“As Bloom once told a reporter: “We were looking for exceptional kids and what we found were exceptional conditions”. […] The “exceptional conditions” we found can be summarized under the headings of opportunity to learn, authentic tasks, and exceptionally supportive social contexts.” ~ Lauren Sosniak, p289. I found this quote here in Doing What Works in Solutions Focussed Change and it got me thinking about my work, parenting and change. In my last post, What are you a student of right now?, I shared this little word-graphic on the fields and practices that shape my learning … As parents we …

I spent about 30 minutes putting together this post and if you have got a spare 20 minutes (and you are keen to challenge your own worldview), go grab a cup of tea and work your way through these videos. I have put them in an order that will make sense to someone exploring these concepts for the first time. ————————————————————————————————————– Why do we still see policies in workplaces like, “You Tube banned on Government Servers to stop staff wasting time!”, when staff could be learning stuff as rich as these videos from Dave Snowden? Dave is the Founder & Chief Scientific …

I have been noticing some stuff written about working and trying too hard. Allow me to ramble and explore some emerging thoughts on this and other related (or maybe unrelated) things … One example was in an email conversation and gave the example of a ‘process/model’ (for doing things differently) that appeared on the Open Space list. A comment made about it was something like, “yer working too hard …”. So where are you/we/I working too hard? Where are we working hard at following processes and linear schemes to get things done better and more effectively? Are these processes a …

It appears that the recent loss of life, home and community by devastating fires in Victoria has resonated around the world’s media. The images are horrific and the stories of loss and grief are almost unbearable. One person on talkback radio said … “This is the sort of thing you only see happening on the other side of the world, and usually in developing countries”. I am only 1 step removed from many people who have lost everything. My love and support goes to all of them. One such person rang radio today and said, “please don’t label us as …

When I heard that Dave Pollard (Authour of the “Sweet Spot”) was chatting with Dave Snowden (Mr Complexity) … a metaphor jumped to mind that brings the 2 together. Forgive the simplicity of this metaphor. Some background and context … In the real world of ‘behaviour change’ projects, project coordinators are often funded by government agencies. These agencies are usually hierarchical and therefor demand a degree of certainty … a plan thought out in advance that delivers on milestones and performance targets. It’s tax payer’s money, so you need to show (ahead of time) how you ‘think’ you might achieve …