you won't even know if the conversation has moved. Far too many businesses in my view simply use the blogging platform to update static websites with press release material under the guise of blogging. Hallam’s view of conversation seemed to fall into two categories – the “talk amongst yourselves” forum type of conversation where audience/customers/users discuss their views on a forum of their own - separate and distinct from the originator of the work - or the monologue variation described above.
I’m all for a third way
• One which leaves room for blogs to be informed and influenced by what readers think.
• One that is open to the possibility that our readers and users have an intelligence that’s useful for us in conceiving work.
• One that suggests that the audience is a critical part of the creative process and that conversation is a key way of opening up that creativity in the service of great art.
• One that sugests that our readers are peers, not only purchasers of a product
• One that decides to take on and engage with critical responses to art in a way that can lead to richer conversations about this sector.
or to quote Tom Raftery
Businesses are made smarter by receiving the kind of direct, candid feedback that focus groups and market research surveys rarely succeed in providing
or Bill Gates (courtesy of Tom Raftery)
Another big phenomenon is building communities around Web sites, around products. And virtually every company ought to have on their Web site the ability for their customers, their suppliers, various people, to interact and their employees to see the dialogue taking place there and jump in and talk to them and help them.
Art and culture are never created in a vacuum. The social architecture of the sector is key to its success – not only the “bums on seats” argument (which is such a reductive way of quantifying this community) but the qualitative experience of having access to creators and consumers in equal measure.
Capitalising on the various communities of interest would seem to me to be an enormously important part of that discussion – but then again, maybe some organisations aren’t interested in the immediacy of that conversation?
Of the 20 odd people who were in the room yesterday I think many will go away and assume that setting up a blog is a smart marketing strategy (and they would be right), but I think they may miss the other ways in which blogging makes sense for arts and cultural organisations – as genuine tools for connecting with audiences as active contributors to a community of interest, as peers and as co-collaborators. In an age when most arts organisations are being asked to invest time and resources in “audience development” (oh how I hate that term) blogging is one of the most useful (and one of the the cheapest) mechanisms for addressing that issue. The only real marketing question that matters is - "would you recommend this to a friend?" Arts organisations don't need to sell tickets they need to convert evangelists who will gladly spread word of mouth about their work. Waiting for "them" to come to "us" has proved to be a limited strategy in the world of arts presentation - more and more organisations have outreach and education programmes to connect with new communities of artists and audiences - commenting fulfills the same function in the blog world. You can't passively wait for someone to discover what you're about - you have to engage in a bit of your own outreach by entering into other people's communities and making your presence felt.
I’m all for marketing but if you don't want to be part of a conversation – why use conversational media?
Disclaimer: I have written an article for Poetry Ireland on blogging for the arts community which will be published in their upcoming newsletter.
This is a reprint of a post I published on 25 May 2006 and I think it has a real resonance for many of us attending the Irish Business Women Conference in Mayo later this week the theme of which is Thinking bigger - what are we waiting for?
A number of Irish business people who blog will be attending the event including; Frank Fullard (co-founder of IBW and CEO of Mayo CEB); Finola Howard (co-founder of IBW and CEO of The Marketing Table); Keith Bohanna; Conn Ó Muíneacháin and GingerPixel
One of the central themes at the workshop I ran recently was the issue of self confidence and self worth. The room was full of bright and talented people and most spoke at some point during the day about the crippling plight of low self esteem and how, even with inputs from people like me and others, it gets in the way of taking action. Where this really emerged was around the issue of charging for work. Now this is something I have grappled with myself – how much is enough? How much is too much? And more importantly – how much is too little? All the market research in the world isn’t going to help if, at the end of the day, we don’t think we’re worth what we think we should be charging for what it is we have to offer.
I spent a lot of time during my training as a therapist grappling with this issue. How could you charge someone for being with them? Wasn’t that akin to prostitution in some way? And then, as a client, I would have gladly paid twice over for the insights I received along the way...so the paradox was very live for me about how we value worth.
I think the conclusions we came to were that if we are waiting for someone else to assign worth to us then we’ll be waiting for ever. In the inimitable words of Dr Phil “we teach people how to treat us” and I’m total agreement with him (even if he is cognitive behavioural and I’m not!)..but somewhere along the line we have to draw some boundaries around how we value ourselves and how, in turn, that is translated into value for a client, a customer or a commissioner. We need to communicate our value system first and hope to attract people with whom it resonates, or say “no” to people with whom it doesn’t. And all of that takes self confidence and courage.
Looking back over my coaching career in particular I’m struck by how much of the time I have spent with people has been around helping them take a step into the unknown…helping them to garner the courage to take just one step. So much of that work is acknowledging fear - and being scared (regardless of what word you use to describe it) is something that affects everyone. If we're not scared then that means we're happy with the status quo. Being scared means we're hovering on the edges of change and any kind of "next step" will take us out of that comfort zone.
If we can trust ourselves to manage ourselves instead of fretting about how someone else will see us, then that’s real empowerment…and real power comes from within, it is never awarded from without.
Today's workshop on Blogging, Podcasting and the Arts hosted by Poetry Ireland and delivered by myself and Conn was great fun. There were nearly 40 people in attendance in the theatre at the College of Surgeons who waited patiently while every piece of technology available failed to work for us in the 30 minutes proceeding the event. All of the sites we wanted to use were initially blocked by the college's firewall and when we got them up and running the projector died, then we lost internet access again and finally, 15 minutes later than scheduled, we were up and running.
Conn and I did a whirlwind introduction to what's a blog? and what's a podcast?; where you can find them and more to the point demonstrated the ways in which artists and arts organisations are embracing these platforms for both the production and promotion of work. I also took the opportunity to introduce TED and used Rives' If I Controlled the Internet as my opening salvo.
We had a number of bloggers in attendance including Omani, Dermod (who's review of the Crucible at the Abbey is number 1 in Google right now); ; Bernie McAdam; Deirdre Eustace (who is looking for some help to move to wordpress so if anyone is inclined - please drop her a line); Eoin Purcell (and there were others - so if you were in attendance today please leave a comment and I'll include a link to your blog here).
Lots of interesting issues came up including the challenges of how to fund artists wishing to create and present new work using these platforms; how publishing online impacts (positively and negatively) on offline book and journal publishing and how bloggers can spread word of mouth about your work if you're not within the reach of the Irish Times. I think if Conn and I tried to do anything it was to instil a sense of confidence in people to give stuff away.because what goes around comes around.
The full list of sites and resources we used (and a few more besides) are listed on this page and I'm looking forward to progressing many of the topics raised in future workshops.
This was the first time Conn and I had presented together. We designed the session via email and over the phone and several people said to me that we looked as though we had been doing this for ages (is that a good thing?). I guess we know each other's work and interests from blogging and I'm thrilled that translated into "real" life this morning. I'm looking forward to catching up with what other bloggers made of the day and if there are suggestions, comments or ideas for future workshops please do get in touch!
I frequently work with boards of directors and management committees wanting to take time out to review where they are and where they are going. Sometimes this involves organising and facilitating "retreats" or "away days". A recurring theme is often that of board composition - Who do we need? What skill base are we looking for? Do we need to think of retiring and asking others to step in etc? When it gets down to thinking about real people groups can often get stuck. Loyalties, allegiances, politics and favouritism sometimes get in the way of the task at hand.
Increasingly I'm using other methodologies for getting at what's needed and a favourite technique of mine is the fantasy board game. In this, each person picks a person - real or imagined, alive or dead to place on the board. It's a fun brainstorming session and the more it is played the wilder the suggestions get (and you can tell a lot about the group by whom they suggest). It's easier to pick a fantasy person than name someone you might know in a personal capacity because it removes the emotional awkwardness and allegiance difficulties. I then do an exercise with people about why they picked the person they did - and the list of attributes and qualities simply flows! We then have a list of all of the skills and qualities needed to populate the board that will look to the future and it's not a difficult task at this point to compare that list with the skill base of people currently sitting on the board. Augmenting, changing or moving around tends to be a much more l"ogical" task once the "illogical" one of picking fantasy people has been completed.
There's a lot to be said for playfullness in consulting - I really enjoy these sessions, and for what it's worth Katharine Hepburn is always on my list. Why? She's independent, sassy, not afraid to call it as she sees it and can stand up to Humphrey Bogart in a boat while at the time being a four time Academy Award winner and remaining fabulously feminine. Now I wonder what that says about me eh?
Photo courtesy of rest-in-peace.info
and thanks to Anecdote for the archives picture idea
The Irish Film Institute in Temple Bar is hosting a weekend of workshops, discussions and screenings on 28 and 29 July entitled Toys on Film. I'll be chairing a panel discussion on Sunday 29th July between 1 and 2pm at the IFI exploring 21st Century Toys – play or dismay?
How does your child play today? As Internet, mobile phone, computer games replace more conventional toys, what might be the long-term effects of such technology-driven play?
Leading representatives from Internet safety, film distribution, classification and parents’ organisations will be present to discuss this question and issues relating to contemporary toys and film.
The panel will include:
Siobhán Parkinson, award winning children's writer.
Eric Clark, author of The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for Britain's Youngest Customers.
Graham Dillon, media and communications student and member of Young Advisory Panel of the Ombudsman for Children's Office.
Dr Sheila Greene, Director of Children's Research Centre, TCD.
There'll also be a representative from the Irish Film Censor's Office.
What an impressive line up of panellists don't you think? Tickets are free (but do book in advance) and if you need further information call the education office at the IFI on 01 679 3477 or contact the booking office. You can always stay around to see Toy Story 2 which will screen after our discussion!
Looking forward to seeing you there.
I love the idea of re-introducing scarcity into systems that lack boundaries
If too much choice leads to unhappiness then does scarcity lead to something more productive? I'm inclined to think it might after the past week or so. Mayo County Enterprise Board asked me to design and deliver a series of day long workshops for 16/17 year old students to encourage them to think of entrepreneurship as a career option after school. 50 students attended each of the four workshops we ran over the past 2 weeks and at the end of each day we had 8 new businesses complete with elevator pitches; unique selling positions and costings.
I designed the sessions to give the students resources including the services of consultants; some brainstorming exercises to get their creative juices flowing; space; time; there was an award for the members of the winning team and a clear task. Then I added some constraints. Consultants could be booked for a limited number of timed sessions. A lovely lunch was provided but we didn't have an official lunch break. A deadline was imposed for each of the 8 groups to present their pitch to their classmates. The students had to self manage time, resources and constraints.
The workshops were variations on similar bootcamp events I've run for business clients and I also structured the days around a set of principles I believe to be true in organisational systems.
• People (particularly teenagers) know much more than we give them credit for
• Real creativity happens when you connect people with their own unique truth and experience
• People are experts about their own experience
• When creativity dries up in the system start looking at who’s managing the process – blocked creativity is rarely located in an individual’s experience it’s always about the message individuals are getting about what constitutes the ‘right’ way of being creative
• Most of what constitutes consulting and facilitating is getting out of the way
• The other bit is learning to listen – which means not thinking about your response to what the person in front of you is saying
• Creativity can only thrive with constraints. Too much of anything is not liberating it's oppressive
• You can only manage at the boundaries - anything else is police work
The students came up with fantastic ideas, on time, on task and made creative use of all of the resources we put at their disposal. Claire Wilson documented the days and we were joined by a team of five consultants who worked closely with each of the groups.
If I've learned anything in the past week it's that teenagers know more about strategy than any MBA graduate I've ever met and trusting them to get on with the task is half of the work involved - let's not assume that because someone is 'younger' (in any sense of the word) that there's anything they need to learn from us oldies. These young people blew me away with their ingenuity, positiveness and ability to work with what was in front of them. I'm indebted to a wonderful 17 year old young woman (my niece) who has taught me a lot about respecting the wisdom of younger people - she deserves half the credit for the design of the day and I'm proud and honoured to have a wonderful consultant of this calibre. She has two younger sisters and I'm on standby for the life lessons they'll pass on when the time is right.
Hat tip to Gary for the Merlin Mann post
I'm on the way to New York where I will be for the 10 days or so and am looking forward to another visit to my favourite city. I'll also be attending the New York regional meeting of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations where I'll be presenting on the 'cyber system in the mind'. I'm going to do a swift overview of social media; reflect on some of the issues presenting in my therapy and consulting practice arising from internet activity; offer a case study and some some hypotheses about the scarcity of psychodynamic practitioners online. (So far I have only come across one other - Irish man- Mark Dowds who is based in Canada these days). I'll post some of my thinking here after the event along with links to the sites I'll be referencing in the presentation and some other resources. I'm hoping to catch up with Terrence Seamon for a cup of coffee during my stay and if anyone else out there is interested in getting in touch please do drop me an email.
It will be quiet here for the next week or so as I'm flying to New York on Friday. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, bloggers and soon to be friends alike so please get in touch if you have time for a coffee. I'll be speaking about my current research into the organisation of disappointment at the William Alanson White Institute on Monday 28th April at 7pm. If you'd like a ticket you can book by emailing Carlos Acha or phone 212-873-0725, ext. 10. This will be the first time I've spoken about my work to anyone other than my academic supervisors so I'll be nervous, excited and hopefully not too disappointing. Looking forward to seeing some of you there.
