Stop Getting By, Start To Fly

The Best Steps Businesses and Other Organisations Can Take in Difficult Times

Thursday 29 March 2012, Junction 25, Brighouse

Hard times. What to do for the best? We hear a lot of people asking questions like: What’s the sensible way to make cuts? How should you drive down costs? What’s the best way to lay people off? How do you keep the employees left behind motivated? Tough questions that just go to show how difficult it is now, whether you’re running a business, large or small, leading or working in a public or third sector organisation, managing or simply being part of a team of employees.

Every instinct says it’s better to batten down the hatches, ride out the storm, and see who emerges when the good times return. But could we instead remain defiant, like the “camp town man” in Gillian Welch’s song, with the refrain: Hard times ain’t gonna rule my mind no more. Is our preoccupation with survival limiting our ambitions? Why not set our sights on starting to thrive?

In this session we explored how much of a real possibility that is. We used a process called Logo Visual Thinking (LVT) which was perfect for the purpose. It’s a tried and tested way to unlock ideas, wisdom and knowledge, all present in abundance when members and friends of the network gather in a room.

About our facilitator

Peter Cruikshanks is an accredited LVT practitioner and as a member of NET2 for several years has made use of its meetings to recharge his batteries. He works with owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in West Yorkshire to make their lives easier and businesses more profitable.  Which means he spends his time talking to owners about building a shared purpose in their businesses – often running workshops using LVT.  Most of the time those workshops drive ideas for improvement in the business so Peter also helps the willing workers make the business work better drawing on a blend of accountancy, engineering and systems thinking approaches.