Diana Gibbs spent ten years honing dialoguing skills for business based on her studies of NLP, personal mastery and clean language . . .
On a visit to HRD one year Diana spotted a company, Pearlcatchers, taking a refreshingly down to earth approach to management . . .
Pick up the rhythm is a metaphor for KDP’s services. Designed to encourage clients to think creatively about pace of work, behaviour patterns . . .
Ever had a mad idea on Sunday morning, sketched on the back of an envelope? That’s how KDPXchange started, although the seeds were sown much earlier . . .
Wordplay, symbols, metaphors and images are vital elements in our communication toolkit. Language is valuable, yet sometimes words get in the way . . .
Remember when you were little and thought
‘When I grow up I want to be a . . . . ’ A what, exactly?
An astronaut? A fire-fighter? A footballer!
Hands up anyone who put ‘manager’.
I see. Nobody.
In 2005 Stefan Stern opened a Management Today article with these words. They still ring true. He goes on to explore why management gets such a bad press; why managers often feel like pariahs; and why “leadership is seen as big and inspirational and management as boring and insignificant”.
“We need to put management back in its proper place - it is a very subtle discipline. You have to be astute, very sensitive to people, as well as having all the good nuts-and-bolts skills involved in managing projects,” he writes, quoting George Binney of Ashridge.
Being a good manager means “directing people’s energy in the right way”; becoming a good manager is what KDP is all about.
What do we do?
We support individuals and organisations to improve operational delivery; we work creatively with people to achieve realistic goals; and we champion the standards of leadership and management.
Who do we work with?
Directors, CEs, managers, team leaders and aspiring individuals in the private and public sector, charities and fast-growth SMEs. We have a particular affinity for people dealing with the messy complexity of operational performance.
How do we work?
We bring a distinctive blend of business acumen, ideas generation, operational savvy and market awareness to aid clients and fellow consultants in their quest for high performance. Our approach is to model, or demonstrate, the management skills that form the toolkit for dealing with situations effectively. We work with the individual’s own resources rather than applying models. This can be more challenging but is ultimately more rewarding, because it sticks and engenders systemic change.
“It is not the answer that enlightens but the question.” Eugene Ionesco