Author: Doug Shaw

Artist and Consultant. Embracing uncertainty, sketching myself into existence. Helping people do things differently, through an artistic lens.

Stakeholder Engagement – In Detail

Just for you – we’ve written an in depth study of stakeholder engagement. Well as in depth as anyone needs it to be. So forget your weighty tomes and worthy manuals, this is it folks.

1 – Be aware of who your stakeholders are

2 – Inform stakeholders about what’s going on

3 – Ask stakeholders their opinion

4 – Is that it? Seems to be…that’s where most folks leave it eh? OK – it’s a wrap, lights out, we’re going home. Oh yeah….the bit most folks forget…we nearly forgot.

5 – Act on what your stakeholders tell you. At least sometimes. Go on, it’s good for you, and your stakeholders will love you for it.

6 – Go back to step 1

Photo c/o brewbooks

Love to Learn

I would like to acknowledge everyone starting or about to start, the next phase of their lifelong journey of learning. These photos are of my daughter Keira getting ready for her first day at junior school today. Long may the excitement continue.

I just spotted this being shared on Twitter:

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

Love to learn.

Survive and Thrive – How Was it For You?

Tomorrow What Goes Around will be one year old. Has it really been a year? Yes it has. September the first is our birthday. We’ll come back to the celebrations later. For now, I want to share three things that I’ve focussed on and worked at to help What Goes Around survive and thrive this past year. Three among the many that I’ve practiced in the last twelve months. And I would really appreciate it if you could do the same.

Tell us three things you’ve practised to help you survive and thrive. I’m publishing this note on a number of networks. I’ll collate all the replies, and share them in a little ebook. Everything will be included, and of course, everyone gets a namecheck, a weblink, whatever works best for you. Here goes:

Number One – The Network

The folk I know, and have learnt to know, and am learning to know fascinate me. I was going to write “My Network” as the title, but it isn’t. It’s ours. A network is something to contribute to, and take from, and most importantly, to look after for you, and everyone in it. Connecting interesting and useful people purposefully. Joe Strummer said “Without People, You’re Nothing”. He was right. Look after the network, love the network.

Number Two – Future Focus

What’s done is done. Folk make decisions that don’t always go your way, or maybe they don’t even make decisions. And once they do make decisions, they rarely change their minds. So you can invest a huge amount of time wondering why not. Or you can look ahead to what next. I try and learn from what has happened in order to make better decisions next time. And I’m getting much better at not beating myself up about it.

Number Three – Be Positive

Shit happens. I’ve written before about losing my Mum just before I turned 19. Yes this made me angry, yes this made me sad. And sometimes it still does. Most of all though it made me even more proud to be my Mother’s Son, and it still does. Approaching people and opportunities with genuine interest is motivating. I believe that being overwhelmingly (and yet not permanently) positive helps to make good things happen.

So there you have it. Three things among the many I’ve practiced in the last twelve months. It’s our birthday tomorrow, maybe we’ll have cake. Now, how was it for you?

Photo c/o Vandy Massey