I think beside you.

That’s how someone described what I do recently. When you have a plan but its just not falling into place, when something has to change in your organisation or in the way it works but you can’t see what it is, when you know that the policy or the strategy or the business model needs to change but you’re not sure how, I work with you through that difficult process. Listening, questioning, researching, bringing people into the conversation, facilitating the process so that the “solution” is your solution, and not a generic model imposed on the unique work you do.

What that looks like in practice is a lot of research and reports, facilitated workshops, presentations, models, whiteboards etc. – all the things we associate with “consultants”.

I’ve developed this approach over several years of working with National Agencies, Local Authorities, Politicians, venues, festivals, independent cultural organisations and production companies and individual people. I’ve spent a lot of time researching and thinking about arts and culture and creativity, about culture policy and entrepreneurship, questioning the ideas and the assumptions with the help of students on the courses I’ve lectured in at Quinn School of Business, UCD, and on the MA in Culture Policy and Arts Management UCD and at Queens.

There is no one way of doing what you do, no single business model or tool or method of enquiry that will make working in this sector easy.  Working together I try to find your best answer, your best solution.

Underlying the approach – the methodology – is the fact that before I took a Masters in Business and Management I was a theatre director, producer and venue manager for twenty-five years. I’ve directed over sixty shows, produced work that has toured to the UK, the US, Australia and Europe, and I’ve managed and programmed venues with next to no statutory support.  There’s also been some film work in there and a lot of video production.

The good directors all know that you can’t tell an actor what performance they should give, you can only work with them to find the best performance that they can give.  I’ve been asked do I miss directing, and the answer is no, because I still work with people to find the best performance they can give.

Thanks for reading this. You can check out my professional engagements on LinkedIn.

I look forward to working with you

John