Category: Creative

Two Friends, One Adventure.

If I could choose to be anywhere on the morning of Monday May 20th 2013, I would choose to be in Omaha.

Two friends, Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen are going on an adventure. It’s called The Frontier Project. They won’t be travelling alone, a band of courageous, restless souls will be joining them to blaze a trail. I predict they will have an exciting, challenging and valuable time together. I’m not generally afflicted by FoMo (Fear of Missing Out) but in this case I’ll make an exception, and though we’re many miles apart – I’ll be there in spirit.

Joe and Jason are kind enough to check in with me from time to time. Sometimes we share business ideas, sometimes we try and bust a few creative moves, our fledgling poetry slam fits nicely into this category. As nice as it is, we don’t just talk – I get real challenge and push back from my conversations with Jason and Joe. I find I thrive when I have an edge to sharpen my thinking on and Joe and Jason are a key part of that edge.

I’m planning some exciting developments with a trusted friend and associate to develop and bring the ‘Proceed Until Apprehended’ approach to work to market this Autumn, and In the next few weeks, ‘I’m Not An Artist’ will be available for you to experiment with. Would these possibilities be coming to reality without time spent with Jason and Joe? Probably. Would they feel the same to me as they do now? Unlikely.

So – if you’re in Omaha on Monday, get along to The Frontier Project. And if you’re not, then check these two poems on Perseverance for a hint of what you may be missing.

Eventing

Apologies in advance – despite the title, today’s post has nothing to do with horses (oh alright then – you can have a photo). It is in fact, about three events coming up in London soon that I hope will interest you, challenge you and help bring out your creative side. I’m going to all three – hope to see you out and about.

ConnectingHR

ConnectingHR is having its fifth unconference in London on Friday June 21st. This will be the fifth one I’ve attended (don’t worry – I’m not an addict, I could stop if I wanted…..honest), and based on my experiences at the previous four, I’m looking forward to it. I should declare an interest in so far as I’m part of the team helping to organise this one, but don’t panic, I’m not allowed out on my own and I’ve decided this will be the last one I take part in, at least in this capacity. So in future, it’s a delegates life for me. Psssst, do you wanna help organise number six?

Our theme for this unconference is: Brave HR. What does that mean? Beyond an acknowledgement that our approach to work needs to evolve, it’s really up to you. If you would like a little guidance, then why not take a look at this 10 point agenda for change written by Neil Morrison at the start of 2013. Beyond the outline theme the agenda will be driven by you, the attendee, on the day. Tickets and more information are available now for £125.

Development Jam

Following our successful Facilitation Jam in January of this year, here’s another chance to play. This time we’ll be spending a day pitching some new ideas and getting feedback on them. The event is at the NCVO near Kings Cross on Friday 28th June 2013, and we’d like to invite you to join in.

The day will be quite free flowing with no one person responsible for leading the day. Instead we invite you to take turns to prepare and run a session during the event and receive immediate feedback on your ideas from your colleagues. You may be looking to improve on some existing ideas you use – you may want to try something completely new. However you choose to play, it’s up to you. This is being run as a not for profit event, you only pay to cover costs. We estimate the cost will be less than £100 per person, and we require a deposit payment from you now of just £50 to secure your place, with the balance paid on the day. There are only a few spaces available and we hope you will join us for a useful day this Summer.

Property Trading Game

Trainer’s KitBag are running a Property Trading Game open day in London on July 18th. It’s free to attend, and based on the feedback from previous attendees it promises to be a great day out. There aren’t many spaces left so if you fancy a good, challenging day out – don’t hang about.

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Adaptability

In case you didn’t know, the CIPD has teamed up with the MIX (Management Information Exchange) to hack HR – and they’d like your help. Now – before you grab your hatchet and excitedly chop the legs off the nearest HR Director, it’s not that kind of hack. I know that will disappoint some of you – but that’s how they sorted their work related problems in medieval times, not in 2013. This is more of a clarion call for clever and creative ideas to tricky problems.

Right now – the discussion is centred on ‘How can we make organisations more adaptable?’ Why not pop along to the Hackathon, register and take part? It’s easy to join and once you’re in you can read a growing number of interesting contributions in response to the adaptability question.

In case you are interested, here is my brief response to the question about defining adaptability:

‘Adaptability springs from having the courage to admit you are wrong. From there – all things are possible.’ And you can quote me on that.

What does adaptability mean to you? And how would you hack HR? Join in – have your say.

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