McKinsey’s top three articles last year were: ‘Have you tested your strategy lately?’, ‘Seven steps to better brainstorming’ and ‘We’re all marketers now’  click here.

These themes continue to be intrinsic to the workshops we provide our clients. As in previous years we are also offering half-day ‘Kick Start’ sessions - or for the really time-challenged a 2-hour ‘Fast Clinic’.

The faster and more effectively you focus, align and energise your team, your customers and your stakeholders the greater your chances of enjoying a prosperous 2012!

It’s not just the discipline or even the stuff that happens after writing the list.

As David Allen, author of Getting Things Done points out, we can’t do if we don’t first think.

What outcome do we want? What is the first step?

The challenge is to find the time and space to think.

This is what I provide as a mentor and coach, and as a facilitator of workshops, offsites and forums.

Mind you, nothing beats just going for a walk. Turning off the clutter of media and noise and opening your mind.

There’s a German expression Du must loslassen, zu kommen lassen….You have to let go to let come.

Then you can write your to do list…. and do it.

All the problems in the world are caused by conversations that did not happen. I wish I could recall and credit the Danish facilitator who told me that at a recent conference in Copenhagen. These problems usually occur for one or more of the following reasons:

1. No conversation took place

2. The wrong conversation took place.

3. Insufficient thinking went into the conversation.

4. People weren’t listening.

5. Minds did not open and options were not considered

6. The right people were not present or invited

7. Insufficient time and space was given to the conversation.

Conversation requires turning things around (from the Latin versare to turn). It needs different points of view. A so called conversation where everyone is in violent agreement at the outset is unsatisfying and can lead to the problems my Danish colleague described.

One of the best conversations I ever experienced was on jury service. After five hours we were split 10:2 and left for the evening. I was sure the two who were holding out for a not guilty verdict would ’see the light’. But no! Next morning our count was 9:3. It took another five hours, but eventually we reached a unanimous guilty verdict. The conversation was of the highest quality. The commitment of all twelve of us to the decision, as we told the judge, was total.

It takes time. But that’s what it takes. There are techniques for improving the quality and effectiveness of conversations. The role of a facilitator, as that of the foreman of a jury, is no more nor less than to facilitate a conversation.

As the problems in the world, and in the workplace, become ever more complex the quality of our conversations has never been more important.

Comments welcome!

Turner is arguably the most famous artist Britain has produced. But how much of his reputation is based on branding and marketing?

Professor David Solkin, dean and deputy director of The Courtauld Institute of Art explains, Turner started by studying the competition; not just his contemporaries, but also the historical greats such as Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto and Poussin.

First he emulated them, adding his own differentiation, and rebranding himself as JMW Turner.  Having established credibility within the Royal Academy he positioned himself as a ‘historical landscape painter‘, and found a unique voice. He succeeded in securing a legacy in his own lifetime, which has lasted for over 150 years.

The hangings of the paintings also use a technique familiar to advertisers, but unusual in the art world – side by side comparisons.

Well worth a visit during Frieze week!  www.frieze.com

Wrong!

Because having an agenda means just that, you ‘have an agenda’. It’s your agenda. You own the meeting therefore it’s not owned by the participants. There’s no group buy-in. Or perhaps each participant owns a different part of a siloed meeting which lacks unity of purpose.

Here’s a better kind of meeting. Define the issue that you need to resolve. Then invite the people who can help you solve it and who have a stake in the outcome.

What about the agenda? Decide that with the participants at the start of the meeting, so everyone owns it.

I know.

My wife and I were moving house that day. Not only was the buyer unable to get funds to us, we physically couldn’t move out because of all the fallen trees.

A downturn is the best time to roll up your sleeves and fell some trees - to plant and nurture new shoots.

Energy is stimulated by urgency – Capture the energy before it entropies!

You may not get a better wind for another 20 years.

Step away from leading your team, from serving your customers and stakeholders for 24 hours and listen instead.

Facilitators (www.iaf-world.org) are temporary leaders. We provide space for you to observe, think and listen.

You may know where you want to go and what you want to do; your challenge is how to take your people and customers with you. Right now they may be uncertain, uncomfortable and unaligned.

Or perhaps you’re looking for new directions, energies and ways to provide greater customer value at lower cost.

But at the end of the day you’ll get back the keys to your company - ignited and ready to fire on all cylinders, you and them.

Think about it.

So companies are at last ‘taking Web 2.0 tools seriously’ to tap into collective intelligence, www.ft.com/digitalbusiness.

But it begs the question: Why don’t we just talk? Have a Live 2.0 conversation with our customers, our people, our suppliers?

They all know that business as usual is not an option. They all know that none of us has all the answers - let alone the questions. They want to be part of a shared future.

Web 2.0 tools can indeed deliver real business benefits.

But nothing beats getting key stakeholders together in real time, on neutral territory away from the office, building trust, co-creating new ways forward, and making shared commitments, and acting on them fast. Live 2.0.

You can facilitate the conversation yourself. Or you can use a professional facilitator (www.iaf-world.org).

But you have to talk. And listen.