Imagine 6-page PDFs and 20-minute MP3s with the “Big Ideas” of great books distilled for immediate consumption and application to your life!

Sound to good to be true?

It’s not. Take a look at this amazing offer from philosophersnotes

“A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

A quote that is very much in tune with what we do

Enjoy the reading

Read the post here

Leadership in the computer industry – a different perspective
It was fun reuniting with the management team from Zepto Computers – they did a GROW Leadership programme during 2007/08, and I had been looking very much forward to seeing them all again for a recap and brush up. Working with a group of leaders in the computer industry is a challenging job because of the special nature of their personalities – different from the type in hospitality. But they have definitely begun to develop a deeper understanding of how their interactions have an influence on each other.

Focus on the customer – creating lasting value
We have now kicked-off the 3rd module of our Service Management Diploma cohort. They spent the spring semester working on how to create value in a service organisation – this autumn we keep our focus on the customer. How do we go beyond satisfaction and create real lasting loyalty. That is the big question and we will be looking for some answers here.

If you missed our Feb 08 posting on how they got a grip on strategy take a look at this.

Growing talent the action learning way
We are in the process of designing a talent development programme – all action learning based and all very secret. The customer is one of Denmark’s leading companies, and it’s growing rapidly – partly due to their ability to constantly explore new ideas and ways of learning and we are proud to be contribute to their process.

Conference in Munich
In Munich on 1st of October 2008 I am giving at presentation at the Euro Attractions Show (EAS). The topic will be: “An enlightening and stimulating exploration of how to create and maintain outstanding service in your organisation”. If you are attending the conference or the show drop me a note.

Be prepared to integrate Integral Theory in your future plans
This autumn I have decided to study some more Integral Theory and how we can apply that practically to management and leadership. Exciting workshops will be held in october in Boulder CO in the US. You can learn more about the event here.
Integral Theory is definitely not mainstream thinking – yet – but we are going to see much more of this in the coming years. Here is a taste of what integral leadership is about. My favoured integral leader is Fred Kofman take a look for your self:

The latest trends – we’re off to Shanghai
Come November and we are off again on one of our more exotic Urban Safaris – this year we are taking 12 hotel GM’s to Shanghai to explore the latest hospitality developments. We are staying at the spanking new Renaissance and have 4 full days to explore the city.

No new trends force us to improve the existing trends
Once we get Back to Europe I head of for Manchester and will be presenting “No New Trends” at the FOOD DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION on November 11th 2008. I will present my view of what I see as a flourishing creativity – the many new solutions to the well known mega trends such as individuality, health, ecology, industrialisation and automation. We see creative ideas expressed in meal shops, fast casual, co-creation, DIY-Food, minimalist buffets etc.

Wrapping up the season – from south to north and back again
End of November I have an Action Learning facilitation job in Athens, and the last stop for 2008 before I go hibernate in Marseille will be a workshop on Service Profit Chain in Helsinki.

So that’s the game plan – as I mentioned if this offers possibilities for a link up with some of you then please let me know.

Mike

Our group of 18 mangers studying for the Service Management Diploma met for their second workshop last week.

They are now halfway through the first module and preparing for their final assignment for this module.

Next year we shall be looking at module two: Grow Value.

We had asked each trio to prepare a presentation that would recapitulate one of the subjects that we had covered in our first workshop. This team decided to visualise the topic ‘Mindset’ - each person represents body, thought and feelings respectively and as the H.C Andersen Fairytale was read out they each illustrated these perspectives - it was a show I shall not forget soon. - Thank you !

Later in the day my colleague Lothar Friis challenged the teams on team work and problem solving - Lothar is a master at not only creating these seemingly unsolvable problems but also in converting the experience afterwards into meaningful learning.
He did that using a ‘fishbowl’ debrief of one team while the other team watched.
We had a blast as you can see.

“… there is no knowing outside of doing: we didn’t learn to walk by someone explaining it to us; we had to practice driving to be able to do it; we learned algebra by working many problems; we can play the piano because we rehearsed for hours”

This is also the philosophy that is at the heart of the GROW: leadership program that we offer. If you would like to become a great manager/leader you will need to move from theory to application. You will need to do things and see what happens - no amount of books and reading will get you there - to really know you must first do.

Greatness in leadership, that is, human authenticity, is not only a matter for individuals. Quite to the contrary, it is best accomplished in groups and leads therefore to in-depth group growth and to team development. Group and individual growth are systemically interrelated.

People must share with each other their experiences of authentic behavior, their inner struggles, their successes, what makes them proud, their tough decisions, and then support one another in this process of growing as a person and growing as a team.
—Peter Kostenbaum

It pretty much sums up what we do during our 12 week GROW:leadership pgms

“What piece goes where did you say?”

And here is one more creative contribution

Through its partner in Denmark, Mike Hohnen, Value Projects, a leading consultancy practice based in Bristol, has launched a management development programme with Danske Konferencecentres, a leading conference centre provider in Denmark.

The management development programme, entitled GROW, which will initially lead to participants gaining a Professional Certificate, is accredited through the University of Chester. Value Projects is partnered with the University to offer and deliver accredited Work-Based Action Learning programmes. The launch of the accredited GROW programme is the first programme to be launched under the Employer Engagement project. This project created an alliance in March 2007 between Value Projects Limited and the University’s School of Lifelong Learning and has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as part of a major project to support the extension of Work -Based Learning nationally and internationally.

Dr Richard Hale, Managing Director of Value Projects commented: “We are delighted to partner with Mike Hohnen and work with him and his team to provide accredited work-based leadership development. That we can extend the benefits of the HEFCE-funded project beyond the UK at such an early stage in the project is a real boost.”

Mike Hohnen added: “I have to say that I’m proud that we are now able to launch a 3 year management developing programme with Danske Konferencecentre. In Denmark the press is buzzing with talk about the need for diplomas in management, and our new type of educational programme reflects this need for constantly improving leadership. The project has already been received with great enthusiasm, and we can hardly wait to develop this concept with our British partner.”

Value Projects are developing links with both corporate organisations and training consultancies where they are able to offer University of Chester accreditation for Work-Based Learning.

For more information about Work-Based Learning programmes through Value Projects Ltd and the University of Chester contact Sarah Moore, sarah@viprojects.com 0117 310 1262 or visit www.viprojects.com. For further information on the GROW programme visit www.mikehohnen.com.