Blog

Saying Goodbye

We travelled to Bristol to say goodbye to a dear old friend this week.

Liz did a huge service to our family. Sometime after my Mum died in 1984, Dad met Liz and they became and stayed good friends. My Dad was not always easy to get along with, indeed after Mum died, he and I were very distant for several years. Liz was instrumental in encouraging Dad to get back in touch, which he did, and over time we sorted out our differences, and he became a much-loved father again, and grandfather too. You never know how life is going to pan out, but I remain very grateful for what Liz did for us.

Liz became good friends with Carole and me too, and when Keira was growing up, Liz was like a Grandma to her and her cousins. Always kind and supportive, the kind of person Keira genuinely looked forward to spending time with. I’m glad we had the opportunity, along with her family and friends, to pay our respects this week.

I’ve been reflecting on how fortunate we were to have Liz in our lives, and this week’s free art drop is a memorial piece. Liz was a keen gardener and this woodland guardian is a nod to her love of plants and flowers.

Talent 2020 : The Future Is Unwritten.

Back in 2015 I wrote a prediction piece for Cornerstone and HRZone. Mervyn Dinnen, Rob Briner, and Dr. Tom Calvard also contributed. I rediscovered my scribbles this morning and thought it might be interesting to take a look, five years on, and see how right or wrong I am.

Talent 2020 : Then

As someone who relies on improvisation in my work, and someone who practices meditation, I enjoy going with the flow, and trying to be in the moment. The idea of trying to see five years into the future for any reason, let alone what that might mean for talent at work, is therefore a challenge for me. Here are a few thoughts about what talent should mean for an enlightened organisation in five years time, and some things that need to shift in order to make talent the dynamic, wider opportunity it should be.

Talent 2020 : Now

I no longer meditate, at least not consciously. Currently I find peace in good work, art, and walking. I still cannot see into the future.

Talent Bubble: Then

I find the notion of talent as some exclusive club into which only a few can pass, quite abhorrent. When I worked for BT I refused to join the talent community, because it felt like a secretive, invitation only club, into which you were quietly drawn, rather than something everyone knew about and could take advantage of when needed.

Everyone has something to offer, and I prefer to think of talent as an all encompassing notion which we should use to encourage everyone to bring their best, and be the best they can. It’s a fluid concept, my talents may be particularly useful for a given time, and for a given set of requirements. I’d like to see the idea of talent as something highly permeable through which I, and indeed anyone, can move, to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

Talent Bubble: Now

I no longer feel so repelled by the idea of a talent community, but that’s more about me becoming more comfortable with who I am, and focusing on the things I can influence, not because I’ve grown to like the idea. I still believe talent is fluid, and we need to be better at letting it flow to where it’s needed. I’m also much more appreciative of hard work now.

A Shift – From Employee to Freelancer: Then

According to a 2014 report published by the ONS, self employment in the UK is at its highest level since records began. There are 4.6 million people working for themselves, with the proportion of the total workforce self-employed at 15% compared with 13% in 2008, and as few as 8.7% in 1975. This shift looks set to increase, with some predicting the number of people in a freelance role could be as high as 50% by 2020. I think what this means is that the bubble in which talent currently operates will burst.

The idea of a ring fenced, invitation only club for talent within an organisation will no longer be practical as organisations increasingly look outward to freelance workers to help them deliver. How willing will these organisations be to invest in talent that they don’t ‘own’? I invest frequently in my own ‘talent development’. I’ve spent time and money with The Improvisation Academy this year developing my improvisational skills. I’m investing time and money learning more about Organisational Design and I’m also investing in improving my artistic skills as demands for these is increasing from my customers. Currently I fund these activities directly from my freelance income, and I’m wondering if maybe, my freelance arrangements should be tweaked so that clients who invest in my talents can see that part of their fees is a direct investment in me, and therefore, the service I give them? 

The same ONS report which confirms the current levels of 15% self employment in the UK also reveals that income from self employment has fallen by 22% since 2008/09. There could be all sorts of reasons for this – and maybe, just maybe, if the buyer could see that the freelancer was committing to his or her ongoing talent development, this fall could start to become a rise.

A Shift – From Employee to Freelancer: Now

Sadly The ONS don’t appear to have updated the report I referenced five years ago. I can see from their website the number of self employed has since risen to 5 million, with the proportion of the total workforce steady at 15%. So much for bubble bursting and us lot taking over the world eh?

A Shift – From Being Trained to Learning to Learn : Then

Within organisations, there seems to be a move towards a more self determined approach to learning and development, albeit to me, this currently feels quite slow. As we can see in this article, technology is a clear enabler for this, and By 2020, I think this will offer a challenge to people in traditional organisational talent communities, for whom membership often means access to an enhanced training programme.

For some – the idea of cocreating and co-owning this facet of talent development will be very exciting, yet there’s a degree of arrogance that comes with admission to the club, and an expectation that stuff like training, learning and development, will be done for you. People with that mentality may see this shift as a cheapening of the talent experience, but then I’d argue they are not the kind of people you will be looking for in future. A move to more self determined learning should make talent communities more open, and make it easier to connect with relevant talent at relevant times, personally and professionally, organisationally and individually.

A Shift – From Being Trained to Learning to Learn : Now

I feel like there’s been at least some progress here. Technology is indeed an enabler for the curious, and it’s becoming easier and easier to learn new skills for ourselves. Youtube is a fantastic ‘how to’ resource which many of us use often. There is a growing acceptance of the need to work with uncertainty – and be comfortable with not knowing too. Another thing I see more of now is online communities and chats which can be useful for knowledge sharing. Beyond that though – there is still a demand (which I think we’re sometimes too quick to respond to) for sheep dip type training and learning.

Clarity in the Hiring Process : Then

There is already a need for greater clarity in the hiring process, specifically around making sure the role description is tangible, and matches the needs of the employer – regardless whether this is for a permanent hire or not. I think recruitment agencies need to work much more closely and robustly with their customers – not only in making job descriptions fit the role better, but being generally more responsive and accountable too. A failure to achieve this will mean that talent increasingly bypasses the recruitment industry and goes direct.

Clarity in the Hiring Process : Now

I don’t get the sense that much has changed here. I look for contract/interim/part time work so I’m registered with a number of online agencies, and I’m no longer surprised by some of the completely unsuitable jobs they point me to. A week or so ago I was sent details of a funeral director and a nursery worker in the space of 24 hours, whuh?

Did I Get It Right?

This predicting the future lark is hard work. By all means, hire me as an artist and facilitator, but based on this look back at a look forward five years ago, a futurologist I am not. If I’m approached to do something similar in future, I’ll refer back to the late great Joe Strummer, ‘The future is unwritten’. Maybe it should stay that way.

Photo credit

How To Fit Four Years of Experience Into One Minute

Dealing with self-inflicted complexity

Opportunity

I recently had the pleasure of being included in a team of people pitching for the 2023 London Borough of Culture award. Sutton, the borough I’ve lived in for most of my life, has been shortlisted for the award, and the council chose to involve two members of the community in the pitch. I am fortunate to be one of them.

Our instructions were simple. Deliver a ten-minute presentation to a panel of experts, then engage in a detailed question and answer session. At a previous planning meeting, we agreed I would take up to 60 seconds to illustrate the excellent grass roots arts and cultural scene in our borough. To support my words, I asked for a visual backdrop, a montage showing people in our community engaging with the arts and cultural scene, and then I got to work.

Challenge

As a community artist and executive committee member of Arts Network Sutton – I am in a fortunate position to have good visibility of much of the excellent arts and cultural work being carried out across our borough, but as I soon realised – this was as much a curse as a blessing. I started doodling and making notes, and it quickly became clear I could easily take up the whole session enthusing about the many good things happening locally. I got a bit stressed by the challenge I faced, ‘How can I do justice to all this good stuff in just 60 seconds?’

Spark

I’ve recently reacquainted myself with my Stop Doing Dumb Things cards – a device I created back in 2013 to help people like me and you when we get stuck in our work. I shuffled the deck and pulled a couple of cards. One of them read:

‘How much of your complexity is self-inflicted? Simplify Relentlessly.’ 

Change

That first phrase took me back several years to an unconference I facilitated at Target Field, Minnesota. I was working with Thomson Reuters global project management team at the time, and we got together to explore that particular community’s wants and needs, and to make cocreated plans for the future. Two people gave short presentations at the start of the event.

Dave St Peter – President of the Minnesota Twins, talked about the importance of family, both in relation to the team’s fans, and a sense of togetherness among the non-playing and playing staff in the Twins organisation. This was a useful spark for some of the community conversations we subsequently had.

Rick King, a senior executive at Thomson Reuters also spoke, and it was he who uttered that phrase, ‘How much of your complexity is self-inflicted’, during his talk. Bearing in mind Rick was addressing around 200 project managers, this particular line was a ‘pin drop’ moment at the time, and to this day I’ve never forgotten his words. Thank you Rick.

Practice

Fast forward to 2020 and I got back to work on the pitch – writing, cutting, focusing, repeat. I chose to speak about my experience of Arts Network Sutton, as discovering them back in 2016 was a pivotal moment in my artistic adventures. My job was to set the scene of a local grass roots arts scene, doing good things, and keen to do much more with the support of the award. My family were invaluable in making time for me to rehearse in front of an audience, and after a great deal of hard work – I simplified my message while keeping it effective, and timely. I used 58 of my allocated 60 seconds, so the rest of the team got 2 bonus seconds returned to them!   

Deliver

On the day we were given space and time to rehearse and talk things through. That was useful – and we quickly got to a place of readiness, without going over the top. With our presentation delivered, we got stuck into an intense question and answer session and worked well as a team, fielding questions, supporting and contributing where relevant. Our previous work together gave us the ability to respond dynamically, knowing where specific strengths lay in the team. The adjudication panel were friendly and tough – but in a way that conveyed genuine interest and a desire to hear how we could be, at our very best.

Be Thankful

I felt exhausted once our work was done – and we slowly drifted our separate ways, happy that we’d worked well together. Life carries on, until we meet again at City Hall on Tuesday 11th February to find out more. I am grateful to be included in this project, and to have had the opportunity to simplify relentlessly.