Strategic facilitation, when soft skills are not so soft
Published on July 22nd, 2010 by Claudie Plen with no comments yetWhen times are tough you focus on the financial bottom line. Priorities are new business, cost cutting and strategy, not the so-called ‘soft skills’ of facilitation and communication. But ignoring these capabilities will actively cost your business money, waste time and energy and potentially sabotage new business opportunities. When your team can’t facilitate strategically, brainstorms [...]
Leading yourself, or how to avoid the 3am existential crisis…
Published on April 22nd, 2010 by Claudie Plen with no comments yetEver find yourself working in a vacuum? Or, as happens to me,’not working’ in a vacuum, and panicking instead, feeling rudderless, without direction, or anyone to tell me where to go and how to get there? I spend a lot of time talking to people about how to manage a team, or a project, how [...]
What’s your story?
Published on September 26th, 2009 by Claudie Plen with no comments yetIn any new venture, success ultimately depends upon answering the question of what kind of business you want to create and why – your vision, and your values. The more clearly and deeply you understand your vision and values the more inspiration and motivation you will have to lead your business towards success. Vision is [...]
Realtime and creativity – when you need to pull the plug
Published on September 24th, 2009 by Claudie Plen with no comments yetDiscussions with Steven and Angela @ The Realtime Project (www.therealtimeproject.com) have left me wondering about the impact realtime technology has on our creativity. Realtime refers to the way we are all now constantly connected, through our iphones and blackberries, social networking sites, skype, IM or simply via text. Often it feels like something hasn’t really [...]
Just the Two of Us: Making Creative Partnerships Work
Published on March 28th, 2009 by Claudie Plen with one commentThe current economic crisis is changing the way we work and structure our businesses. With multiple opportunities available for small, flexible creative businesses to work together, pitching for larger pieces of work or public sector tenders, its essential to think strategically and find the right partners who share our vision for growth. So what’s different [...]
