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Sparknow is a knowledge and communication consultancy founded over a decade ago to bring some warmth back into the workplace. We specialise in unearthing useful truths that were almost known but not quite expressed.
We work with people who are undergoing changes, mergers, moves and rebrandings, who are re-evaluating their position in the market and their future directions, or reconnecting to their staff. We often challenge people, but we always respect them. The work expresses itself in different forms. There’s more in the approach section, but what it boils down to is getting lively conversations going, conversations that allow questions – sometimes difficult ones – to be asked in new ways. Fresh, vivid conversation spaces are spaces for change.
If you would like to know more, or to talk about what we might be able to do for you, please contact someone at sparknow.net;. Your message will come to all of us and someone will reply straight away.
Sparknow’s framing questions
To help others to ask good questions, we need to ask some good questions ourselves, so we try to progress – through client work and by our own endeavours – by holding some framing questions in mind, even if clients never see these questions directly. The four questions we’re holding in mind at present are:
1. The role of memoir
… when I am finished with this memoir I will be finished with this body
Thus Joyce Carol Oates. If they can’t remember the past, people can’t imagine the future. What memories and assets from your history are holding the body of your organisation together and leading it into the future?
2. Culture & resilience
‘always be prepared to explore new options, to value age-old tradition yet remaining open to new forms of audacity and creativity….That is why we see our collection as [being] not decorative but rather provocative.’
These are the words of the CEO of Montblanc pens in a recent article in Wallpaper magazine.
Culture is a term whose deep meaning seems to have been mislaid in organisational theory and practice, and cultural collections seem to be tidied into places where their influence is limited. How can culture, the deep roots that make daily meaning be put back in their proper place? What role can cultural collections, places, narratives and relationships play in this? And how can this help an organisation equip itself to be adaptable, resilient and agile?
3. The ripening of informal trust
The short time frame of modern institutions limits the ripening of informal trust.
This is what Richard Sennett wrote in the Corrosion of Character, a book that explores the rupture in relationship between individual & organisational narrative in the workplace of today and the consequent loss of meaning for both. What’s the role of narrative in mending this broken relationship?
4. The salt of failure
In Daniel Martin, John Fowles at one point describes failure as the salt of life – the seasoning which makes life taste rich and enjoyable.
In what ways can the salt of failure be used to season and enliven the daily practices and products of organisations?
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