Helping organisations thrive

Still Waters helps organisations who are either stuck or looking to unlock potential. Together we figure out the shift that’s needed and define the business benefits of change. Exploring and understanding the here and now, we unpack what’s needed to get into action. Working collaboratively and creatively on breakthroughs, we generate momentum as we go – driving and supporting sustainable change from within your organisation.

Find out more

 
organisations-icon.png
 
 

My working life has been devoted to helping organisations thrive and prosper. I’m very grateful for the opportunities and experiences my career has brought me. My professional practice has evolved over the decades and remains a work in progress. I believe I still have much to offer as a:

 
consultant.png

Consultant

I watch and listen to your organisation and then we work on what I notice. I aim to bring fresh eyes, a lively, creative mind and plenty of experience to my consulting work.

coach.png

Coach

I work closely with individuals and teams to achieve the goals they aspire to. We build trust and rapport early so that we can challenge stuck patterns and find breakthroughs.

facilitator.png

Facilitator

I help teams and groups help themselves. We work out what’s needed, why and how best to make it happen. Then we get going together in a collaborative, challenging way.

teacher.png

Teacher

There are some things that I feel able to teach, including mindfulness practice, presentations skills, challenger tools. My teaching is light on theory heavy on experience and practice.

mentor.png

Mentor

I am a trusted advisor for people who are in situations that I have some first or second-hand experience of. I offer advice lightly and in the spirit of collaboration more than autocracy.

 
 

As part of my ongoing development I write articles about each of these roles. You can find every article in Resources

 
Resources For Helping Organisations
A Jungian Approach to Coaching
A Jungian Approach to Coaching

I don’t really do book reviews here but for what seem like unconscious reasons I am. In my work coaching business leaders who are studying, it’s helpful to stay on top of the academic material being pumped into them. Consequently, I can often be found with my head in some relatively obscure books. This is mostly a frustrating experience that makes my brain hurt, as I find the writing often dense and sometimes impenetrable. However, occasionally something resonates and appears very useful, and so it was with Laurence Barrett’s A Jungian Approach to Coaching.

From Chess Boards to Ice Fields
From Chess Boards to Ice Fields

If you are of my generation you would probably have been brought up on concepts like Total Quality Management (TQM), Projects In Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) or something similar like Kaizen. These change methodologies, while all valid, were born out of industrial-age thinking, which I’d argue is no longer serving us quite so well.

Creating a Disturbance
Creating a Disturbance

I find lots of my work with business leaders ends up being about problems making real change happen. Organisations thrive on certainty and consensus, which reduce anxiety and create routines, habits and rituals. This becomes what is often described as “the way things are done round here”, the status quo, or as I like to provoke “addiction to a winning formula”. All of which creates a feeling of stuckness, driven by fear of the unknown and the risk of being unpopular. It’s at times like this I’m grateful to Ralph Stacey for creating the disturbance matrix.