Category Archives: Partnership working

Grow As We Go

It’s exciting to announce a new initiative – Grow As We Go originates in and builds from the legacy of My Home Life, a highly successful relationship-centred leadership programme to enhance the experience of those who live, die, visit and … Continue reading

Posted in Appreciative inquiry, Courses and events, Leadership, Partnership working, Stories | Comments Off on Grow As We Go

Collective Leadership – Exploring new territories for evaluation

I spent time this summer writing about evaluation.  It’s been good to immerse myself in reading and thinking about what complexity and collaboration mean for how we evaluate public programmes and interventions. The focus has been Workforce Scotland’s Collective Leadership … Continue reading

Posted in 5th generation evaluation, Appreciative inquiry, Co-production and new ways of working, How can evaluation be useful?, Leadership, Living systems research, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Collective Leadership – Exploring new territories for evaluation

Reigniting Evaluation – Unfolding Stories

Today about 24 people gathered in Edinburgh to explore what they value about evaluation, as part of the 2018 Fire Starter Festival. Working with our own stories of experience of evaluation at it’s best, we identified what values and qualities … Continue reading

Posted in Appreciative inquiry, Co-production and new ways of working, Courses and events, How can evaluation be useful?, Leadership, Living systems research, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Reigniting Evaluation – Unfolding Stories

When are you ever not prototyping?

I’m co-hosting an event at the forthcoming Fire Starter Festival.  We want to ignite conversations about learning-in-action to stimulate thinking about how evaluation practices might flourish to promote learning and innovation. We put prototyping in the title as a deliberate … Continue reading

Posted in Appreciative inquiry, Co-production and new ways of working, Courses and events, How can evaluation be useful?, Leadership, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on When are you ever not prototyping?

Are we working well together?

I often ask myself ‘is this worthwhile work?’ And this guest blog for Space Unlimited is some part of a response; it describes a recent highlight of a stimulating week when I took part in a Space Unlimited Lasting Change … Continue reading

Posted in Co-production and new ways of working, Leadership, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Are we working well together?

Is this the best it can be?

I’ve very much enjoyed being involved in the development of this new toolkit for Creative Scotland. The ideas and approaches were developed from desk research and  action research, with seven pilot partnerships of artists, partners and participants using the tools  … Continue reading

Posted in Leadership, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Is this the best it can be?

Participative transformation?

I have recently written a book review of Participative transformation learning and development in practising change, by Roger Klev and Morten Levin in the Journal Action Learning:  Research and Practice, 2015 They propose that given the challenges of the uncertainty … Continue reading

Posted in Co-production and new ways of working, How can evaluation be useful?, Leadership, Partnership working, Research Impact, What is action research? | Comments Off on Participative transformation?

Caring conversations in action

Taking time to hear the stories that matter to matter pays off in the long run…it’s just the way we do things round here.   Asking for feedback can feel a bit embarrassing but we find the courage because it’s good … Continue reading

Posted in Co-production and new ways of working, How can evaluation be useful?, Living systems research, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Caring conversations in action

Research as if people were human

I’m delighted to be a guest blogger for IRISS this week.  This post talks about how stories energise and restore people’s connections with each other and what they care about, so motivating people to work together.  Action research – a truly humane approach to … Continue reading

Posted in Co-production and new ways of working, How can evaluation be useful?, Living systems research, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Research as if people were human

Appreciative dialogue – co-production in action

Here’s a new article on appreciative dialogue by Belinda Dewar and Cathy Sharp. We discuss the role of appreciative dialogue in facilitation of practice development and action research. There’s not much guidance about the ‘how’ of facilitation – here we highlight one … Continue reading

Posted in Co-production and new ways of working, Living systems research, Participatory research methods, Partnership working, Research Impact, Stories, What is action research? | Comments Off on Appreciative dialogue – co-production in action