Archive for 'Blog'

It’s day 1 of a 5 day workshop I’m undertaking, my purpose: to build a skin on frame ( SOF) kayak, a modern day interpretation of the Inuit’s primary vehicle. I arrive at 8.30 to meet my traveling companions for this journey. There’s David – the visionary host who runs Forestvale Design Centre on South Bruny Island and Peter Ingram Jones – who I come to know as the quiet encouraging merlin. That’s David on the right. Continue Reading →

We’ve had fantastic feedback following the “Leadership Agility in a Dramatically Changing World” conference. You can download the conference papers at our latest news page – http://humaningredient.com.au/latest-news – but we were delighted with the spirit of inquiry and co=operation developed with the conference delegates. Our idea of creating a conference which had the potential to build good connections between participants, create an atmosphere of trust and intimacy to enable skill development, as well as deliver currency in terms of demographics, ...

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about what happens when we age. This has been prompted by my own father recently being admitted to a high care aged facility. He’s in his early 80’s, is a dialysis patient, has congestive heart failure and also suffers from gradual onset of dementia. I found myself reading Kathleen Noonan’s column in the Brisbane paper – The Courier Mail and I was very taken by some of the work of Bronnie Ware, who as ...

The potential power and creativity between extreme opposites is immense when each person accepts the others differences as being legitimate, stimulating, and enhancing. When the number of people increases, even greater creative potential develops – along with greater potential difficulties. When the number of people is increased, tribal patterns can come into play. Then what frequently develops is the weird John’ syndrome. The misfit.

When tribes understand the value of welcoming differences, they enhance the synergistic possibilities inherent in their relationships. ...

What is needed to create a climate of RAPPORT?

Rapport is one of the most important elements in effective communication Good communication stems from good rapport and appreciating the unique reality of each person. Rapport at its simplest is the ability to influence, and the openness to be influenced, on many different levels. Rapport builds relationships. The better the relationship the easier the task. By building rapport you can quickly build trust and understanding. Rapport may exist naturally in some situations ...

Entry and contracting are two terms that are often used to describe the process that consultants conduct as they start to explore a client’s system. Generally it means that you find a point at which to “enter” the system, usually with a contact client. The “contracting” is what happens when you meet, often about building some agreement to procede. My purpose in this short blog isn’t to highlight all the pitfalls that can happen on the way to agreement, but ...