Talk List
Here is a small sample of my public talks, if you’d like me to speak at your meetup or conference take a look at the speaking page for an overview and more topics or get in touch.
An introduction to Solution Focussed Coaching...
Group think and other nuisances, practical methods to outsmart your team...
Sustainable pace and performance in teams...
Why decisions are hard and how to make them flow...
Get Where You Want To Go - An introduction to Solution Focussed Coaching
This talk introduces the concepts behind Solution Focus Coaching, an effective approach to high quality thinking. It can be used for many purposes including strategic thinking, developmental conversations and to further performance.
Despite its name it has little to do with jumping to solutions and solutionising. Grounded in positive psychology, the emphasis of Solution Focus is deciding what to go towards, committing to it, and the discovery of new, sometimes unexpected, ways to get there.
The approach is distinguished from other methods by its experimental, forward looking nature, a recognition that every individual, team and organisation is different and has the potential to unlock new ways to do and think.
No coaching experience is required, and the talk can be readily adapted to the aspirations and experience of the audience. For instance, it can be used as an introduction to coaching, or a Solution Focus Primer for coaches.
Participant Takeaways:
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Understand the principles of Solution Focused Coaching, including how it helps find ways to move forward quicker.
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Know when to use a Solution Focused approach, and how it fits with other coaching and agile approaches.
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Simple questions and techniques to help individual and group coaching conversations
Cognitive biases - Group think and other nuisances, practical methods to outsmart your team
This lively talk describes what cognitive biases are, why they occur and why they are worth looking out for. It highlights how they play out in agile environments and how they help or hinder teamwork and decision making.
Cognitive biases are thinking short cuts we all use to balance the huge volume of information around us and the need to make timely decisions. These biases are part of our survival instincts. They aren’t always helpful in today’s organisations, typified by a reduced risk of being eaten by a leopard.
It concludes with practical techniques to think differently and reduce or take advantage of their effect, encouraging teams to make the most of their talents, work well together and make quality decisions.
The talk is not centred on the role of biases in inclusivity and diversity, although these themes can be easily introduced.
The themes in this talk can be expanded into a workshop, demonstrating and experiencing a number of techniques to make the most of the group's potential.
Participant Takeaways:
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Understand why biases occur and how they affect thinking. Raise awareness of decision making biases.
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Learn the positive and negative influence of biases on decision making, group and teamwork. Understand the relationship between these and agile techniques.
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Explore tips and techniques to improve individual and team work by working with or against biases.
Kaizen to Karōshi - Sustainable pace and performance
Agile folk love notions borrowed from Japanese manufacturing, like Kaizen, ‘continuous improvement’. From the perspective of teams expected to transform, continuous may also mean relentless, ceaseless, unsustainable. Despite best intentions, change may still lead to mental health issues and burnout.
Paradoxically working at a sustainable pace often produces better long term performance.
This talk explains what burnout is, what causes it and the effects it has on individuals and organisations. It highlights where agile ways of working may be more susceptible. The talk then goes on to suggest ways of working and being to avoid it whilst maintaining long term performance.
This talk includes themes of autonomy, the importance of role clarity, physiological safety and leading self.
Participant Takeaways:
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Understand what burnout is, it’s impact, stages and tell tale signs.
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Learn how to set up teams to work at a sustainable pace and reduce the likelihood of burnout.
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Learn tips and techniques to manage energy and work sustainably.
Limit your DIP (Decisions in Progress) - Why decisions are hard and how to make them flow
This talk explores individual and team decision making, when we are most and least effective, and how to create environments conducive to timely decisions.
Building on this foundation we explore the notion that to really achieve flow decisions deserve more attention and could be treated as a separate type of work.
This talk is useful if you’ve ever fought to make a decision, wondered why work takes so long, or seen a capable team struggle to reach a seemingly simple conclusion.
Participant Takeaways:
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Understand the psychological challenges of decision making.
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Understand the impact of decision making on organisation flow and personal productivity.
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Learn simple methods for team and individual decision making.