If design is the bringing together of form and function, then design principles are the organising statements that help us to navigate the myriad decisions that we are faced as we create anything, be it a product, a building or in our case an organisation. Design principles can also help us work through how we …
As I told someone the other day, one of my ‘tells’ for when I am busy is the fact I start musing about my diary and how I spend my time (my other one is excessive stationary accumulation as what project isn’t improved by a new notebook?). I treat my diary as a puzzle which …
We are now properly up and running with our strategy / not strategy work and clusters that I wrote about here are now starting to have a really productive conversation about the work they are doing now, aspirations for the future and the way in which we could organise ourselves. We are about to add …
I avoid New Years resolutions but I do like to spend the first week of the year having a think about my intentions for the year. In truth I never ever manage them all but its a really valuable reference point, written in that beautiful quiet of the slowest part of the year, that I …
Even though I have been interim CEX since June it feels very different – and very lovely – to now be able to say I am in post and Chief Executive of Adur and Worthing Councils. I use this blog to reflect for myself on what I am doing, and this seems like an important …
This is a bit of a life maintenance post written during the August effect of a lot of people being on holiday and a sense that you can breath a bit. I tried to lean into this feeling a bit as things have – for all of us – been on a war-footing throughout the …
Rather than running around our organisation saying ‘we need resilience’ over and over I want to unpack what I mean. I’m doing it here as a way of working and thinking in public – it helps me to develop my ideas and is part of the openness which I think of as a building block …
This is quick personal note about leadership and ambiguity. I’m just about to step into the interim CEX role. I’m excited about this and feel very fortunate to be so well supported by by Martin and Paul, the other 2 directors as well as feeling grateful for the thoughtful and generous handover Alex is doing …
Even when we are way beyond school age summer feels like a time of transition and this summer more than ever. It seems both endless and goes in the blink of an eye. Time has been distorted by our year of pandemic and I am feeling that sense of summer transition more than ever. I …
I wanted to spotlight this wonderful piece from @georgejulian about curative candour. George always writes with huge passion, rawness and insight but this piece about the effect that real honest and painful candour had when her mum was diagnosed with cancer is – and I don’t say this lightly – humbling. I have such admiration …