Aiden Choles – Page 6 – The Narrative Lab

Nexus for Africa – Whole System Change

We're pretty interested in all things systems and change related. And so, when we came across the Nexus for Africa movement, we were introduced to the idea of "whole system change". Nexus for Africa is a two conference (12th to 14th September) will be a unique experience where powerful approaches to collaborative change, selected from a repertoire of more than 60 methodologies broadly referred to as large-group methods/ interventions, whole-system change, or large-scale change, will be used to illustrate how organisations and [...]

By Aiden Choles|June 13th, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments

Reclaiming the power of personal narrative [TED Video]

Have you noticed how the role of narrative is getting more airplay nowadays? I've been keenly aware of the growing focus on the power of narrative in business and society. Here's another one of these messages, by Robert Tercek, with some very useful pointers on WHY narrative is important today, and how stories structure meaning in random experience. Hat tip to Cynthia Kurtz for this video.

By Aiden Choles|June 7th, 2011|Categories: Narrative|0 Comments

Calling all SMME’s – invitation to the NRF THRIP workshop

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been facilitating a series of workshops around the country for the National Research Foundation (NRF). The main purpose of these workshops is to introduce Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises who operate in industries that could benefit from Science, Engineering and Technology research to the THRIP programme (an initiative sponsored by the DTI). We'd like to invite you to attend the final workshop this week, if your business could benefit from such research. In essence the NRF act [...]

By Aiden Choles|March 27th, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: workshop|0 Comments

How’s this for a cool conference …

We love working with cartoonists and doing things differently. We also believe that conversation is of much greater value than simply sitting passively listening to the guru's speak (as is the case in most conferences). I found this approach to conferencing, and also conference reporting really refreshing. Let's hope that more and more conferences will be run this way!

By Aiden Choles|February 2nd, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments

Dan Pink on Candle Problems and Incentives

One of the problems we most often encounter in businesses is the unintended consequences caused by incentives and performance measures. This TED talk by Dan Pink makes a compelling case against using extrinsic motivators as incentives. Dan is an entertaining speaker who really knows how to use narrative to get his point across. Enjoy!

By Aiden Choles|December 11th, 2010|Categories: Religion|Tags: Dan Pink, incentives, Motivation TED|0 Comments

Dialogue: April Newsletter

We've just released the April edition of our newsletter, Dialogue. You can read it here. Be sure to subscribe to it (see the sign up box on the right of this page) for future editions.

By Aiden Choles|December 11th, 2010|Categories: News|Tags: dialogue, narrative lab, Newsletter, the narrative lab|0 Comments

Join us for our first Cape-Town based Cognitive Edge accreditation training (March 2011)

We are pleased to announce that TNL in partnership with the University of Stellenbosch Business School will be hosting Steve Bealing, CEO of Cognitive Edge from 8-10 March 2011 for the first ever Cognitive Edge accreditation training course to be held in Cape Town, South Africa. Detailed brochures are available here: - 2 day Cognitive Edge accreditation course - 1 day Sensemaker course Bookings made before the end of 2010 will receive 10% discount off the full course rates, so make sure you book your [...]

By Aiden Choles|November 15th, 2010|Categories: Cognitive Edge|Tags: accreditation, Cognitive Edge, training|0 Comments

On leadership

One of the projects we're currently working on aims to measure the impact of school leadership development programmes. The concept of principalship is quite interesting. Many people think that schools have much to learn from business, especially in the realm of leadership. I have some reservations about comparing school principals to CEO's, as I think there's a major difference in motivation between these two types of leaders. I can see however, that the management skills required are similar. At the [...]

By Aiden Choles|October 11th, 2010|Categories: Leadership & Decision Making|Tags: leadership|0 Comments

Traffic regulation: self-organisation vs control

Navigating the traffic here in SA can be quite a complex affair (as I'm sure is true in most other countries). Traffic authorities make extensive use of traffic lights and other control mechanisms to regulate traffic, especially in urban areas. I came across this interesing video the other day, about how allowing for self-regulation on busy roads often leads to less congestion and paradoxically, less road accidents. I'm not sure if this will work in South Africa, but it certainly [...]

By Aiden Choles|October 4th, 2010|Categories: Complexity|Tags: Complexity, self-organisation|0 Comments

Partnership with University of Stellenbosch

The Narrative Lab and Cogntive Edge are pleased to announce their partnership with the University of Stellenbosch Business School to pursue joint research programmes and delivery of courses in South Africa. Recently Cognitive Edge (CE), The Narrative Lab (TNL) and the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) established a partnership with two purposes: * Provision of SenseMaker® and support services for research purposes on selected programmes at USB * Joint conduct of a Cognitive Edge accreditation workshop at the University [...]

By Aiden Choles|October 1st, 2010|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments

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