My #4things4GM
Earlier this year I had the chance to meet up with Jon Alexander. Jon is a driving force behind New Citizenship Project and #citizenshift. In our conversation we discussed the potential for our new Metro Mayors in the UK to help lead and facilitate a different way of doing things, better acknowledging the role of citizens as agents of change and supporting greater participation. Jon shared the '3 things for Calgary' campaign by Canadian Mayor Naheed Nenshi as a campaign '
M4 - Space for human growth. Cultivating connection with self, others and a Greater Manchester movem
We enjoy connecting and collaborating with other people working with purpose across a plurality of spaces and take great pleasure and learning from working on both a local and an international basis but over the last year we've found ourselves increasingly drawn to the Greater Manchester eco-system. There is an infectious energy for doing things differently across the city region, that combined with the devolution agenda and our personal connections to people and place feel
"Deals that both sides want to keep"
Between Brexit and the "ultimate deal maker" that is the American President, negotiation is having something of a heyday in our popular consciousness currently. If you think about it though you don't have to be Minister for Exiting the European Union for negotiation to be a daily feature. We are constantly negotiating in our personal lives, work and organisations; negotiation is a feature of all our relationships and communities. Unfortunately negotiation is not emerging from
From the Personal to the Systemic: Woman-led Change in Devolution
(A shortened version of this article first appeared in Local Government Chronicle) The lack of women's representation and voice, and lack of diversity more broadly, in devolved decision-making has been starkly visible over the last two years - from the ‘pale, male' images of devolution deals being signed in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, to the all male panels (manels!) and meetings that we keep seeing. It is a self-perpetuating problem and unsurprising therefore that ou
Summer Reading - favourite coaching books?
It's that time of year, 'holiday reads' are appearing in all manner of places. I was prompted to consider this from the perspective of 'coaching' by a conversation with a fellow sailor on the Round the Island race at the weekend (for the non-sailors, while there are many frenetic and busy times racing there are also plenty of sitting and talking ones too!) Asked, "what are the coaching books you would most recommend?" I was initially a little stumped. I wouldn't class myself
