relationships

Two white cranes face each other in a snowy landscape, against a backdrop of leafless trees. Their wingtips and necks are black, and the top of their heads are red.

Measuring (not) relationships

October 22, 2025October 22, 2025
New stuff

I joined the Relationships Project for a discussion on Relational Readiness today (they’re developing a… Read More »Measuring (not) relationships

Otto Scharmer's Theory U in diagram form. One loop labelled "social pathology (economies of destruction)" contains blaming, enacting violence and destroying. The other loop labelled "social emergence (economies of creation)" contains sensing, prototyping, creating.

Reading 5 (August 2025)

August 10, 2025March 16, 2026
Reading

This week’s 12 links: My time to read: 1 hour 30 minutes Image credit: u-school… Read More »Reading 5 (August 2025)

A bushy tomato plant grows out of a grow bag. It's laden with many green fruit, one branch already reddening to ripeness.

Community is strength #1

July 13, 2025August 18, 2025
New stuff

I was in the garden (fiddling with the plants, repotting, tidying, and so on) and… Read More »Community is strength #1

Barn raising in the USA - a group of people are working on the roof of a barn under construction, the wooden structure is in place for the walls and roof. In front of the building, a row of black buggies, without the horses.

Psychologically safe spaces

July 8, 2025July 13, 2025
New stuff

The Mint House invited me to facilitate a breakout room on the theme of ‘Creating… Read More »Psychologically safe spaces

A "Stacey Matrix". X axis is "realisation", which runs from clear to unclear. Y axis is "requirements", which runs from clear to unclear. Clear realisation x clear requirements = simple. Medium realisation x medium requirements = complicated. Unclear realisation x unclear requirements = complex. Beyond that, in the top right hand corner: chaos.

Reading 2 (July 2025)

July 6, 2025March 16, 2026
Reading

This week’s 12 links: My time to read: 1 hour Image credit – Dr Stefan… Read More »Reading 2 (July 2025)

Blach and white photo. Elspeth Beard astride her BMW motorbike, with large side and rear panniers (designed and built by her out of sheet aluminium and rivets), with a white helmet resting on the handlebars. She's wearing jeans, leather boots, and a leather jacket. She's parked up outside what looks like a warehouse, looking off camera.

Reading 1 (June 2025)

June 28, 2025March 16, 2026
Reading

This week’s 12 links: My time to read: 1 hour 15 mins Image credit: Motorcyclist… Read More »Reading 1 (June 2025)

Screenshot of a slide that reads "tools for conversations" on a background image of a tub of coloured pencils

Case study: how to have difficult conversations (learning session)

October 1, 2024December 26, 2025
Case studies

Who: Barod, who provide support to people and their families around drug and alcohol use.… Read More »Case study: how to have difficult conversations (learning session)

A group of people sitting in various chairs and sofas (and some on the floor) in a colourful yard space, listening to a speaker who's off camera.

Relationship-centred practice

July 12, 2024October 24, 2024
New stuff

I had a fantastic day today at an event all about Relationship Centred Practice, the… Read More »Relationship-centred practice

White smoke on a black background. (Photo by Pascal Meier on Unsplash.com)

Making the important visible

June 27, 2024June 28, 2025
New stuff

I’m thinking about this today, prompted by the latest post on Seth’s Blog: “If it’s… Read More »Making the important visible

Case study: strategic stakeholder engagement

March 31, 2024August 25, 2024
Case studies

Who: The Nature and Us team at Natural Resources Wales: Nature and Us (Natur a… Read More »Case study: strategic stakeholder engagement

Selwyn Williams, wearing a checked shirt and a ricksack, standing in the sunshine and talking to someone out of shot.

Strength in love: a community movement for Wales

July 5, 2021October 19, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published in The Welsh Agenda #66, Spring / Summer 2021) A few months ago… Read More »Strength in love: a community movement for Wales

Lego astonaut on a Lego moon vehicle holding a walkie talkie, on a windowsill

The three quarter point is a thing

May 8, 2020August 31, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) I wrote a post about the feeling of frustration and pointlessness… Read More »The three quarter point is a thing

A salmon jumping upstream over a small ramp in a fast flowing river

About salmons and whooping cranes

July 28, 2019August 31, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) Somewhere along my biologist training or my subsequent cross-disciplinary meanderings, I… Read More »About salmons and whooping cranes

Photo from part of the page of a book: Businesses as If They Had Souls In "Relationships: The New Bottom Line in Business", the first chapter of their book 'The Soul At Work', Lewin and Regine (2000) talk about complexity science: "This new science, we found in our work, leads to a new theory of business that places people and relationships - how people interact with each other, the kinds of relationships they form - into dramatic relief. In a linear world, things may exist independently of each other, and when they interact, they do so in simple, predictable ways. In a nonlinear, dynamic world, everything exists only in relationship to everything else, and the interactions among agents in the system lead to complex, unpredictable outcomes. In this world, interactions, or relationships, among its agents are the organizing principle" (pp. 18-19).

Everything exists only in relation to everything else

July 8, 2019August 31, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) Relationships are the organising principle. Reading Michael Fullan — Leading in a Culture… Read More »Everything exists only in relation to everything else

A photo of Austin Kleon's book open at a page displaying a black and white photo, it is of his torso wearing a tee-shirt that says "here to make friends" under a plaid shirt.

Thoughts about adding not substracting

July 7, 2017August 31, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) I’m always inspired by Austin Kleon’s blog posts. You’ve got to… Read More »Thoughts about adding not substracting