Budgets are important. They help our organisations to understand what resources they have available. They give us the opportunity to plan what we want to do and how we’ll pay for it. And they allow us to see how we’re doing as the year progresses. But let’s be honest: The annual budgeting process is a monumental pain in the backside. There must be a better way.
Continue readingI’m very keen not to be one of those people expounding the ‘upsides’ of the ongoing global pandemic. Because, y’know, global pandemic. But the need for many of us to work remotely has undeniably initiated a step change in the way we do things. And the range of digital tools available to help us to work more productively – indeed, to be able to work at all – has grown exponentially. Here are some that have allowed me to keep my business on track. And that I would now probably struggle to live without.
Continue readingEven without the global pandemic, 2020 has been a tumultuous year. In the UK, we’ve stumbled our way out of the European Union. The worldwide Black Lives Matter movement has challenged the way we think about race and about our own colonial history. And we’ve become ever more aware of (although, sadly, not necessarily more inclined to do anything about) the damage that we’re inflicting on the world around us.
So as the year comes to a close, it seems timely to reflect on what we’ve learned from the last twelve months. It’s tempting, of course, to simply put our heads down and get the hell out of 2020 as quickly as possible. But it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to draw back the curtains tomorrow on a new world of pandemic-free sunlit uplands. And so we need to learn what we can, in the hope that it will help us better to deal with the year ahead.
Continue readingI like my routines. For things that I do regularly, I have a set way of doing them and I do them the same way each time. I know how long it will take me. I know it works. And I don’t need to spend time reinventing the wheel. My wife takes the mickey, of course, especially when my routine is interrupted and I temporarily lose the ability to function. But, by and large, my routines work.
Continue readingIf you knew the answer, what would it be? As a trained coach and someone who spends a lot of my time helping people to get to the bottom of organisational challenges, this is one of my all time favourite questions. On the face of it, sure, it’s nonsensical. But when wielded carefully, it can be liberating, enlightening… and oh-so powerful.
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