Mike Hohnen

This weekend I came across some writings by James Flaherty - author of Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others

“… 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.

I found this neat quote on the Integral Leadership Review web site

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

We had great fun working with communication and problem solving with a group of hotel reception and booking people. How good are we at explaning to our colleagues what we have actually promised the guest? How good are we at understanding what the guest really wants? Good fun and lots of useful learning.

“What piece goes where did you say?”

We have already reached the halfway point with this great group - today was the day when they present their chalengees to each other - each trio creates a work of art that illustrated what they are working on - this gang showed more creativity than we have seen in a while - great fun!

And here is one more creative contribution

This went out to British media this week:
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Bristol-based consultancy practice, Value Projects Limited, forges training links with Danish hospitality group

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.