Tag Archives: leadership

Podcast Episodes, Positive Risk-Taking

Podcast Episode 072: Provocative Propositions

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2The strengths approach shares many values, principles and practices with other well known approaches, one of which is Appreciative Inquiry.

During a conversation planning for a workshop presentation at a conference the question of establishing a ‘provocative proposition’ arose… a concept closely integrated into the practice of Appreciative Inquiry.

In this episode I establish my statement as: ‘Positive risk-taking will transform the relationship of individuals and organisations to risk forever!’ I then test out this statement against the eight criteria for a good provocative proposition. See whether you agree, and more importantly, learn a little more about how positive risk-taking should be implemented to maximum effect.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/072-provocative-propositions/id867043694?i=350141736&mt=2

“When someone sets out to be controversial or provocative or shocking as an end in itself, I don’t think that’s a noble goal.” [Rob Bell].

Person-centred working, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 071: Sarah’s Story

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Person centred planning is a concept well established in learning disability services, with a clear set of principles, broad questions, tools and methods for capturing plans. But, what does it really look like in practice?

In this episode I narrate a detailed case example from a service I had been involved in developing. This case study of Sarah (not her real name) highlights not just the challenges of diagnosed multiple conditions, but also the barriers that have to be overcome in getting your close sources of support to change in order to achieve your desired wishes. Some of Sarah’s presentation is undoubtedly challenging, but this episode explains how they have been accommodated and overcome with creative thinking, as well as illustrating the process happening in practice.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/071-sarahs-story/id867043694?i=350141737&mt=2

“I was diagnosed with a severe temporal spatial deficit, a learning disability that means I have zero spatial relations skills. It was official: I was a genius trapped in an idiot’s body.” [Sloane Crosley].

Person-centred working, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 070: Person Centred Planning

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2The strengths approach is all about being person-centred, but the concept of person-centred planning is much more closely associated with learning disability services. It is about ensuring the individual’s needs, wants and personal choices are paramount; and that the role of workers is to listen and learn from the individual in order to shape service responses to meet the priorities expressed.

In this episode I outline the historical development of person-centred planning, its 4 principles, 2 broad questions, 4 specific tools, the ‘circle of care’, and the outcomes represented occasionally by the ‘Personal Book’ or ‘One-Page Profile’. I also review some of the examples of how it is best implemented, and what the critics have to say about whether it really works or not.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/070-person-centred-planning/id867043694?i=348334288&mt=2

“If a child is labeled as having a learning disability, it has very concrete consequences for the kinds of services and potentially accommodations that child will get.” [Robert Sternberg].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 068: Working with Strengths Case Study

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2Working with Strengths is a consistent process of identifying strengths through a strengths assessment, leading to the identification of personal priorities. These priorities become the separate strengths-based support plans, but the identified strengths also apply in managing crises and concerns.

In this episode this whole process is illustrated through the details of the case study of Aluna, an African lady arriving in London at a young age, but the victim of horrendous abuses. The case study illustrates how the initial information we receive sets up a very narrow and generally negative picture of a person. Time is the ultimate requirement in order to encourage someone to build trust and engage with services that can be of help and support. The process of engaging trust is most successfully achieved through a focus on a person’s capabilities, not by just keeping them focused on the problems and difficulties they experience.

Aluna was very clear what she wanted, and how she could work with certain services to achieve her aims, but both she and the services held concerns that a strengths approach can also be adapted to resolve.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/068-working-strengths-case/id867043694?i=348334286&mt=2

“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.” [Abraham Maslow].

 

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 067: Strengths-Based Questions

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2When delivering ideas about a strengths approach I am frequently confronted by the need for practitioners to discuss their most extreme example of a severly depressed completely entrenched person who has no strengths.

My immediate response is that everyone has strengths, just on some occasions it is a greater challenge identifying and developing them. The real failure of perception is to take the superficial picture as the whole picture. We need to dig beyond the surface in creative ways that respond to each individual and their personal circumstances.

In this episode I outline 10 questions to keep in mind when the search for strengths proves most challenging. These questions have some similarlity with the approach adopted in Brief Solution Focused Therapy, with an emphasis on exception-finding, scaling, coping and what’s better types of questions.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/067-strengths-based-questions/id867043694?i=346798305&mt=2

“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” [Tom Landry].

A Strengths Approach, Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode 066: Strengths-Based Planning

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2You may be a supremely spontaneous individual, but we all still need degrees of planning if we are to be confident of setting in motion the powerful action to help us in achieving our dreams and aspirations.

In planning for achievement it is common sense to think that our strengths will be focal in the process, but they apply equally to plans for managing our concerns and crises. ‘Working with Strengths’ is a process that follows the path of strengths assessment to stated priorities to strengths-based support plans.

In this episode I offer brief checklists of prompts to guide the construction of strengths-based plans for achieving our priorities and for managing our concerns. It is the application, not just the identification of our strengths, that enables action and positive change. These checklists should apply equally to personal reflection or to our work in supporting others.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/066-strengths-based-planning/id867043694?i=346798304&mt=2

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” [Anatole France].

Podcast Episodes, Practice development

Podcast Episode 065: Puncturing pomposity

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Person-centred (2009)
Person-centred (2009)

Why are we so enamoured with our impenetrable jargon and gobbledegook? All professions adopt it, seemingly as a badge of membership, and as an illustration of their special exclusivity. For the outsider, having the unfortunate need of the services of a professional, the langauage is often likely to be the first insurmountable barrier.

In this episode aI briefly explore how meetings can be fun experiences. In the undignified way you might want to adopt a game of ‘bullshit bingo’. In a more dignified way, it is a chairperson’s role to give permission for the use of the more humourous examples and anecdotes, even when the overall subject matter is heavy and serious. It should be more about encouraging lateral or creative thinking, but do it in simple and accessible language.

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/065-puncturing-pomposity/id867043694?i=346798306&mt=2

“I think there needs to be a meeting to set an agenda for more meetings about meetings.” [Jonah Goldberg].

Podcast Episodes, Practice development

Podcast Episode 064: Control freaks need not apply

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Person-centred (2009)
Person-centred (2009)

Can the chairing of meetings, the very thing we often want to avoid, actually be fun? In this episode I discuss how the overall effectiveness of meetings can be directly proportional to the effectiveness of the chairperson.

Those who operate as control freaks with an over-inflated sense of self-importance, or those who are democratic to the point of becoming all talk and no action, are equally ineffective. The concept of the ‘revolving chair’ should just be left spinning.

I outline an approach to meetings that views them akin to a 3-act play, with several practical tips for fulfilling the role. I also outline the need for preparation and skilled facilitation as a pre-requisite for an effective chairperson. What does a strengths approach to managing the ebb and flow of meetings look like?

For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/064-control-freaks-need-not/id867043694?i=345038675&mt=2

“If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.” [Charles Kettering].

Podcast Episodes, Practice development

Podcast Episode 063: Truly meeting the need

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Person-centred (2009)
Person-centred (2009)

Within the context of service-centred working can a meeting ever be person-centred?

In this episode I outline experiences of ward rounds and community reviews that are frequently presented by the services as being person-centred, but are clearly service-centred.

Our use and misuse of language is more often than not a reflection of our values and ultimately a reflection of what we deliver as a service, so it needs careful attention.

Attendance at meetings does not equate to involvement in meetings. So what will it take to make service meetings, particularly client reviews more genuinely person-centred? I present four messages to guide us towards this aim.

For the full content of this episode click the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/063-truly-meeting-the-need/id867043694?i=344569092&mt=2

“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.” [Dave Barry].

Podcast Episodes, Teams

Podcast Episode 062: Problems with Meetings

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TheStrengthsRevolution_albumart_2-2How effective are all of the meetings you attend? It’s very likely that whatever business you are working in you will have to attend meetings either occasionally or frequently. They take up an inordinate amount of time, but the question is just how much time are they wasting?

In this episode I will take a formal definition of meetings, but add my twist with several reflections on how I have experienced meetings on occasions. Hot-air, self-importance, shared insecurities, ineffective time-wasting… but enough of me!

How can we attempt to make this precious time as effective and engaging as possible? I set out seven pointers that can help achieve these goals in ways that either reflect the good practice you are already doing, or will transform the experience of all who need to be attending.

For the full content of this episode click on iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/062-problems-with-meetings/id867043694?i=344569093&mt=2

“Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.” [J.K. Galbraith].