Bespoke
Organisations for the Future
Companies, organisations, and teams operate in a continuously changing landscape. The pace can seem relentless. Some desire to be at the forefront, others wish at least to remain relevant. We can help.
Focusing on the future entails being curious about what comes next, flexible and nimble to adapt to change; and porous - welcoming new concepts, ideas, and people. Technological advances, climate crises, intergenerational friction, and the impetus for increased inclusion of marginalised social groups create a complex suite of challenges.
It is widely accepted that meaningful progression cannot effectively be the remit of one person or role or, indeed, one group. So, it is vital to avoid significant numbers of people feeling disaffected, disengaged, or demotivated during any transformation. We work with you to co-design a bespoke programme. We meet you where you are and assist, guide and support you to explore and practice the processes, structures, and ways of working that will enable the transition to where you want to be. By giving attention to the ‘how’ as well as focusing on the ‘what’ of change, we encourage and invite all within the organisation to invest their abilities and skills to aid the desired evolution. We help you create an environment that embraces and fosters, nurtures and sustains.
Mediation in the Workplace
When workplace relationships become strained it can be hard to communicate well with one another, and we can offer external support to facilitate better understanding between co-workers.
High levels of trust and good communication are essential when we work together. But sometimes trust can falter and instead of staying curious about a situation we might start to make assumptions, becoming defensive or judgmental with one another. Trust can erode quickly leading to difficulties communicating and working together, and even conflict.
When colleagues or a line-manager/direct report are having difficulties working together, we can offer a facilitated conversation to build better understanding and to help explore and agree changes to ways of working that enable us to work better together.
Our process is confidential and sits outside any formal grievance or disciplinary process. It may be useful after a formal process to rebuild a relationship, or at any stage when communication has become difficult to help you both get your relationship back on track.
We create a safe space for individuals to reflect on and explore how they would like their working relationship to be different. Then, if both parties are committed to finding a solution and ready to proceed we meet together in a clearly boundaried session for a facilitated 3-way conversation in which we support you to hear one another clearly and constructively. We do not advise, instead we enable you to explore and agree together any changes that would support you to work better together in future.
Typically a session takes a whole day including 2 x individual preparatory conversations and a three-way facilitated session.
Facilitation for days and meetings
We offer facilitation for visioning meetings, retreats, diagnostic meetings, strategic meetings, and difficult conversations.
Our facilitation offers a safe and open environment to encourage and enable open and honest contribution from participants; providing opportunities for all voices to be heard. This approach ensures that the essence of issues is reached, whether they be concerns, ideas, feelings, or visions.
By addressing the ‘elephant’ in the room with ease and humour, avoiding unnecessary confrontation; sessions can be enjoyable as well as effective, enabling groups with potentially disparate ideas to converse, converge and reach agreements with mutual benefit and respect.
With a focus on solutions and actions, and rigorously maintaining a flexible structure with clear outcomes and trajectory, participants leave feeling motivated and capable of moving forward.
Relational
Coaching
We facilitate conversations between partners, friends, parents and children, and siblings to improve, develop and refine your quality of connection, find mutual solutions to problems and break unhelpful patterns.
If we aspire to have full and harmonious relationships with our family, friends and lovers, at times we may feel that our quality of connection with someone could be improved. Focussing not on problems, but desired outcomes, our relational mediation offers support for people who would like to feel more in tune with one another.
Issues will be voiced, heard and acknowledged to create empathy rather than blame, which we find more motivating to move out of stuck situations and repetitive unhelpful behaviours. Our approach doesn’t trawl through the past, nor do we believe that there is an ideal way to carry out relationships. Rather than giving advice, offering solutions or taking sides, we facilitate you in resolving your particular tensions and finding the most constructive solutions for all parties- reaching consensus rather than compromise.
Whether you want to shift deeply ingrained dynamics or are looking to fine-tune specific aspects before they begin to jar, we can assist you in establishing and achieving your desired outcome for the present and the future.
You can decide the focus of the work and the number of sessions; a lot can be achieved in just one session. You will gain a heightened awareness of how you are communicating and listening across the sessions, as well as the expertise to become self-sufficient in the continual refining of your relationships.
Coaching
and Mentoring
Future visioning, improving skills, attending to unhelpful patterns, interview preparation, being resourceful in challenging times
You may wish to identify what you really want, flesh out something you have already in your mind, and explore what you can do to accomplish it. You may wish to change current habits or patterns; yours or in relation to others. You may be questioning all sorts of things, or reconsidering your working, personal or social engagements.
Our process begins by establishing where and how you are now, identifying where and how you want to be. Mapping the terrain between these points, you to actively choose the routes that work for you and create the impact you wish to make. We believe that visualising and understanding the impact of achieving your desired outcome is what motivates decisive action. You own your ideas, take responsibility for your actions and enjoy personal fulfillment when you succeed.
This may include:
- Future visioning: what to do with your life, work and relationships.
- Learning or improving mental or physical skills.
- How to change unhelpful behaviours or thought patterns.
- Interview preparation.
- How to be resourceful in dealing with illness.
By actively listening, without evaluation, analysis or judgment, we create a confidential, safe space where you can be open and honest with yourself and one another. From this place where development is possible and with the tools introduced above, you will confidently go from where you are now from where you want to be.
N.B It can be very beneficial when your coach does not have familiarity with your area of expertise so as not to contaminate your thinking with input, opinion or expertise. When mentoring, however, the mentee benefits from working with someone within their area to create room for recommendations, references and knowledge sharing in order to expand opportunities.