Humberside MeshWORK...
Jan: Carried out major piece of therapy, using Penny Parks' Mistaken Belief Visualisation
(1994) to facilitate the healthy development of vMEMES.
Commentary: The story of 'Susan' is told in the Personal Therapy pages.
Jan: Returned to teaching part-time (as supply) – encouraged by teachers from St
Mary's College who felt it was important I had front-line classroom experience if
I was to introduce Spiral Dynamics and related Change Management methodologies into
local Education.
Commentary: I had quit teaching 22 years previously and never thought
I would go back to it. However, with business not exactly flooding in and wanting
to further my understanding of Spiral Dynamics applied in the classroom, it seemed
like a good option...for the short term! (From the research angle, the result was
'A Downward Spiral...' in the Education pages.
Jan-Feb: Assisted Afton Court Retirement Home (Bridlington) recruit new Manager.
Jan-Feb:
Facilitated strategic planning sessions with the Garths Board of Directors. Consequently
asked to become a Director myself; agreed to become an 'Expert Advisor' to the Board
on voluntary basis.
Commentary: I turned down directorship on the grounds of potential
conflict of interest. (I wanted to sell my services to the Garths.) I resigned the
Expert Advisor position in Autumn 2002, partly due to other commitments and partly
in frustration at the way politicking by certain Board members was getting in the
way of developing vision and strategy.
In truth the Garths had a near-impossible mission. Their brief was to promote responsible
citizenship (BLUE) and the desire to better oneself in the longer term (ORANGE) -
primarily through a job shop and training-for-work schemes. With a local culture
largely in the PURPLE- RED zones, it is small wonder that the Garths failed to meet
several key targets attached to the original funding. Thus, they were unable to secure
sufficient new funding and the company running the centre went into liquidation in
mid-2003.
This should not in any way detract from the remarkable commitment and dedication
of certain Board members such as Terry Stephenson and Stephen Prior.
Feb: Started ISO 9001 project with ICW (UK) Ltd, helmed by Margaret Wood, former
leading light of the 21st Century Group.
Commentary: Margaret Wood was a most remarkable
woman. Widowed in her late Forties, she bought out her husband's former co-owner
and ran ICW herself - increasing exports significantly in 1998 when most manufacturing
companies were complaining the strength of sterling was preventing them exporting.
She took her learning from the 21st Century Group and applied it first to herself,
then to her Company. However, while commercial considerations might have pushed Margaret
down the ISO 9000 route, the Self-Referenced and Options meta-programmes her RED
ran didn't fit with it at all!
Feb-March: First Open Workshop Programme, 'An Introduction to Spiral Dynamics & Related
Models of Neuro-Linguistic Programming', at St Mary's.
Commentary: Angela Ogilvie and a couple of other teachers from the school wanted
to learn more about Spiral Dynamics and NLP, so we put on a programme of 5 x 1/2-day
sessions and opened it up to outsiders to make it economically viable.
The 'Introduction...' participants, Mar 2001 - (l-r): Jennie Beasty (Shaw Park Primary
School, Hull), Angela Ogilvie (St Mary's College, Hull), David Southall (Whitgift
School, Grimsby), Lynne Clarke (Shaw Park), Lewis Lynch (St Mary's), Jenni Newberry
(St Mary's) and Peter 'The Celtic Tiger' Smythe (University of Lincoln & Humberside).
June-July: Ran second Open Programme of "An Introduction to Spiral Dynamics & Related
Models of Neuro-Linguistic Programming", again held at St Mary's.
July: Establishment of Humberside MESH Network, formed of 'graduates' from the two
St Mary's Porgrammes.
Commentary: The MESH Network was created as a response to questions
like, "What next?", "How can I learn to use this more?", "How do I find out more
about these concepts?" "We gelled so well together, during the course and it will
help us to stay in contact...what's the best way of
urban parts of Humberside and the former coalfields of South-East Wakefield. Only
the 'disappeared industry' this time was fishing.
Inspired by Jennifer's enthusiasm for applying Spiral Dynamics to regeneration issues,
I began to perceive how a MeshWORK approach could make a difference...how the social
and economic regeneration of the Humber sub-region could be made faster, more inclusive
and that much more effective through the use of SD and related psychological technologies'.
In July 2002 I renamed Humberside MeshWORK 'Humber MeshWORKS' at the suggestion of
former Common Purpose in Hull director David Burnby. He convinced me that the 'tribes
of the Humber' were far too disparate for a single MeshWORK ever to be conceived
and that it would be better to concentrate on smaller localised MeshWORK projects.
April: Don Beck used some of my materials in his keynote speech to the World Education
Fellowship Conference in Sun City, South Africa.
April: Following meeting with Jennifer Crossland, Manager of the Grimsby Europarc
Innovation Centre, established the 'Humberside MeshWORK' web site – to promote the
introduction of Spiral Dynamics and related Change Management methodologies into
the Humber sub-region.
Commentary: From my own observations - particularly my experiences in local schools
- and discussions with people like teacher Jennie Beasty, Angela Ogilvie and the
Garths' Mary McGarry, I perceived many similarities between the
The 'Introduction...' participants, July 2001 - (l-r): Jennifer Crossland (Grimsby
Europarc), Helen Ezard (Partnerships in Care plc, Beverley), David Burnby (Common
Purpose in Hull), Chris Massender (Westcliff Primary School, Scunthorpe), Cathy Byrne
(Danepark Primary School, Hull) and (helping out) Lewis Lynch (St Mary’s).
doing that?"
Though I had no idea at the time, the MESH Network - like the 21st Century Group
before it - would eventually develop its own organic momentum.
Aug: Now relocated in Hull, became Humberside representative for Cobus Business Services
Ltd, run by former Business Link Wakefield chief advisor Steven Beevers.
Commentary:
Steve and I found ourselves both working in ICW at the same time - he on Marketing
and I on Quality. We had made quite an effective team at Business Link, expecially
with regard to the early days of the 21st Century Group - and also the Wakefield
Manufacturing Partnership and the beginnings of HemsMESH. So, when he asked me to
carry out projects under the Cobus banner, it was a real privilege to hook up with
him again.
Aug: Began open-ended relationship with Beverley-based Hodgson Sealants Ltd – yet
another referral from Stelram Engineering – to assist with redesigning the Company
using Spiral Dynamics and Adizes Lifecycle.
Commentary: Hodgsons would prove to be one of the most satisfying in-house jobs to
date. The Senior Management Team - especially Bernard McGuinn and Adrian Hartley
- truly grasped the
potential of the material to enable them to make a real difference to their Company.
In 2002 Hodgsons won the Hull Daily Mail Business of the Year Award.
Aug: Started ISO 9001 project with QSI Group Ltd at their Grimsby and Teeside offices.
Commentary:
The QSI project was the way I liked to do quality consultancy. Although I supplied
some template materials, Engineering Director Steve Watson took complete responsibility
for developing the system, using me as a teacher/reference and a check on his work.
Consequently QSI, owned their quality system - it was theirs, not mine!
Aug: Gave an interactive presentation on Spiral Dynamics and Adizes to the Grimsby
Europarc Innovation Circle.
Commentary: The Innovation Circle was Jennifer Crossland's
'baby' - an attempt to create a network of (mostly) fast-growth technology-oriented
SMEs. The meetings schedule covered a very wide range of topics.
