Anyone who has stood in front of a class or training room and sought to help ‘students’ to develop their knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes, recognises that ‘deep’ learning only happens when the student makes sense of the new content or skill by extension of their existing framework of knowledge and skill. We all need ‘hooks’… Continue reading Habit Chicken or Belief Egg? Which comes first in PD?
Tag: associations
Avoiding ‘organisational Alzheimer’s’
With office bearers changing quite regularly in most not-for-profit organisations, there is a risk of corporate memory loss – and metaphorically suffering ‘neurodegenerative issues’. Consequently, the maintenance and use of key governance document registers is an essential measure. To that end, it is helpful to review which documents qualify for inclusion in these registers. The… Continue reading Avoiding ‘organisational Alzheimer’s’
What? So What? and Now What? – your reflective practice guide
One of the defining characteristics of a profession is that its members commit to reflect on their practice in order to improve it for the benefit of those they serve. This applies to policy and governance professionals as much as to members of any other profession. Various models and frameworks have been developed for different… Continue reading What? So What? and Now What? – your reflective practice guide
Policy Advocacy – tools worth having
Further to the valuable resources offered by the Alliance for Useful Evidence (which have been mentioned in this blog previously), another UK think tank offers a range of tools that every policy worker should have in their kit. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has produced a collection of policy analysis and advocacy resources that can… Continue reading Policy Advocacy – tools worth having
FREE Strategy and Policy Toolkit
Most not-for-profit organisations are small-to-medium in size, and have limited resources to do the strategy and policy work they would like to. So simple and effective tools for the job are much sought after, and can be immensely valuable to the staff and volunteers who need them. The DIY toolkit published by Nesta is therefore… Continue reading FREE Strategy and Policy Toolkit
The Strategic Cube: improving strategy execution
Non-profit boards sometimes have difficulty seeing their strategic plan reflected in their ongoing regular meeting agendas and interactions with management. Organisations that have integrated their strategic thinking into their structures and operations rarely suffer the problem of forgetting what their strategic goals are. The ‘strategic cube’ illustrated above is one way of conceptualising the influence… Continue reading The Strategic Cube: improving strategy execution
Separating the facts from their meaning
If you have followed this Blog for any length of time you will know of my commitment to evidence-informed policy and advocacy, so you won’t be surprised that I like to share resources and thinking which promote those positions. Bernard-Henri Levy’s recent article in Project Syndicate, Google, Fake News, and the Crisis of Truth, is… Continue reading Separating the facts from their meaning
Real world policy – 3 Free eBooks
Further to my previous post about public engagement in policy deliberations, public policy advocates will be well aware of the debate over whether ‘evidence-based policy’ (EBP) takes sufficient account of political realities. Most of us who have engaged in this activity realise that our messages need to be sensitive to the values of the stakeholders… Continue reading Real world policy – 3 Free eBooks
Evidence vs Democracy
Our friends at The Alliance for Useful Evidence have just published another thought-provoking paper promoting improved public engagement in policy debate and policy-making – using forms of ‘participatory democracy’ to counter the resistance of populist movements to evidence which should inform decision making. The paper, Evidence vs Democracy: How ‘mini-publics’ can traverse the gap between citizens, experts, and… Continue reading Evidence vs Democracy
IT Governance lessons
As noted in some earlier posts, learning from others’ mistakes is the least painful way of avoiding trouble, provided we can apply those lessons meaningfully in our own circumstances. This latest case study arises from problems encountered in yet another large scale publicly funded IT project. It offers numerous governance insights, which in my view,… Continue reading IT Governance lessons