A professional, external facilitator can provide lots of valuable support with an organisation’s strategic thinking and planning. More and more Boards and CEOs now use one. But exactly what potential uses can such a facilitator serve – beyond perhaps just Read more…
As a leader, it’s obviously important that you notice what’s happening around you. But, actually, how much do you think you may miss or, if you are honest, might you choose to ignore or ‘avoid’ noticing? And what can leaders Read more…
Since business strategy was conceived in the 1960s, it has been rather stuck in a mechanistic, analytically-based groove. The accepted process has been very much about valuing data, applying various analytical tools, trying to predict the future, and then drafting Read more…
The recent pandemic has caused many people all over the world to reflect on their lives, their wellbeing, what their purpose in life is and what they want from their jobs. At the same time, employers have not only widely Read more…
Human brains are quite inefficient cognitive machines. All of us regularly fail to see things accurately around us, we make poor assumptions, we misremember facts, we give in to cognitive biases, and we often make decisions based on emotional whims, Read more…
Here are a dozen reasons for hiring a professional, external strategy facilitator, rather than using an internal staff member or Board member to take on the role: 1) Independence: An external facilitator will bring a detached, ‘outside-in’ perspective. In contrast, Read more…
Do you consider yourself to be a strong, independent thinker ? Are you proud you can formulate your own thoughts and make decisions on your own ? Certainly, the idea of thinking for oneself is often seen as a valuable Read more…
In today’s world, most challenges and problems need the work of a team, rather than just an individual working alone. The key ingredient is the ‘collective intelligence’ of the group as a whole, which can usually deal much better with Read more…
Most leaders today are aware how ‘cognitive biases’ (e.g. ignoring some new evidence because it contradicts an existing belief you hold) can distort organisational decision-making. The difficulty is that biases are mostly unconscious things and so it can be very Read more…
Strategic leadership is a key responsibility for any board of directors, but in charities and other non-profits it can often be quite a weakness, unfortunately. A key issue is that at very many charities trustees often have limited knowledge of Read more…