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In this podcast episode Mayvin Director Martin Saville interviews our client Dr Catherine Howe of Adur and Worthing Councils. We have been supporting her in relation to Organisation Design work. 

Catherine is a researcher on change in the 21st century on digital and on civic engagement. She is also the chief executive of Adur and Worthing Councils in the South East of the UK. A post she's held for about a year. And we've been working with her supporting her through a process of organisational transformation. 

Martin and Catherine caught up in the incongruously grand wood panelled Chief Executives office at the town hall in Worthing. Characteristically, Catherine had managed to create an informal and friendly feel with a skillful use of a large plate of chocolate biscuits. And by filling the glass fronted bookcases, not with dusty tomes, but with toys. And other artefacts from the local museum. 

In their half hour conversation, they talk about change, the differing design philosophies of Google and Microsoft and how that impacts on organisations. And yes, really the use as a change tool of snog, marry, avoid. You have to wait to the end for that bit. 

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This podcast is all about using the self as an instrument. As discussed by Mayvin director Martin Saville and Principal Consultant, Carolyn Norgate. Within seconds of talking on the subject, both Martin and Carolyn mentioned Mee-yan Cheung-Judge. 

Her name is so synonymous with this topic. Especially due to her seminal paper in 2001: The self as an instrument a cornerstone for the future of OD. Sadly, only a couple of days after this podcast was recorded Mee-yan passed away. So we would like to dedicate this episode to her. 

She was such an influential person in the world of OD. But also specifically for Mayvin, and our individual consultants that work here too. During Martin and Carolyn's chat, this subject crosses over, tangles, relates to so many other topics. 

Topics like embodiment, appreciative mindset and self fulfilling prophecy. Perceived weirdness, how we work at Mayvin as consultants going into organisations and how we show up. And how it relates to the notion of practice. I.e. how you show up in what you do. 

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The fertile void is one of the most read articles on our website. So we decided to delve deeper into the topic of making space for thinking time between one activity and another.

In this podcast episode, James Trager and Tony Fraser, discussed the fertile void and Gestalt psychology in the context of organisations. Tony reflects that often in organisations, activity and action, or being busy, can be confused with being productive and gaining results. Taking thinking time – time to reflect, to think creatively, to stare out of the window is countercultural. We’re taught from an early age, don’t just sit there, do something. 

But instead, in business the opposite, is sometimes more appropriate. Don’t just do something, sit there. Ceaseless driven activity, without a chance to stop can leave leaders with loss of meaning and purpose, on a bit of a hamster wheel, not getting anywhere and not creatively adapting. 

The fertile void, is a blank open space between what’s been done and what needs to be done now or next. It’s a chance to stand back and see what’s important and have some undirected thinking time. It’s not filled with to do lists and signposts. The value of individuals or organisations recognising the fertile void, is that it can give the opportunity for satisfaction, recognising progress and giving meaning so that people feel better about an activity. 

It’s an opportunity for creativity, something unexpected, something different to make itself known, making space for that. Priorities. There’ll be competing demands and giving yourself time to choose instead of just jumping into the next thing. And finally recognising something is complete. But we don’t want to tell you too much otherwise there will nothing there for James and Tony to say. So we’ll pass it over to them. Hope you enjoy it.

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This podcast episode is guest hosted by Richard Lang, introducing us to the Headless Way. The Headless way was first developed by Douglas Harding many years ago, Richard and Douglas were good friends. And so Douglas has spent the last 50 years sharing the Headless Way with people like ourselves. The Headless Way is method of becoming aware of your most private self, which the suggestion is, is a spacious still and the most spiritual part of you. But Richard invites us not to just take this in trust. So in this podcast episode, He guides us through some awareness exercises to reveal this deep spiritual centre within you. 

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For many, the current approach to designing and implementing leadership and management development programmes isn't quite hitting the mark.

Over the last 10 years Mayvin has delivered programmes across the private, public and third sectors. We have learnt a lot about how to design programmes that work receiving feedback such as:

"the best learning I have attended in my whole career"

"had a huge impact on both my professional and personal life"

"I cannot express how I much I have enjoyed this programme and how much impact is has had on me"

"made a tremendous difference to how I work and how I feel about work"

We also know how to get them accredited at Post Graduate levels, culminating in our recently launched Masters in People and Organisation Development.

So we hosted an online community event where we posed the question: What is the difference that makes the difference in programme design? 

At the event, we shared our experiences in designing and delivering what our participants call life changing and hugely impactful programmes. We also opened it up to group inquiry, asking everyone in the room what their experiences were for the good and for the bad. 

It was a really rich discussion and we have turned it into a Podcast episode for you to listen to.

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Following on from a webinar we ran on check-ins as part of our Artful Inquiry series, Tony Nicholls, Claire Newell and Zoë Morrison had an in depth discussion about check-ins.

Check-ins are part of every day life at Mayvin and our processes around them and the way that we check-in is constantly evolving as the company changes and the conversation reflects that.

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We have recently hosted two Artful sessions on the topic of embodiment. Sophie Tidman hosted one on Radical Rest and Tom Kenward hosted one on Living From Centre More of the Time. They were popular sessions and so we decided to explore the topic further.

In this podcast Martin Saville and Sophie Tidman discuss what brought them to learn about Embodiment, how it relates to their work in Organisation Development, the insights it give us over ourselves and more.

If you are interested in joining a future Artful Event you can find out more about our upcoming events here: Our Artful Calendar 2022.

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There is much discussion these days about ‘speaking truth to power’. But what if power isn’t capable of listening? 

Speaking truth to power is not just a question of the skill of the speaker. It might also be as much about the skill of the person being spoken to. 

James Traeger and Tony Fraser hosted this group inquiry to explore:

- How and why leaders avoid and suppress truthfulness.
- What can you do to encourage greater truthfulness in your organisation?
- How can you support your leaders to be able to hear the truth?
- What can leaders do to acquire the skills needed to encourage truthfulness?

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In January 2022 Sophie Tidman hosted an Artful Enquiry session "Embodiment Part 1: Radical Rest" for Mayvin's community. During the session Sophie took everyone through a Yoga Nidra meditation and we have shared it for you to listen to in this podcast episode.  

Before you listen in, find somewhere comfortable to lie down, get cosy and relax! 

Note: Don't listen while you are driving/ operating machinery or in a situation where it would be dangerous to do so.

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In a couple of months time Mayvin is starting it's new MA in People and Organisation Development Programme, which by now you probably know we are very excited about. It will give participants a post-graduate certificate after year 1 and the opportunity to take it all the way to a full MA after year 3.

Programme Director James Traeger and Year 1 Lead Carolyn Norgate have been hosting online open days and having one to one chats with prospective participants for about six months now. So we decided to lock them in a room and asked them to talk through the most frequently asked questions and topics of conversation that have come up so far.

So if you're interested, but haven't been able to make any of the open days yet, or perhaps aren't feeling brave enough to get in touch with us yet, or maybe a little bit curious as to what we're up to, this podcast is for you.

In the chat James and Carolyn cover: 

1. How and why the programme started.
2. Who the programme is for.
3. The synergies of it being an MA.
4. That it's an inquiry based programme with action research at the heart.
5. The reasons for doing a masters, such as professional recognition and the kudos in gaining a qualification, as well as the usefulness of the skills acquired.
6. The paradigm of this programme is that it's about the process itself.
7. The future of organisations or the future of organising module. And what this might mean in a potentially hopefully, post pandemic world with Gen Z employees.
8. They go on to cover the practicalities of the programme, so that you can enter or exit at different levels, the certificate, the diploma and the dissertation.
9. The fact that the MA is a combination of online and face to face activities, and the flexibility of this programme, and that we're keen to develop it in hand with you.
10. Our face to face venue, Lane End.
11. And finally the finance, pricing, bursaries, payment options and so on.

So hopefully after listening you'll leave with a clearer sense of the environment we're trying to build here. But if you have any further questions or any queries, please do get in touch with us. 

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