Work And How To Survive It

In episode 6 of the Work and How to Survive it podcast, Antony Froggett interviews Dr Myna Trustram about her work with museums. Myna Trustram Myna describes her work in museums and explains how she became involved in using the ideas of the Tavistock, Psychoanalysis and Group Analysis to understand the unconscious dynamics of museums. She discusses some of the ideas that she is developing, including the concept of the Museum in the Mind, to understanding our personal and societal relationship to the past. Using her experience as a museum curator and an organisational consultant she describes how the collection of objects in museums can be used to avoid confronting change or in a creative way to "work through" (a Freudian term) personal and social issues. She argues that museums play an important role within society and are important to people by their existence whether or not they choose to visit them. She ends by describing the particular challenges faced by museums in confronting change (for example, due to

Antony Froggett interviews Dr Ceri Dornan about Balint Groups in episode 5 of the Work and How to Survive it podcast. Dr Ceri Dornan talks about the history of Balint Groups, describes how a Balint Group works and why they can be so enlivening and stimulating for those who get involved. She mentions the research that suggests Balint Groups can prevent "burn out" for professionals, but also explains why Balint Groups may not be for everyone. Balint Groups are named after Michael Balint (a Hungarian psychoanalyst), who together with his wife Enid, set training groups for GPs at the Tavistock Clinic in London in the 1950s. Traditionally a Balint group is a group of GPs (doctors in general practice) who meet on a regular basis with two facilitators (a psychotherapist and a GP) to explore in depth their experience of the doctor - patient relationship. They do this to become more aware of the complexities of the dynamics in their consultations and to be more effective in their engagements with patients.  Since the

In episode 4, Antony Froggett and Jim Davis discuss the issue of authenticity at work. What do we mean by authenticity and why is it relevant to the world of work? Most people agree that authenticity is a good thing, just like honesty, so why then is there so little emphasis on the importance of authenticity in the workplace? There is perhaps an "authenticity paradox" in which organisations wish to prescribe behaviour (and sometimes attitudes) that are seen as "good" (good for efficiency, good for profits, good for customer care) but in doing so they create interactions between workers and clients which are lifeless, disengaged and routine. Authentic engagement is often viewed as a good thing but it cannot be prescribed or monitored as easily as conventional work goals. Authenticity (and the spontaneity that it requires) is therefore anxiety provoking and disconcerting. There is the anxiety of not knowing where an authentic conversation might lead and the fear of making mistakes. Paradoxically, it is when th

Welcome to the Work And How To Survive It podcast brought to you by Thinking Space ConsultancyIn episode 3 we discuss the article by Tim Dartington called In Defence of Inefficiency.In this podcast we explore Dartington's arguments about the limitations of efficiency - in particular how professional judgement and leadership are potentially excluded by an emphasis on following procedures for decision-making. He argues that workers inevitably end up orientating themselves towards the procedures, and the management monitoring systems that accompany these, rather than to the actual effectiveness of their actions.He argues that those workers with a therapeutic task - whose work can only take place on the basis on establishing trusting relationships with clients - are undermined by systems of inspection that do not trust either the worker or the client. He highlights a trend which has lead to "a shift in emphasis from doing the right thing to doing things right (e.g. a shift from leadership to management and from e

Welcome to the Work And How To Survive It podcast from Thinking Space Consultancy. In episode 2 Antony Froggett and Jim Davis discuss why listening to feedback can be difficult and give their top three tips for how to listen to feedback. If you would like to subscribe to the Work And How to Survive It podcast you can do this via ITunes or via our Feedburner link. You can find the show notes and related web links by visiting our podcast webpage: www.thinkingspaceconsultancy.com/podcast. We would like to hear your feedback about the show. You can leave us a question or a comment by emailing us at: [email protected]. Or by telephoning our voice message line on: 0161 820 6507 (within the UK) or +44 161 820 6507 (from outside the UK). You can keep in touch with Thinking Space Consultancy by following us on Twitter.

Welcome to the Work And How To Survive It podcast brought to you by Thinking Space ConsultancyIn episode 1 Antony Froggett and Jim Davis explore the issues and pitfalls in giving feedback. They talk about the difference between giving feedback about the person and giving feedback about behaviour. They also discuss why giving feedback can be difficult.If you would like to subscribe to the Work And How to Survive It podcast you can do this via ITunes or via our Feedburner link You can find the show notes and related web links by visiting our podcast webpage: www.thinkingspaceconsultancy.com/podcastWe’d like to hear your feedback about the show. You can leave us a question or a comment by emailing us at: [email protected] by telephoning our voice message line on: 0161 820 6507 (within the UK) or +44 161 820 6507 (from outside the UK)

Welcome to the Work And How To Survive It podcast brought to you by Thinking Space ConsultancyIn episode 0 (yes, zero!) Antony Froggett and Jim Davis introduce themselves and say a few things about their work with organisations. This is a pilot episode which we used to learn the mechanics of how to create a podcast and to gain feedback about what people would like to hear in future shows. We also learnt that we should try not to argue when podcasting!If you would like to subscribe to the Work And How to Survive It podcast you can do this via ITunes [http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/work-and-how-to-survive-it/id432482247] or via our Feedburner link [http://feeds.feedburner.com/libsyn/JGZv]You can find the show notes and related web links by visiting our podcast webpage: www.thinkingspaceconsultancy.com/podcastWe’d like to hear your feedback about the show. You can leave us a question or a comment by emailing us at: [email protected] by telephoning our voice message line on: 0161 820 6507