20 years of making hard things possible, amplifying voices, and enabling action

I recently openly asked people who've had had type of interactions or contact with me over the last 20 years, what they thought my most important impact has been over these 2 decades.

This isn't (just) for the sake of gratifying my ego, but as part of a genuine intention I have, that's been sparked by my business' porcelain anniversary, to start to try and take my enterprise more seriously.

As in previous cycles of this 'game', I've tried to anonymise all the responses I received at the end of this post, so you can check my workings out - but this time, I tried 2 different ways to try and make sense of what people kindly took time to share back with me: my own reading of the comments, and AI's analysis of them.

Firstly - to my own interpretation:

It strikes me that there are some common threads emerging:

1) championing less sexy and overlooked causes and injustices that people agree are important, but no-one seems to know what to do about them;

2) building other people up so that they can go further, and with more confidence, than they believed they ever could;

3) helping people make sense of things that most others see as in-sensicle (is that a real word?) - supporting them to understand and navigate systems and processes that otherwise appeared too technical and complex for them to cope with.

And the above seem to speak to not only impacts, but also the approaches I use it doing it (which nicely echoes an argument in my latest book, that the important thing about impact isn't what we do, but how we do it).

But nothing pointed to a single event, change, or new thing (which I find interesting, as there are workspace buildings that now exist because of me; and specific pieces of legislation that are different to what they were before I 'targeted' them). However, on reflection this is a good thing - as it echoes some of my core sentiments about the importance of relationships we have with each other (after all, in the ultimate end, that's all we ever have).

Secondly - to AI.

I fed it all the quotes and testimonials I'd received, and asked it: "Analyse the attached document of things people have said about me (from what they've seen and known that I've done and been involved in), to find what my biggest impact has been. And I'm defining 'impact' as "a marked effect or influence"."

For the sake of not wanting this post to turn into something that will take another 20 years to read, I'm going to extract some of the core points it generated from the swathes of ideas, suggestions, and follow-up prompts it created:

Across all the testimonials, your biggest impact seems to be: You enable others to do    more than they thought possible—by simplifying complexity, advocating for justice, and generously opening up new perspectives. In other words, your influence is both practical (making systems/processes work better) and transformative (changing how people think, act, and feel capable).

I asked it to reframe this into an 'impact statement', to try and make it flow a little better:

Adrian makes complexity accessible and give people the confidence to act. Through generous support, principled advocacy, and creative facilitation, he helps others see new possibilities, overcome barriers, and shape fairer, more effective systems. His influence lies in enabling people and organisations to do more than they thought possible—while amplifying voices and issues that might otherwise go unheard.

But this still feels a bit wordy and corporate jargon-y, so I asked to get a final version as a single sentence statement:

Adrian makes the complex simple and the possible achievable—equipping people and organisations with confidence, clarity, and courage to create fairer systems and lasting change.

Which somehow lost the opening core essence of what it originally found in its analysis. So I made a final attempt, by asking for 3-5 work taglines. These felt better:

* Making the hard things possible

* Amplifying voices, enabling action

It seems to me that AI didn't find anything substantially different to what I read and identified (so a useful sense check), but boy was it wordy in how it got this to a point that I think makes it easier to share with other people in ways that will be easy to understand and not sound like the usual patter of most consultants?

And as another sense-check on this, I also went back to the tag-line I created for my business nearly 20 years ago when I was first setting out - Insight, Development, Encouragement.

And it I think that based on what people have shared about their experiences of me and my work since then, I've done pretty well at sticking to those core 3 words?

(and the outcomes of this exercise also echoes my favourite testimonial which someone I once worked wrote about me, but which I've also struggled to be able to actually use in anything until now: "Adrian made us feel less stupid".)

The full schedule of all comments received from different people:

“What I’ve valued most is the generous, thoughtful, timely feedback at critical stages in promoting cooperative education in voluntary, and policy work undertaken.  Thanks Adrian you are a gem.”

“Every time I hit a brick wall and ask for help, yours in the name that keeps coming up”

“Well, I think the biggest thing that you’ve helped me with has been the change to our governance model and making sure we were doing it right for people living with HIV. You guided us through what was potentially an incredibly challenging process, identifying some of the landmines and encouraging us to prepare for and pre-empt them, which was incredibly useful in supporting people to feel able to vote for the change at an EGM.”

“From what I see, you have made the often complicated world of social enterprise governance, finance and development much more accessible to both entrepreneurs and those of us that support them.  You use your experience and knowledge – of both the sector and humans – to meet people where they are and offer them the input they need (even when they might not yet know they need it).  I think the impact of this is an increased number of social entrepreneurs, and their supporters, who are equipped with the right critical questions to navigate the world of social business (and social business support!).  I know I have certainly grown in confidence in the decisions I make, questions I ask and support I offer, as a result of learning from and observing your work.”

“For me, you've helped me reframe what a sponsor or donor could look like.  Because I think I had this fixed idea in my head that I had to approach larger organisations (often with dodgy values) if I wanted to get some sort of investment in my business.  And actually since your generous support of my Write the Book programme began, I've also had support for my podcast from a couple of other freelance businesses who've signed up to sponsor it.  I'm not sure I would have had the idea to contact them if we'd not worked together.  Or at least I might have contacted them without much hope of a positive response, but I think I'm more optimistic and open to the idea of freelance businesses being potential supporters now, and that's very exciting.”

 “I’m not sure that there is any one specific thing in terms of biggest impact, because I have seen various things and then there’s the next thing.  But overall, I would say the biggest impact you have had outside the direct services you provide is your commitment to putting your head above the parapet and shouting out for justice, whether that is for self-employed directors who are also carers, #Payin30Days, Excluded UK etc.  Quite hard to put a measurable impact on that!”

“I can only comment from the perspective of your support for Co-operative Climate Action.  You are one of a tiny band of co-operators who support our co-operative option rather than conventional (and often discredited) offsets.  As such you are helping vulnerable communities I Malawi adapt to climate change, protecting biodiversity, and supporting the development of new co-operative businesses that will reduce poverty, give them hope, and a financial incentive to care for the trees in the long term. Thanks to your interest and encouragement we are gradually gaining momentum and giving hope to people."

“Adrian has been a dedicated and powerful voice for carers, sharing his experiences to illuminate the challenges of caring when you’re self-employed.  The searing honesty in both meetings and in the Carers Aloud blog series has not just been moving but has helped instigate change within the organisation, making carers a priority area for future campaigning and lending strength and insight to existing campaigns, particularly on the fatherhood experience.  His insights on our research have been valuable and will be taken forward in developing future research.  He was also able to stand up for the self-employed when talking to the Department of Business and Trade at a focus group on carer’s employment experiences, which will hopefully feed into shaping future policy.”

“Challenging preconceptions and barriers to understanding and engagement. Innovative, creative and engaging learning." 

“Inspiring communications and stimulating conversations.”

“Finding the fun in the fundamentals of business processes and sound practices. Fixing the fundations!”

"I see someone who, despite having SO much on his plate, just Gets On With It. Never a hardy outward whinge or woe-is-me moan about how much of a challenge everything is. Sure, you acknowledge it and know that the setup is anything but 'normal' but you still Get On With It. You find a way to move through the challenges, conduct your work, look after your wards, and make the world consistent and consistently better for those around you."

"Your facilitation generates immediate thinking from different perspective.  The legacy of these 'penny drop' moments have guided the team through difficult conversations.   Your questions have empowered the inner voice to be louder."

How did I get here?

I take an unusual approach to helping people understand the balance sheet part of their accounts: I play the Talking Head's song "once in a lifetime", and explain how the lyrics actually explain how this strange set of numbers can be read and understood easily by anyone.

And a core part of this activity is a lyric in the song - "how did I get here?".

But this isn't a post about accounts or David Byrne - instead, it's a roundabout why of introducing a question I was asked by an early-stage entrepreneur, as part of a Mindset for Success gathering that I was invited to speak at earlier this year. 

When they heard that I'd made it to 20 years (and in doing so, beaten the survival rate of 90% of all other businesses), they were keen to know how I'd managed it: "how did I get here?".

And it's a really good question - because as I reflect on my blog posts, annual impact reports, stories I've shared across the various podcasts I've been invited to guest on, I don't think anyone (including me) has ever really stopped to try and figure out what my 'magic fairy dust' is.

After all, if you've seen other posts I've made on my blog earlier this year, you'll have read the litany of everything I've had to endure and work through during these 2 decades - any one of which by themselves would be sufficient to kill off any business; yet I've managed to not only survive so many such critical moments, but also get to my porcelain anniversary too. So maybe there's something about how I work which might actually be quite relevant to any business?

In the session I offered a few off the cuff thoughts, but promised I'd come back to the question to try and better reflect on it, here on my blog. 

So - I currently think that the reason(s) that I've made it this far are:

1) curiosity

Not the NASA rover on Mars (although part of me is embedded onto its successor, Perseverance, that's currently trundling around the red planet).

I find myself always wondering 'why?' and 'why not?' - and on reflection realise that this has been important in stopping me from becoming complacent or stale in how I work and what I offer.

It's also meant that I've introduced new practices which have gotten me noticed more; helped me change my position on different topics and themes so I've been seen as even more credible and relevant by others; contributed to strengthening my resilience (both personally and professionally); and helped me make better sense of everything I get involved in, which has directly supported me to be able to maintain my motivation through some very trying episodes.

2) being a glass half empty guy

Normally, the person who looks at the glass and says it isn't half-full is labelled the pessimist (and therefore more likely to turn down opportunities, and otherwise miss out on life).

But my looking at the glass and seeing it as being half-empty doesn't stop there - I have an idea that what's important isn't what we see, but what we do because of how we see it: because I see the glass as being already half-empty, it means I'm always looking for the next tap (which also helps in trying to avoid complacency).

It also means that I invest more energy in contingencies (which some people will have heard me refer to as my 'professional paranoia'): because I see the glass as being already half empty, it means that I'll feel any unexpected shocks more greatly because there's less water in the glass to absorb the shock wave from it. And having a range of contingences (even if only half-formed), means I'm more confident in my resilience when things start to go off-track, and able to recover from/endure them more easily and quickly.

3) trying to say yes (not no) more

There's an 'accepted wisdom' offered by many self-proclaimed experts and coaches that we should all be trying to say 'no' more.

But I've always struggled with this, initially because of my parents.

My parents tried to instill a set of good manners in me as I was growing up - which included trying to be helpful, and offering to support people if they ask you nicely.

Over time, this has seen me developing possibly one of the most diverse portfolios of any business consultant / freelancer. And while this comes with its own challenges (how do I best summarise in 1 pithy sentence what it is I do and who its for, when I work with national government departments on new national policy initiatives one day, and a consortium of market traders the next?), it's also meant I've found myself stretching my skills and comfort zones in ways that I wouldn't otherwise have even considered trying to (or seeing the benefit of). This has been really important for how I've kept my business going for this long - because I've fingers in different types of pies, it means that if one type of work/sector/etc starts to slow down, there there's usually another that I can focus more on to keep the lights on.

It's also meant that I was well ahead of the curve when the first lockdowns hit in March 2020, based on the number of national bodies who immediately enlisted my support to remodel how they work and redeliver their respective programmes and services in the world of zoom - up to that point, video calls and events were very niche and usually avoided by many, but I'd been asked to volunteer host a national body's monthly on-line meetups that were held over zoom several years prior. This meant I'd had lots of opportunities to play with/think about how to make this format best work for as many people and circumstances as possible.

4) always looking for escape exits

I have an idea that if you know how you'd be able to quickly exit a situation, contract, etc with the least amount of blood on the carpet, it can help you take more risks - you find you enjoy it more, because you're not worrying about what might happen if things start to go wrong. And you're not worrying because you've already looked at the glass as being half empty, worked out what the major risks might be and put things in place against them, so if things do start to go off-track, you know which glass to break to active your remedy to it.

Taking more risks also means you're confident to push things further; and the more we try new things, the more unexpected and exciting things can start to happen.

      

5) enduring more than my fair share of crises

I've recently shared about the full scope of hits I've had (professionally and personally) over these 20 last years. As any of of these could easily have killed any business, but I'm still here, then I've obviously built a lot of resilience in my business to be able to cope with shocks (which I've also considered in how I've also likened myself to a toilet elsewhere).

How I've thought about, and practiced, developing resilience is covered in other blog posts, podcast conversations, etc elsewhere - but investing in building this protection (both in my business model and personal mindset) is also recognised in various studies and research as helping people to:

• have greater self-awareness (which can help avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect)
• improving your psychological health (so enjoy greater mental well-being)
• better understand, and work with, others
• enhance self-management (really important if you're a freelancer or self-employed, like me)
• better decision making     

As well as the benefits that these would offer to any business, each of these is also recognised as helping people to better manage stress (which might also explain how the long-term stresses I live and work with aren't notably affecting my professional judgements, as evidenced by my business still being here 20 years on?). And pro-actively trying to manage stresses are important, because unmanaged stress can lead to a propensity to make more mistakes; make it hard to think clearly; and cloud your sense of what you're trying to build for the long-term, which leads to demotivation, despair, and closing your business.

So Kemi Bowley, this is the fuller response I promised you in that Mindset for Success session - the reasons I think my business has outlast 90% of all others are:

- I'm curious;

- I try and be pessimistic;

- I try and say yes to everything;

- I'm always looking for a way out;

- and in enduring everything that's tries to knock my business/me over, I've created new models of resilience.

To everyone else reading this, I'd be interested to know what it is that you think has helped your business get to the age it is today (especially when so many businesses that start will be gone within the first 36 months of their launching). 

What's really changed in 20 years?

As some may know, every few years I pose a seemingly random question to clients, collaborators, and other cheerleaders, to help me better understand what I should be trying to do more / less of, in order to be the most helpful and useful consultant I can be.

This is part of a wider CPD framework I've built around myself and business, and is based on the 360-degree feedback model (but in a way that shouldn't mean you need therapy or a solicitor afterwards).

In previous rounds, this has seen me being turned into a statue, donning superhero tights, becoming a painting, throwing Molotov cocktails, growing onions, etc - https://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/search/label/superpowers 

And as this is the 20th year since I set my business up, it feels right to be inviting people to play along with me again in this occasional activity, but I wanted to try a slightly different type of question:

What do you see (or think) my biggest impact (or footprint?) has been over the last 20 years, from what you've seen and known that I've done and been involved in?

(and I'm defining 'impact' as "a marked effect or influence")

And yes - this is a really mean question in a lot of ways, as (1) some of you haven't known me for this full period,  and (2) I'm not looking for the usual 'outcomes' that might typically relate to a specific project or programme.

Instead, what I'm fishing for are things that have shifted in how things are done, work, or thought about; or things that you've seen introduced, changed, or created as a result of something I wrote, did, or said.

They might directly relate to your role or organisation; they might be about things you've seen across a wider community; or at a whole sector level. They could even be what you've heard others say about me. And they can also be less than flattering (not all impact is always good - some new things can push out other stuff that was already there, and which was actually better).

In the interests of trying to keep with the original model of 360-degree feedback, if you'd prefer to anonymise your answer, you can add it through this form here: https://forms.gle/QijEizLHRduB6vFp6 

As always, however you feel you can respond (which can include not at all), it won't affect your standing on my Christmas card list later this year - and I'm looking to collate and share back what this finds after the summer.

And thanks in advance for anything you're able to share and reflect back to me.

Half way through the year; missed most of my goals so far; but still feeling ok

So we're officially now in June - half way through 2025, and only 6 months to Christmas! 

And tied to our collectively reaching this calendar milestone, seems to have been a recent small flurry of emails, posts on social media, etc from lots of people encouraging us to reflect on how well we've been smashing things for these first 6 months of 2025.

Except when I look back over my shoulder at what I've 'smashed' since January, I find myself at serious risk of giving up on the second half of this year:

- as part of marking the 20th anniversary of my business I wanted to publish my second book out (a retrospective of these first 2 decades). And although I've somehow managed to get the manuscript done, there's still the getting around to sorting out and completing final details that keeps eluding me...

- I wanted to get my website redesigned (I can't remember last time I did it); similarly as part of the porcelain anniversary this year. But I've not yet started that conversation with my web-hosters, SmartBear (but maybe by being so openly public it'll help me be more accountable?).

- I signed up to a few on-line/self-paced courses, which I've not even opened session 1 of yet (I'd hoped that paying actual cash for them would help me better follow through, but turns out not).

Now, none of these involve training to climb a mountain, staging a global conference, or creating a new on-line course, so what have I been playing at to let these things slip so much? After all, if you break them down, they could all have been easily be covered off if I'd devoted just 1 combined hour a week to them all.

Which brings me to the crux of this post - it's easy to set ourselves the goal, and equally easy to miss it (kudos to Douglas Adams for the sound effect of when we do), and when we see it happening we get disheartened, and so are more likely to leave things unfinished. Worse, we're probably also less likely to even try to set a future ambition as a result.

But here's the trick that I'm using to keep my motivation going: what the hell have I been doing in these last 6 months which which meant that I missed achieving these otherwise very achievable things?

Professionally - the start of this year saw the end of a lot of funded business support programmes of various types; and I found myself being approached by several to help them make sure that they'd hit all their targets, had all the audit paperwork trails in place, and enterprises being supported by them were in the best possible health as they cut the (financial and support) cord after March. Anyone who's managed funded projects knows how hectic the last few months of any can be. Multiple that by 3 to 4...

Personally - my unpaid caring roles were notably ramping up (and continue to). I'm not going to share details here, because the stories about the immediate family members I support are theirs to share, not mine. But for context, the government's (and most carer support services') support for carers is based on the assumption that you only care 1 for person. Recent research is starting to come out that's helping to highlight the different and more stressful experiences of the 'sandwich carer' (someone who cares for 2 people who span different generations). I'm in the next camp of being the sole unpaid carer for 3 people. Added into this, I'm self-employed (which means I'm not recognised in law as a carer), so I'm needing to spin the plates of supporting them, keep my business running to help keep the rent paid, and all with no support for myself in these roles...

So maybe missing my targets is OK - because I can see that a lot of good stuff has still been happening in wider communities, and for those closest to me. And that only happened because I didn't stick to my goals and pursue them above all else, (and there's still another 6 months for me to catch up with them, right?).

Just as I shared earlier this year about giving up on a dream that I'd been chasing for 20 years, maybe we should also hold the goals we set for ourselves more lightly too - and try to recognise that sometimes not achieving them can serve a greater purpose?    

What does my business need next, after 20 years?

I'm increasingly coming to the idea that most training, workshops, seminars, events, etc, that are created for, and aimed at, freelancers and the self-employed like me, seem to usually be focussed on those people either thinking about, or having recently, started out in this way of working.

That little which isn't, seems to be focussed on how we can build our 'evergreen content' into a passive training course that people click to watch, with an occasional mastermind session that would allow me to work less (and so be involved with less things that impact the world, as much of my client work offers me opportunity to), and charge people more (and so excluding people who may otherwise benefit, but simply can't afford to, through no deliberate fault on their part).

This year is the 20th anniversary of my 'striking out' as being self-employed/freelancing, after I was 'stitched up' by one of the then leading national social enterprises in the UK who'd just encouraged me to relocate my family to the other end of the country - to take up when they promised was a dream career offer that they were creating for me, but turned out to be nothing but well meaning intention when it came to allocating me a desk...

And over the last 2 decades, it strikes me that most of the CPD events I go to are now on a loop of those profiled in the opening of this post.

And that's not automatically a bad thing - I recognise that very few businesses of any type get to this porcelain milestone, and in one of the chapters in my book about imposter syndrome, I detail how realising that you're in such training events (and not getting any apparent benefit from doing so) is a sign that you really are doing alright in how you're running and managing things in your work.

But... I don't want to get stale/complacent - the way that I've always approached designing, and revisiting, how I work is based on trying to keep me constantly moving forward, challenging my understandings and ideas, and ultimately trying to avoid falling into habits I see in other consultants and advisers, which are ultimately only to the detriment and cost of the groups and enterprises who have looked to them for support and guidance... 

And I'm also aware that I'm not in the same place I was when I started out 20 years ago - I'm now an unpaid carer for several immediate family members (so no longer have the same amount of time available to devote to my business or earn money, but aren't eligible to apply for any support for myself in these roles), and also no longer own a house nor have the savings I used to (which had been forming the basis of how I imagined I'd fund my 'retirement', which is looming in the next 20 years).

So - where should I be looking for the next 'good stuff', as I now start to think about my next 20 years in business?*

* (assuming that there's still no-one out there who'd be open to putting me back onto a respectable payroll? I never meant to be self-employed, and am still not sure it's my life's calling..) 

after 20 years, it's time to go to the toilet

My business is 20 years old.

20 years! Only about 10% of enterprises that start-up get this far. 

To put this in perspective - when I started out, smartphones didn't exist! (it would be another year before the first tweet was posted; 2 years before the first iPhone was released on the world; and 3 years before Dropbox was launched. The typical best internet speed was 1Mb compared to around 900Mb today - we had to rely on using sharpened bones to scratch messages onto stones, and then hope people picked those stones up when we threw them at them).

Now, it turns out that the material associated with this particular anniversary is porcelain - something that most of us here in Britain associated with toilets.

But for me to have gotten this far, porcelain actually seems an apt simile for me:

• it has a high elasticity - to be able to keep up with all the changes in the world over the last 2 decades, the range of work I do, and types of organisations I support across all sectors, means I've had to be able to easily keep stretching myself.
• it has considerable strength and hardness - I've pushed hard on some things over the years, often to personal and professional criticism and opposition. This includes: (successfully) challenging CIC legislation; publishing a book that exposes most of the claims that people make about 'imposter syndrome' to be unproven and/or not based in any factual evidences; shining a brighter light on the 500,000+ unpaid carers who are discriminated against by all the bodies that are supposed to be supporting them because they're the only type of carer who aren't recognised in law for the sole reason that we're also self-employed; and calling out the apparent unprofessional practices of some social investors, which are damaging the wider sector; to name but a few.  
• it's translucent - I've openly published details of how I'm creating (or not) impacts of different types each year; and also been honest in my blog posts about when and where I've gotten things wrong.  
• and it has a high resistance to shock - if you've followed my blog over the years, you'll know that since becoming self-employed, my family has been made homeless twice; my father (who lives at the other end of the country) has almost died twice; I've navigated a difficult divorce; been investigated for tax fraud by HMRC three times (and cleared every time); had 'unannounced police visits' late at night; and so on. So much so, that the few people who know just how much 'shock' I've had to respond to and work through over these last 2 decades, are all amazed that I'm not only still in business, but not needed to be admitted anywhere...

So I'm actually pretty chuffed to be associated with porcelain.

But I also didn't want to miss the opportunity to try and mark this milestone - so, linking back to the toilet analogy, I've decided to twin my office toilet with a school in Uganda via https://toilettwinning.org/

25% of all human beings today don't have somewhere safe, clean, and hygienic to go to the toilet. Not only does this create all sorts of associated 'bio-hazards', it strips fellow people of their dignity. And if schools don't have toilets, then kids will find ways not to go there for those reasons, and as a result, lose the chance for education and so lose the future that they could/should have had, including the opportunity to break generational poverty.

So the next time you're paying a visit to the loo this year, please think of me and what you might be able to do to similarly 'be more porcelain'; and maybe if you might also be able find a similar excuse to twin your toilet with someone else's. 

"I didn't expect there'd be so much blood..."

I was recently invited to be the 'headline act' at the monthly Facilitators cafe - a gathering of people with an interest in facilitation to hang out with their peers, reflect on practices, tools, experiences, etc.

And I took the opportunity to encourage people to do some 'stick poking' at the worlds of psychometric tools and profiling - things like Myers Briggs, Belbin Team Roles, DISC profiles, etc, which are designed to tell us/others about how we think and behave as human beings (and are usually favoured by lots of HR recruitment teams, even though they weren't originally designed for this purpose...).

My reason for this was pretty much based on the approach I always take with tools and frameworks that are presented to us as the next 'new brilliant thing' - I have an idea that all too often we rush to adopt and start to use them, without first sense checking how safe they may be, what their origin stories are, and if they do actually live up to all the hype around them (based on evidence, research, and experience).

Within the context of the time available (just under an hour, and which also had to include time for people to show off their Christmas jumpers - it was December, after all!), I suggested we create spaces (aka breakout rooms, as the cafe's a virtual one in zoom) for people to reflect on how they'd experienced these types of tools in the context of facilitating different types of groups.

Encouragingly, the consensus that emerged is broadly similar to my own (which is based on looking at different published researches into efficacy, accuracy, and safety of different psychometric frameworks...):

- "they're a tool, not a rule". We shouldn't feel obliged to be a slave to their process, or bound by what they 'score', but rather treat them flexibly, and as circumstances may otherwise dictate; 

- they're designed for individuals to reflect on themselves in a controlled environment, rather than an open facilitated session, so can't and shouldn't be used as they're designed to be. To do so would require a lot of time (which reduces the ability of the group to otherwise progress against the aims of the wider session), and increases the risk of harm and distress amongst individuals within the group in doing then so openly and publicly;

- they should be used 'lightly', with lots of 'safety rails' put in place: as one fellow facilitator shared, when recounting their use of a psychometric with a group as part of a session they facilitated: "I didn't expect there'd be so much blood...";

- it's easy to get caught in a "model muddle": with so many different frameworks out there, and each claiming to be the best, how can we be sure we're playing with the right ones?

Ultimately, we all agreed that tools like these, as with any others, are only helpful to us as facilitators if they can answer the "...so what?" question. If they don't quickly, easily, and safely help to generate insights or outputs which directly contribute to achieving a session's aims, then they're probably going to be a distraction at best.

And intriguingly, one of the cafe patrons shared how they'd taken some of the principles and ideas around psychometrics and adapted these: early on any any session, they now share a short story. Depending on how people react to different parts of that story, or how they respond to it overall, gives that facilitator a working model for how they understand each person is likely to subsequently react to different prompts or stage and elements in the session plan.

Oh, and I also got to 'show off' one of the more playful approaches I use when working with a group that's been established for a while already, and people are used to working together: Ulla Zang, as a relatively safe prompt to help people reflect on, and refresh, how well they really think they know and perceive each other.     

the one where other people say what I did this year

It's that time of year when we're all encouraged to reminisce as business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.

And I've decided to 'play along' too. But rather than doing what most others seem to be (a mixture of the person's reflective anecdotes, dream client contracts won, things that felt the scariest or created the biggest 'splash' for them), I wanted to try and take a slightly more 'scientific' and experimental approach (after all, I do encourage people to play at being 'mad scientists' from time to time...). 

I've instead decided to see what might be the things other people noticed about what I was up to in the year, that they felt were most noteworthy, based on the analytics across most of my social media channels, and awards I've been feted with. 

And the results are... 

Caring about unpaid caring 

Sharing stories about my 'extra curricular' efforts to get better recognition for unpaid carers who are also self-employed, freelance, or small business owners (we're the only type of carer who isn't recognised in law, and therefore have no rights or support services designed for our needs, as carers in other circumstances do), drew the most consistent interest of all the things I talked about that I've been involved in this year.

And because of this, I've had opportunity to influence a national think tank's policy research, who have also subsequently openly published their own position paper on this (hat tip to ipse!); been profiled by a national family support charity (another hat tip to Working Families!); and been invited by the Department for Business and Trade to be part of focus groups they're convening to better understand the experiences of unpaid carers, and their employers, in different employment contexts and environments.

Continuing to feel like imposters

My book, and guesting on others' podcasts etc, about why we should rethink the whole concept of 'imposter syndrome' (on the basis that various published scientific research and study papers suggest that it isn't at all what most people say and think it is), also continues to draw ongoing interest.

Challenging what people think social enterprise is (and should be) about

And my ongoing reflections about what emerging data sets and researches about what the future of the social enterprise sector might look like and act, (and the evolving nature of the types of organisations that make it up), also proved popular (including my extolling the virtues of McDonalds, as an inspiring example that social enterprises should seek to imitate!)

 

Going out of my way to make trouble/try and help

Although my unpaid caring responsibilities now mean that I'm not able to offer as much pro bono, or get involved with events and initiatives as much as I could and did in previous years, I've continued to try and spot and create ways in which I can use my business and voice to influence and encourage others, so that they in turn can amplify this through other channels.

This year, theRSA offered me a Life Fellowship, in recognition of my 'extra curricular' efforts to positively influence the wider ecosystems of policy makers, investors, and infrastructure bodies, that support enterprises of all types; and the Community Foundation for Calderdale recognised me as an "outstanding individual" in recognition for how I've stretched the way my business works to maximise the potential impacts and benefits it can create for the wider local community and economy in contributing to them becoming more resilient and inclusive.

But that's what I think I'm aware of, on the basis of the points in my year that the internet tells me that I've caught the most interest and imagination of others, because of what I was (trying to) do to at the time.

What's been the biggest thing I've done this year, that meant you were glad that I was part of yours?

Maslow's doughnut

A lot of people have probably heard of 'Maslow's hierarchy' - it's based on the idea that as human beings, we have different 'levels' of need, and until we can satisfy one, we can't progress to the other (i.e. if we're homeless, it's hard to commit to a course of learning or securing a job).

In recent years, there's also been the emergence of 'donut economics' - the idea that because we live in a closed ecosystem (aka a planet revolving around the sun, and all we've got is what's already on it), we need to try and balance how we consume with how we live, and the donut creates a visual representation of this:

But I've been thinking recently about where these 2 models might/can/should overlap with each other - Maslow designed his model on the assumption that we should all be encouraging ourselves and each other us to be striving to reach the top of the pyramid, and that there would always be enough resources available for everyone to do this in ways that they determined were right for them. But maybe we need to be slightly more nuanced in this 'race to the top'? - not everything that's good for us is good for everyone else.

Could encouraging ourselves to work out what our 'personal doughnut' should be, and then thinking about where we are/want to be (in Maslows' hierarchy) allow us to more sustainably (and so better) achieve and set our personal ambitions, through recognising and understanding how our ambitions and choices affect others, and theirs, us?

(To work out your personal doughnut = https://doughnuteconomics.org/tools-and-stories/118)

Could this 'Maslow doughnut' be a better model for how we think about our personal development in the 21st century?

Nihilism, safety goggles, and the number 6 - freelancing with imposter syndrome

I've blogged in the past about the risks that being a freelancer can have on your confidence, and also highlighted in my book about imposter syndrome how working in this way can also mean you appear to be more prone to such feelings of self-doubt.

It was therefore exciting and encouraging to have been asked by Freelance Heroes (who are ultimately responsible for my writing the book in the first place), to lead a session to share and explore some of the ideas in my book - in hopes of helping offer fellow freelancers some encouragement and practical ideas for how they might get more out of working as such.

And whilst it's always exciting to share the books' ideas with new people to get their views on my arguments, and what these are based on, I also find it valuable to 'gather some more stories' about people's experience of feeling like an imposter - not just for the sake of possible 2nd edition, but more importantly to share with others through this blog, in hopes that they may be of encouragement to others I'll never meet...

People in the session shared that they'd signed up to it, in recognition of some of the impacts that feelings of self-doubt were having on their freelance careers, and which they wanted to try and do something about:

• not charging as much as they could/should/(needed to), and so financially struggling more than they recognised that they perhaps needed to;
• not pursuing contracts or projects that would help raise their profile and secure future work, for fear that they did not hold the right qualifications for it (despite simultaneously acknowledging that they had significant relevant experience).

There was also a key point that one person made about the confusion and overlap between feeling like an imposter, and having a lack of confidence.

It was also interesting and challenging to hear of some of the practices that some of the freelancers in the session had created and adopted, in how they currently deal with feelings of imposterism:

• phoning a trusted friend for a 'sanity check';
• adopting a nihilistic mindset, and disassociating themselves from their work, to try and protect themselves against the potential risk of things not working out as they might hope they would.    

As we wrapped up the hour together, everyone shared that they'd found the time together of encouragement, and all committed to take a range of actions as a direct result of it:

• increase their knowledge about specific areas of their existing work (libraries are always a good place to start for this!);
• explore and better understand the 'origin stories' of what their doubt about their skill may be rooted in, so that they can design more effective ways to better manage it;
• create feedback loops with clients and others;
• talk about these feelings more openly with others, after realising that everyone feels them, to be able to hear others' experiences, and through these, better understand their own;
• adopt a practice of self check-in questions with themselves when they think they may be feeling it, to help better manage these feelings of doubt and move through them;
• experiment with different ideas to see which might work best for them (but as with any experiment, always make sure you wear safety goggles, just like when you were at school!).

What also struck me about the session was the number of people who were part of it - normally, on-line sessions and events I've been part of, or heard about, seem to attract (or need to book on) upwards of 15 people - we were a perfectly formed '6', which seemed to naturally allow for everyone to feel they could easily speak, and have the opportunity to explore and directly apply ideas and prompts to their own personal circumstances and situations.

So if you're thinking of joining a session to explore some of these ideas or feelings in the future, perhaps try and avoid the 'sell-out'/'big ticket' types, and hunt out the smaller groups as you'll likely get more benefit and encouragement from them (but only if you're really serious about wanting to do something about feelings of being an imposter...)

 

why freelancers are so (unnecessarily?) self-critical

Reflecting with fellow freelancers as part of a recent networking get-together, we all shared and identified that we're really self-critical and unforgiving of ourselves when we get things wrong - yet are often far more understanding and accepting of others when they do...

My idea about the usual way we can reconcile this, is to do with our not being part of regular teams (in the ways that our salaried counterparts are) - in not having access to appraisals, regular training activities, or all of the other ongoing feedback that can come on a daily basis in micro interactions, we're lacking the perspective to make more sense of our own experiences. And we're more tolerant of others because we don't have the job security our salaried counterparts have, so are more concerned to maintain and protect relationships with have with clients. 

But I think there's actually something else that's equally, if not more, important in understanding this apparent contradiction: because we're not part of a regular team/workplace, we don't get to see all the mistakes other people make everyday that they're either getting away with, or turn out not to be that much of a problem after all.

Without the openness about mistakes and failures, we surely risk entrenching ourselves in echo chambers of our own mistakes - with no recourse to judge how far our errors and lapses really are that 'bad' in comparison to other peoples', we'll increasingly and unnecessarily chastise ourselves to our own detriment?  

How long can I keep it up for?

In January 2005 I officially became self-employed. I never meant to be (and still don't), but in seeking to try and make the most of it from every angle, I've committed to a range of ongoing practices - one of which is my annual impact report.

It began in 2006 with 2 throwaway lines on my then CV, and didn't even feature in my blog here until I'd done the 4th one of them!

But over the years, the framework I've created has expanded and evolved so that it's now looked to as a leading example of 'integrated impact reporting'; picked over by people in different countries around the world; and is now starting to increasingly raise questions about/highlight how the context for how I work is changing (and not just because of when I started this, the UN's Global Goals, and letters 'ESG' didn't exist!).

And this years' has already elicited feedback that likens its approach and structure to the professional revalidation that medical practitioners have to undergo every year to prove that they remain safe to care for patients (which I'm taking as a pretty hefty endorsement of it being an excellent way to evidence my CPD*).

However, one of the other early comments that's also come back has particularly struck me - "17 years of impact reporting - that's dedication!"  I've been sharing this 'warts and all' view of how I work, and what happens as a result of it, every year for 17 years.  

I'm not sure I know of any other organisation who's published so many such reports about themselves in this way, so I'm hoping there's someone out there who can 'prove me wrong' and help reassure me that I'm not the 'oldest tool in the bag' when it comes to publishing impact reports on their work?

* In this instance, the letters mean what most people usually associate with them, rather than what I do... 

  

I'm an onion.

Last year, as part of my ongoing CPD, I asked people what they thought a statue of me should hold in its hand (see https://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/2022/07/molotov-cocktails-jelly-babies-onions.html for the full story...)

And whilst some of the suggestions people made caught me by surprise (such as a Molotov cocktail!), a couple of people suggested an onion.

And one of them added an explanatory note as to why they thought an onion best symbolised me: 

- It has many layers

- It has a heart

- It has a tough skin 

- It is an essential part of the majority of recipes 

- It represents good food and people coming together

- It is versatile 

- If you give it care and attention it becomes sweet and mild (although I'd like to think I'm sweet and mild to begin with?)

- It is a vegetable that is important to all sectors of society

And so I think I'm quite pleased if people see me as an onion.

But what vegetable do people see you as?

It's that time to get nostalgic again

So, here we are - it's the end of another year, and traditionally a time to reflect and reminisce about the period that's just been since the last time we did this: what we've learnt, what we wished we'd known sooner, and the hopes we'll take with us into 2023...

Previously, I've approached this through looking at what generated the most interest/uproar across my social media channels, but this year I had the opportunity to spend a morning with fellow facilitators as part of an informal process with Paul Kelly and Caroline Jessop of IAF England and Wales fame.

Everyone in the session all seemed to agree how well structured it was, and how expertly guided we felt we'd been (possibly with the exception of Paul's ever-changing Christmas jumpers), and whilst others will be sharing on their own blogs, etc their views of it, I wanted to capture the reflections I took from it about myself and my business over the year that's been 2022, here: 

CPD

I realise that the most beneficial things I've found this year with regards to my own professional CPD have been:

1) getting interviewed for various people's podcast series and radio shows* - it's a fascinating way to reflect on what I think I know, how I came to acquire this 'special knowledge', how it's influenced and continues to influence how I think, and so much more...

2) start a TikTok channel - like with interviews, it's such a wholly different way of having to approach how you think you know what you do; and with so much encouragement to indulge your creative impulses, I can see why some people are so deep into this social media channel...

NETWORKING

We often think of (formal) networking as a semi-regular forum or group we check-in with either virtually or in person. And reflecting on my involvement with several over the year has reminded me how important they are as a source of mutual and emotional encouragement.

However, it also struck me that as valuable as such support is, it's usually with the same people (otherwise it wouldn't work) - what I've also experienced this year are a couple of 'exceptional events' (including being asked to draft an opinion piece on why CICs may have been the worst thing to have ever happened for the social enterprise movement, by an international media agency). These generated new opportunities to meet and speak with people who would normally be outside of my circles, and only with hindsight do I realise how reactionary I was in exploring these (note to self: be more organised and methodical next time!). 

And whilst these new contacts are exciting, they're as equally scary (owing to the pay grade that some of these people operate at!), so knowing that there's a community I can check-back in with for some encouragement and assurance around them is important also... 

WALKING

The session concluded with trying to look forwards, having now looking back - and generating an analogy for what we want to achieve in our business over the coming year.

Mine turned out to represent how I've always tried to approach my professional ways of working - walking:

- it's intentional; is recognised in supporting our well-being; allows us to explore new places; and has moments of serendipity in the people we encounter as we travel in this way.

- But of course, there's also a balance to this in that walking also always includes a risk that we might get lost, or find ourselves ill-prepared for rapidly changing circumstances (such as it starting to rain, but when we left it was sunny so we didn't bring a coat or brolly...)

Overall, it was a morning I'm glad I invested in with my peers, and will definitely be looking out for opportunities to again when the end of the years start to roll around again in 2023, 2024, 2025...

* podcasts and radio shows I've appeared on this year:

We're not selling shoes - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/6-adrian-ashton-and-focusing-on-relationships-not/id1620033728?i=1000558069656 

Facilitation stories - https://facilitationstories.libsyn.com/fs42-designing-the-space-for-others-to-learn-in-conferences 

and Facilitation Stories: FS50 Wrapping Up the Year Reflecting on Our Meetups 

Connections radio - https://wiz-media.co.uk/2022/12/08/the-business-of-surviving-flooding/