Working behind the scenes, supporting leaders as they achieve things they never dreamt they could

E gw@grahamwilson.org / T 07785 222380

Affiliations

Member BACP

CCC Registered

Churchill Fellow

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Please check out my presence on ecademy.com too - you can join the clubs that I lead there and join in the debate.

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Each month, I hold an 'informal drink with Graham' in Oxford - the next is on Monday 16th November from 18:30 to 20:00 in The Gardener's Arms, on Plantation Road.  Anyone is welcome.

For over 15 years, I've worked with the leaders of organisations, and their people, helping them create a vision of what their world could be like, and then to achieve it.

Believing in the enormous potential of people, I love to see them discover and tap into it in every aspect of their life.

While I am a futurist and strategist, my work began with a PhD in behavioural science, has its roots in organisation development and is shaped by my training as a psychotherapist, sports coach, and minister.

I work in four ways: conversations with leaders, engaging with organisations, regular leadership-related writing, and through public speaking.

Hopefully you'll find something of interest here, and will ask me if you think I can help!

Best wishes

Nurturing Leadership talent...for the future: If you aspire to greater things, then I could be the person to help you achieve them.  My clients are usually frustrated in their present role - perhaps they've outgrown it and they'd like to do more, perhaps they feel their organisation hasn't recognised what they have to offer, perhaps they've encountered a ceiling and need to break through it.

If this could be you, then I may have the answer.  Monthly, one-to-one conversations, typically lasting 1½ to 2hrs, held in complete confidence, for leaders (actual, aspiring or potential) from a wide range of different organizations and industries.

Drawing on my own corporate experience, professional background in the human side of organizations, and training as a behavioural scientist and psychotherapist, I help you look at your role, yourself, your drivers and attitudes, your impact on those around you, constraints you impose on your success and the potential you could aspire to.  We deconstruct situations and use a variety of models to help you understand yourself and evolve alternative strategies for the future.

Working in this way for over a decade, most of my clients see our conversations as a significant part of their ongoing personal and professional development.  Naturally this depends on creating the right sense of trust and confidence.  New clients find me almost entirely by personal referral.

Trust is most important if we are to work together effectively.  To help this begin to develop, I always offer the first session together at no cost.  It is an opportunity for you to assess whether I am going to be able to offer you anything.  You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain; give me a call NOW.

Engaging with organisations

Helping to create better places to work: After 15 years of working as a mainstream management 'consultant' in organisation development (OD), usually providing the human dimension to a multitude of change initiatives, I began to work primarily one-to-one with key leaders in industry.

This was far more rewarding to me, as it meant that I was engaged for the long haul rather than one off, ad hoc, projects and so got to see the impact of the work I was involved in. Then, out of the blue, Sodexho UK, asked if I would take on the role of Group HR Director on an interim basis - that became two years! Again, I found the longer term nature of involvement far more satisfying.

Born out of the same melting pot as humanistic psychology, OD differs from OB (the science of managing change through people) in that it has certain premises about the kind of workplace you are trying to create. (For a more detailed explanation, check out my article on the topic {HERE}.)

So today, I work on a retained basis supporting OD initiatives in a very small number of organisations at one time.  I have just completed three years as:
● Workplace Chaplain and Joint Coordinator of Chaplaincy Services - QinetiQ, Farnborough.

The two roles that I have at the moment are:
● Leadership development counsellor - Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford.

● Corporate Alumni coach/mentor - Informa, Worldwide.

PLEASE NOTE: I would like to add another role within this aspect of my work, and am always interested in discussing creative ways of working together, so if you think you have an exciting opportunity, I would be very pleased to chat.

Leadership-related writing

Over the years, I have written several books and a couple of hundred articles on various management-related topics. Instead of providing copies of 'slides' to accompany talks, I produce short Executive Guides. To support my OD interventions, I often provide case studies, and briefing notes. Every few days I add more material to my blog.  In recent months, this has moved towards more researched and in-depth items.  These materials are always FREE and carry no advertising.

● Click here to go to a list of some of these items, FREE articles.

● Click here to go direct to my blog, minorquestionsoflife.blogspot.com.

● If, every month or so, you would like to be told what is new, just sign up to my Yahoo Group.

MY MOST RECENT BLOG ENTRIES

Click the orange title to go to the full item.

October 13, 2009

Governance, fraud and the leader's confidante

In recent years, we have seen a growth in the field of corporate responsibility (CR). When it began, it was called 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR), and it was about helping those who lead large organisations to see that they have a responsibility towards the societies in which they operate.  While CSR has continued to evolve and there are many excellent initiatives and third-party interventions that do genuine good for the world around us, internally it has struggled. My experience is that, in some wave of euphoria, positions were created within these businesses that have come under threat when the 'luck' I mentioned earlier has become less common.  Under pressure, the well-intentioned, individuals who filled them have had to dumb down their plans and redirect them on what should really be basic operational issues - the ways and means of reducing energy costs, limiting the risk of prosecution for environmental damage, and so on. While they were once, champions of a higher set of values in the leadership of enterprises, today they are too busy dealing with simple abuses. A few had the ear of the leaders, but most were chosen from within, for their breadth of knowledge of the business and its technical dimensions, rather than their independence, the robustness to challenge those in positions of power, and their understanding of emotions, and the emotional component of individual decision making...

October 11, 2009

Governance, fraud and management of emotion in decision making
Our approaches to corporate governance in recent years have tended to revolve around regulatory frameworks, reporting structures, and operating standards. As if to justify the time we devote to them and, more importantly, the time we expect other people to spend on them, we delude ourselves that we are defining ways of achieving good outcomes for the day-to-day management of an enterprise. It seems extraordinary but some people seriously believe that filling in this form, following that procedure, making this statement on the bottom of our emails, or secreting a link in tiny print at the bottom of our website to a load of legalise, both absolves us of almost any personal responsibility and magically impacts on the bottom line of the business. It is a joke - a delusion. If we look back over the last 18 months we see that just about every one of those institutions that contributed to the economic 'meltdown' had all these components in place.  In practice, however, what we are really trying to address is the propensity for fraud to happen in business environments.

September 11, 2009
The interesting case of an OVER performing team
Some days, it is magic! You can imagine my surprise when I was sent the following conundrum by email this afternoon, by someone who is supposedly a Leadership mentor and yet needed to ask for advice in dealing with it! It seems one of his contacts (a specialist in organisational culture no less) had asked him for help with a relatively rare leadership issue - I quote in full to make sure that no-one is in any doubt about the nature of the problem....

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Public speaking

WHAT KIND OF SPEAKER AM I?

The feedback I receive is very positive. I love giving people inspiring examples of how things can be different!

"BRITAIN'S ANSWER TO TOM PETERS"

At the time it was flattering, but now it's a little embarrassing, however that is how one reviewer described me! My presentation style is certainly lively, sometimes controversial and always passionate.

High calibre professional - challenges perceptions | Passionate about his subject - delivers from the heart | Illustrates and informs – using anecdotes and facts

DIFFERENT ANGLES ON CONTEMPORARY THEMES

One of my skills lies in pulling together seemingly disparate themes and helping people see the connection between them. Over the years I've been asked to address a wide range of topics. My approach is generally the same; I research the area, draw on a wider perspective than many people closely linked to it, interpret what I have discovered and then speak with passion about the significant conclusions, ultimately helping my audience see things from a different stance. Depending on the subject, this may reinforce their own tentative conclusions and prompt them to action, or it may start the process of questioning that is vital for change to happen.  Unlike some 'professional' speakers, I do not follow a well worn script - each session is researched, interpreted and then delivered.

UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE - UNUSUAL THINKING

Creating amazing places to work - 15yrs real world experience of behaviour at work in blue chip companies | Professional Futurist – CREATES CLARITY IN A WORLD OF UNCERTAINTY (CEO & Research Director, The 2020 Vision Project; Former Convenor, World Future Society - UK & Ireland) | Coach & Psychotherapist – NURTURES ORGANIZATIONS & INDIVIDUALS | Author – BRINGS MEANING TO A WEB OF IDEAS (Seven books in a dozen languages & 200+ articles) | Speaker – ENLIGHTENS AND ENTERTAINS (Regularly gets 90%+ satisfaction ratings) | Minister of Religion – INSPIRES PASSION, CONTAINS ANXIETY, PROMOTES HARMONY AT WORK

FOR A HOST OF PURPOSES

Mid-session speaker to management development gatherings | Facilitator of strategy workshops | Conference presenter and chair | Keynote speaker to professional associations

HOT TOPICS THIS YEAR

Empowerment and engagement | Radical change - climate change | Greening the economy | Portfolio Working | Better Networking | Emotional Literacy | The Authentic Leader | It's your career - manage it!

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

"Stuff happens"

Kind words from my clients

"I don't think you really know what an impact you have!" JS, HRD
"Profound. Almost taught me too much!" TY, MD
"I would gladly give you a reference any time. Our 'chats' were on the mark every time. Your observations astute. And, even when I put you on the spot, I knew I could trust you." DF, CE
"You're a one, you really are! A real challenge at times - and it was tough, but what an outcome. And I'm sure we've not stopped yet." MS, CE
"Your way of looking at things, and way of feeding them back, baffles me. You manage to make me aware of home truths, but I feel encouraged at the same time." PW, MD
"At the time, we did some really good work together. You brought vision and insight, and helped me challenge myself. But the real impact is happening now. Quite simply my life and relationships are totally different." RM, CEO
"I was ready to give up. Frankly, I had. I never expected to look back after five years and see how much more I could achieve and how my life has unfolded." JT, TD
"A friend. But one who doesn't get angry when things don't go the way you know they could, but instead is there to keep things gently moving forwards." BS, S

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Charities

I am involved in a number of charities on a voluntary basis and get enormous pleasure from this work.  Before taking on a role, I usually ask myself what I can bring that the existing team (whether management or trustees) would appreciate and don't already have.  There's no simple answer, but enthusiasm, vision, strategy, business focus, and an interest in the people within, confidence and boldness are often mentioned.

The role that I am asked to fulfil varies, though in most I am either a Trustee or Chair of the Trustees.  If you feel I might be able to help you, there's nothing lost in us having a informal chat.

Royal Life-Saving Society (Surrey Branch)

Helping to make Surrey a safer place - as well as water-based life-guarding, Lifesavers train teachers, sports coaches, new parents, and members of the public in life-support and rescue skills.  Our clubs and affiliated centres, prepare young people for competitions, the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, and GCSE in PE.  These are 'skills for life' and we have a vision of ensuring that every child in Surrey will be capable of saving a life by the time they leave school.  There are three obstacles to this: the lack of sufficient volunteers to manage and deliver such an ambitious programme, and sufficient pool-time (pools are costly facilities and much in demand).  Our ambition is to employ a permanent out-reach worker who can make the dream a reality.

The All Hallows House Foundation (The Wren Clinic)

The Wren Clinic was established some years ago in the converted tower of a Wren church in the heart of the City of London. It aims to make available to all who work in the City, the resources they need to help them cope with the stresses and strains of daily life, in as natural way as possible.  The demand for their services is constantly growing, the contribution they make to City firms is clear, and they serve a broad cross section of the City workforce.  However, the operating costs of the Clinic are high.  We hope to raise sufficient funds to support a part-time fund raiser and to create a small buffer for their monthly costs. With the stability that this should bring they hope to extend their work in the area.

South Central Ambulance League of Friends

Every day, at any time, we can call for an ambulance and know that within a few minutes these extraordinary men and women will arrive.  They are dependable, highly skilled, and incredibly supportive. Their presence alone diffuses fear and brings a sense of safety.  Most people also know that the NHS is desperately short of cash.  The League of Friends was established in 1984 to provide the resources to allow the Ambulance Service to invest in lifesaving equipment that would otherwise be unavailable. Today, the League supports the South Central Ambulance Trust and especially their Community First Responders.

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An ongoing list of writing (with links to the originals)

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