When thinking about doing a blog, I tend to get hung up on the idea that a blog is for ‘publication’, and since the writing I've done for publication goes through quite a few stages before being published, posting a blog which resembles a draft seems to be risky and a bit of an imposition (why should readers be given early thoughts?) Well, I guess that in fact blogs are really work in progress, so this blog represents some early thoughts and really is work in progress.
The topic is designing courses – ELT courses, that is. And the stimulus for thinking about this came from some feedback from an IDLTM alumnus who felt that, although specified in the course outline, not enough attention had been given to curriculum. In fact, curriculum as such isn't a significant item in the course description, although ‘Course planning, preparation, provision & follow up (including evaluation/feedback cycle’ is.
So, prompted by this point, I started thinking about course planning, etc., which I’ll refer to as course management or CM. First stop: a web search. Not a great deal turns up, and what does turn up tends to be rather more at the applied linguistics end of the spectrum than at the actual CM end. Furthermore, for the LTO manager, concerned with managing a range of courses of varying levels and lengths (all complicated by the continuous enrolment which is widespread in non state sector or private language teaching organizations (LTOs)), commonly for nationally diverse student groups, the kinds of discussion which goes on in the literature doesn't seem to make much connection with the realities of CM in the typical LTO. (This isn't to say that an academic manager shouldn't be familiar with this literature and the ideas and controversies which are part of this particular discourse arena. An MA in ELT seems to be the place for such study, however.)
So, back to CM. In FTOM (White, R., Hockley, A., van der Horst Jansen, J., & Laughner, M. 2008. From Teacher to Manager: Managing language teaching organizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) I propose 3 levels, which are
1. Principles
2. Frameworks and guidelines
3. Specific products & services (i.e. courses)
Principles includes vision and mission, and could be linked to the top level of curriculum development which is that of the educational philosophy which motivates the curriculum. So, for the course manager, the first point of reference is that of the educational mission of the LTO, and the principles which motivate teaching. Such statements are, I suspect, quite rare, so the academic manager may have to start by involving colleagues in developing such a statement of principles. But that isn’t the message which an academic manager, such as the DOS or ADOS, wants to hear when they’ve got to get a course ready for next week!
The frameworks and guidelines are closer to operations level concerns and the manager may have access to such documentation, as in an examination handbook, or in the form of the Common European Framework (CEF). What, then, does the manager do with this documentation and planning the course? The choice of aims, objectives, content, teaching activities, and evaluation will depend on a number of factors:
1. Course participants: level, diversity, goals (broadly speaking, their needs, although a needs analysis of any sort is unlikely to be available, and needs analyses aren’t necessarily very helpful as they aren’t necessarily well designed or conducted.)
2. Course duration and organization. This, in my own experience , has always been critical because planning any course is highly determined by the amount of time available to reach whatever goals have been sest.
3. Course specification: thanks to the influence of the CEF, there is a move towards expressing these in terms of the levels and specifications used in the CEF, including the use of ‘can do’ statements (as is done in the FCE handbook, for instance).
4. Course outline: this is where, I think, there is a transition to a kind of documentation which is common in mainstream education: the Scheme of Work.
5. Lesson plans.
The key document here is the Scheme of Work, and I suspect that it is this which is what accreditation scheme inspectors seek to sight and which academic managers are really concerned with when thinking about CM and course design.
What is a scheme of work (SOW)? At the risk of confirming that blogs really are rough drafts, I’ll refer to the definition offered by Wikipedia:
In the UK, a scheme of work is a not statutory guideline that defines the structure and content of a course. It maps out clearly how resources (e.g. books, equipment, time) and class activities (e.g. teacher-talk, groupwork, practicals, discussions) and assessment strategies (e.g. tests, quizzes, Q&A, homework) will be used to ensure that the learning aims and objectives of the course are met successfully. It will normally include times and dates. The scheme of work is usually an interpretation of a specification or syllabus and can be used as a guide throughout the course to monitor progress against the original plan. Schemes of work can be shared with students so that they have an overview of their course.
The key parts of a "scheme of work" include:
• Content
• Objectives or Outcomes
• Methods of delivery (student and teacher activity)
• Assessment strategies
• Resources
• Other Remarks
A more extensive but accessible account of SOW can be found at
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/ferl.aclearn.resource.id5602
So, I’ll end this blog with a question: is the SOW what academic managers are thinking of when dealing with CM? Or is it something else?
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Thursday 17 June 2010
Entrepreneurship
One of the FT columnists I enjoy reading is Luke Johnson, who writes on entrepreneurship. It's an indication of my own ignorance of the world he inhabits that I know him mostly as an FT columnist and as one of the partners in Pizza Express and that he's chairman of Channel 4, one of the UK's independent TV channels. So, this morning I decided to Google him, and discovered on the Wikipedia site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Johnson_(businessman) that there is more to the history of this serial entrepreneur than I realized. Apparently, he took part in a BBC TV programme, 'Back to the Floor', in which executives go back to the shop floor to remind themselves of what it's like to work at operations level. Evidently, Johnson didn't distinguish himself in this role reversal, proving to be humourless, no good at any of the jobs (as waiter, receptionist, kitchen hand) and being pretty hopeless at listening to his staff's many problems.
Well, it could be argued (and no doubt Johnson would do so) that entrepreneurs don't need to have domain knowledge or be good at listening to staff or be skilled at operations management, since the role of and expertise required by an entrepreneur are of a different order. What, then, are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Well, according to Johnson, they aren't those outlined by New Yorker magazine journalist, Malcolm Gladwell (he of The Tipping Point).
[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1b8c3d8-1035-11df-841f-00144feab49a.html]
Counter intuitively, Gladwell asserts that entrepreneurs are risk averse. According to Johnson, this is rubbish. He points out that 'The launch of BSkyB, perhaps the most lucrative media project of our time, was fraught with danger and almost bankrupted News Corp. Similarly, the launches of the iPod and iPhone by Apple were both high-risk strategies and might have flopped.' And he goes on to say that 'We remember the winners but forget the hundreds of losers – they all appeared to be “sure things” at the time.'
Johnson especially takes to task Gladwell's touting of John Paulson as the archetypal entrepreneur who only bets when he can[t lose. (Paulson is the massively successful hedge fund manager who in essence shorted US housing mortgages.) However, Johnson points out that Paulson 's not an entrepreneur: ‘he is a Wall Street financier who takes short-term speculations, mainly, it seems, using derivatives – gambling with paper on paper'. Johnson goes on to make the point that 'Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, build real companies that employ people and generate value for an economy. They do not amass riches through the misery of others; they create wealth and jobs, and make the capitalist system work.' In fact, Johnson believes that the distinction between the kind of gambler represented by Paulson and the values represented by the entrepreneur is both a moral as well as a philosophical issue. 'To me, Mr Paulson and others like him are the opposite of heroic – they are in essence parasitical'.
It is difficult not to agree with this last point, particularly in the light of the 'business as usual' practices of the banks in the wake of the economic melt down and bail out by governments and, ultimately, the tax payer. The failure of the banks to mend their ways, and the 'poverty of action' to reform the banking system is the subject of a pretty swingeing article by Will Hutton in Sunday's 'Observer': [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/will-hutton-banks-crash-refuse-reform]
Basically, 'our banking system is as disconnected from real wealth generation as ever'.
Now, where does this connect with ELT? Firstly, I wonder how many real entrepreneurs there are in the sector. Historically, there are some, such as John Haycraft, who, with his wife, founded IH and who, importantly, recognized the need for initial teacher training. And there will be others -- Frank Bell comes to mind and his status as founder of the Bell Educational Trust is given prominence on their web site, in great contrast to Pilgrims and CfBT, who, in neither case, refer to the individuals instrumental in their foundation . In fact, it would be interesting to try to make a list of ELT entrepreneurs. I suspect that few contemporary ones will actually be found in ELT as such, but are more likely to be discovered in educational enterprises, such as Navitas, whose founders, Rod Jones and Peter Larsen, 'identified a need for a different kind of pathway into university in Australia', developing an educational business which, in 2009, had 'had over 30,000 students a year studying in its network of colleges and campuses across seven countries. It had cemented its place as Australia’s largest private education provider.' [ http://www.navitas.com/company_history.html]
Much of the management carried out in the typical LTO doesn't involve entrepreneurship, and it calls for a range of skills which don't appear to be part of the skill set of the entrepreneur. Even so, any sector needs its entrepreneurs if it is to develop and avoid becoming moribund. When one surveys what is on offer by the majority of Language Teaching Organizations (LTOs), there seems to be little indication of significant innovation or of significant entrepreneurship, both of which may be critical in the economically challenging times which now confront us. Or maybe I'm wrong?
Well, it could be argued (and no doubt Johnson would do so) that entrepreneurs don't need to have domain knowledge or be good at listening to staff or be skilled at operations management, since the role of and expertise required by an entrepreneur are of a different order. What, then, are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Well, according to Johnson, they aren't those outlined by New Yorker magazine journalist, Malcolm Gladwell (he of The Tipping Point).
[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1b8c3d8-1035-11df-841f-00144feab49a.html]
Counter intuitively, Gladwell asserts that entrepreneurs are risk averse. According to Johnson, this is rubbish. He points out that 'The launch of BSkyB, perhaps the most lucrative media project of our time, was fraught with danger and almost bankrupted News Corp. Similarly, the launches of the iPod and iPhone by Apple were both high-risk strategies and might have flopped.' And he goes on to say that 'We remember the winners but forget the hundreds of losers – they all appeared to be “sure things” at the time.'
Johnson especially takes to task Gladwell's touting of John Paulson as the archetypal entrepreneur who only bets when he can[t lose. (Paulson is the massively successful hedge fund manager who in essence shorted US housing mortgages.) However, Johnson points out that Paulson 's not an entrepreneur: ‘he is a Wall Street financier who takes short-term speculations, mainly, it seems, using derivatives – gambling with paper on paper'. Johnson goes on to make the point that 'Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, build real companies that employ people and generate value for an economy. They do not amass riches through the misery of others; they create wealth and jobs, and make the capitalist system work.' In fact, Johnson believes that the distinction between the kind of gambler represented by Paulson and the values represented by the entrepreneur is both a moral as well as a philosophical issue. 'To me, Mr Paulson and others like him are the opposite of heroic – they are in essence parasitical'.
It is difficult not to agree with this last point, particularly in the light of the 'business as usual' practices of the banks in the wake of the economic melt down and bail out by governments and, ultimately, the tax payer. The failure of the banks to mend their ways, and the 'poverty of action' to reform the banking system is the subject of a pretty swingeing article by Will Hutton in Sunday's 'Observer': [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/will-hutton-banks-crash-refuse-reform]
Basically, 'our banking system is as disconnected from real wealth generation as ever'.
Now, where does this connect with ELT? Firstly, I wonder how many real entrepreneurs there are in the sector. Historically, there are some, such as John Haycraft, who, with his wife, founded IH and who, importantly, recognized the need for initial teacher training. And there will be others -- Frank Bell comes to mind and his status as founder of the Bell Educational Trust is given prominence on their web site, in great contrast to Pilgrims and CfBT, who, in neither case, refer to the individuals instrumental in their foundation . In fact, it would be interesting to try to make a list of ELT entrepreneurs. I suspect that few contemporary ones will actually be found in ELT as such, but are more likely to be discovered in educational enterprises, such as Navitas, whose founders, Rod Jones and Peter Larsen, 'identified a need for a different kind of pathway into university in Australia', developing an educational business which, in 2009, had 'had over 30,000 students a year studying in its network of colleges and campuses across seven countries. It had cemented its place as Australia’s largest private education provider.' [ http://www.navitas.com/company_history.html]
Much of the management carried out in the typical LTO doesn't involve entrepreneurship, and it calls for a range of skills which don't appear to be part of the skill set of the entrepreneur. Even so, any sector needs its entrepreneurs if it is to develop and avoid becoming moribund. When one surveys what is on offer by the majority of Language Teaching Organizations (LTOs), there seems to be little indication of significant innovation or of significant entrepreneurship, both of which may be critical in the economically challenging times which now confront us. Or maybe I'm wrong?
Sunday 13 June 2010
The Customer/Patient Journey
An indication that I have too much time on my hands is the recent discovery, while searching for some gardening information, of a website devoted to gardens and gardending, called Growson you. So, I've set up a blog there where I can blog away on gardening to my heart's content. Visit: www.growsonyou.com/kowhai
Joining such an on-line network with a shared focus demonstrates the importance of having a common interest. I've already had comments on my blogs, and, having posted a question regarding the name of a variety of hardy geranium which is an important occupant of my garden, I received half a dozen replies, one of which led me to the name. Such feedback promotes involvement, an important part of membership, and I can feel myself being sucked in. However, there is a price to membership: if you want to have people take an interest in what you re posting, you have to reciprocate. Given the number of active members in a network like Growsonyou, this could become very time consuming, so judging the amount of involvement seems to be part of the discipline of such social networking.
Meanwhile, I've had a minor set back healthwise which has led to further reflection on the customer journey, a useful concept in customer service management. About two years ago, I became aware of swelling in the lymph glands, the effect being like a mild case of mumps. Eventually, I went to my GP, who prescribed a blood test, the results of which were fine, except for one : the white blood cell count was 'elevated'. She then referred me to a haematologist at the Royal Berks Hospital (RBH), nine miles away in Reading. What I was embarking on was a very particular kind of customer journey, though I must say that I didn't think of it as such at the time.
In a customer journey, particularly in service provision, the customer may be handled by a number of different departments or sections within the organization providing the service. The danger is that, thanks to siloization, the different sections may provide widely differing standards of service, and the baton change from one section/silo to another, far from ensuring a uniformly satisfactory experience, may result in a mismanaged transition. In the kind of medical journey which I was embarking on, there are many baton change points where failure can occur, either medical failure (e.g. failure to pass on information), or service failure (e.g. helpfulness and reassurance of staff to patient).
There is, of course, a major difference between the conventional customer journey, and the journey of a patient, even within a service oriented health service. In most public services, including even privately owned and operated public transport, the 'customer' has no choice (e.g. there is only one train service from where I live), whereas in a conventional customer-provider context, the customer exercises a choice based on experience, preferences and aspirations. It is for this reason that so many providers of goods and services spend so much expertise and money on advertising to promote their offer and to persuade customers to chose them rather than a competitor. In something like the national health service, choice is extremely limited, and when it comes to the actual treatment, the patient is entirely in the hands of the medical practitioners who have responsibility for diagnosing and prescribing treatment. So, if the doctor prescribes a series of tests, the patient has no choice but to conform, or face the consequences.
It was with having a series of tests that the relevance of the customer journey became obvious. I discovered that I had become a series of test focii, and each test site involved an entirely different section within the hospital, located in different places, and each doing entirely different things. Instead of being a holistic patient, I felt that I had become an entirely separate series of things to be tested. The focus of concern at each stage was the procedure to be carried out, and although each tester may have been aware of what the purpose of their contribution was, basically, they were doing what they specialized in, and their specialization had many potential applications.
So, I moved from one silo to another, feeling like a series of medical problems, each to be given a different test/treatment, rather than a unique, individual and special customer/patient. Two of these tests involved biopsies, which are invasive, and one involved a scan, which consisted of preparation (consumption of the so-called barium meal) and being scanned in a piece of sci-fi hi tech equipment. And at regular intervals, to the extent that it became a routine, blood tests in yet another part of the hospital or, more conveniently, at my local GPs practice.
By and large, the service standards were pretty uniform across silos. But, when going to the hospital for a lymph gland biopsy, I experienced journeys within the journey, discovering that there were information gaps as well as the effects of social dynamics among the service staff. When I arrived in the recovery room following the biopsy, there appeared to be some competition among the attendants as to who was going to transport which of the three patients to their wards. In fact, what was going on was the kind of joshing among workmates which is common in any work place, but it seemed to be out of place in a recovery room (where one of the patients was still unconscious) and it wasn't clear to what extent the two conscious patients present were to be admitted as participants in this social encounter. (Basically, all I wanted was to get back to the ward as quickly as possible, so delays caused by the social activities of staff were unwelcome, but I didn't feel that displaying any signs of displeasure would speed my journey!)
The glitches and confusions that can occur in the medical journey have most recently been illustrated over the past week. On Monday I saw the haematologist for my six month post treatment check, when I was informed that my white blood cell count was lower than it should be at this stage. I was warned that, since my immune system is compromised, I must avoid getting any infections and that if I suffered from a rise in body temperature, I should come back to the hospital. Fine. Then on Friday I started a cold. Is this an infection as defined? The hospital ward which I would normally call for advice was closed by now, so on Saturday morning, I called the alternative ward which is to be referred to out of hours and weekends.
The duty nurse advised me to initiate another journey because out of hour treatment has to be dealt with by a set of sub procedures which are not actually managed by the hospital. As I discovered, this involved calling an out of hours number, subsequently talking to a doctor, who then referred me to our little local hospital, where I saw another doctor, who having confirmed that my temperature was too high, then prescribed treatment. What I didn't ask her was whether I should, on Monday, refer to the RBH and inform them. Is it important to do so? Or is it irrelevant? This is another aspect of the patient journey which differs from the non medical customer journey: judging whether doing or not doing something will jeopardise the outcomes and quality of the service.
So, the medical/patient journey has revealed some significant differences with the regular customer journey, which I feel demonstrates the limitations that need to be taken into consideration when importing private sector concepts and practices into public sector contexts and into a context, like medical treatment, where ultimately the patient isn't in the traditional customer relationship with the provider. That doesn't mean that medical services should ignore the principles involved in managing the customer journey -- achieving a uniformly high level of provision across journey stages seems to be a worthwhile goal, for instance -- nor does it mean that patients should simply meekly accept whatever is given to them, but in the end, importing ideas and practices from one context to another has to be carefully judged.
Joining such an on-line network with a shared focus demonstrates the importance of having a common interest. I've already had comments on my blogs, and, having posted a question regarding the name of a variety of hardy geranium which is an important occupant of my garden, I received half a dozen replies, one of which led me to the name. Such feedback promotes involvement, an important part of membership, and I can feel myself being sucked in. However, there is a price to membership: if you want to have people take an interest in what you re posting, you have to reciprocate. Given the number of active members in a network like Growsonyou, this could become very time consuming, so judging the amount of involvement seems to be part of the discipline of such social networking.
Meanwhile, I've had a minor set back healthwise which has led to further reflection on the customer journey, a useful concept in customer service management. About two years ago, I became aware of swelling in the lymph glands, the effect being like a mild case of mumps. Eventually, I went to my GP, who prescribed a blood test, the results of which were fine, except for one : the white blood cell count was 'elevated'. She then referred me to a haematologist at the Royal Berks Hospital (RBH), nine miles away in Reading. What I was embarking on was a very particular kind of customer journey, though I must say that I didn't think of it as such at the time.
In a customer journey, particularly in service provision, the customer may be handled by a number of different departments or sections within the organization providing the service. The danger is that, thanks to siloization, the different sections may provide widely differing standards of service, and the baton change from one section/silo to another, far from ensuring a uniformly satisfactory experience, may result in a mismanaged transition. In the kind of medical journey which I was embarking on, there are many baton change points where failure can occur, either medical failure (e.g. failure to pass on information), or service failure (e.g. helpfulness and reassurance of staff to patient).
There is, of course, a major difference between the conventional customer journey, and the journey of a patient, even within a service oriented health service. In most public services, including even privately owned and operated public transport, the 'customer' has no choice (e.g. there is only one train service from where I live), whereas in a conventional customer-provider context, the customer exercises a choice based on experience, preferences and aspirations. It is for this reason that so many providers of goods and services spend so much expertise and money on advertising to promote their offer and to persuade customers to chose them rather than a competitor. In something like the national health service, choice is extremely limited, and when it comes to the actual treatment, the patient is entirely in the hands of the medical practitioners who have responsibility for diagnosing and prescribing treatment. So, if the doctor prescribes a series of tests, the patient has no choice but to conform, or face the consequences.
It was with having a series of tests that the relevance of the customer journey became obvious. I discovered that I had become a series of test focii, and each test site involved an entirely different section within the hospital, located in different places, and each doing entirely different things. Instead of being a holistic patient, I felt that I had become an entirely separate series of things to be tested. The focus of concern at each stage was the procedure to be carried out, and although each tester may have been aware of what the purpose of their contribution was, basically, they were doing what they specialized in, and their specialization had many potential applications.
So, I moved from one silo to another, feeling like a series of medical problems, each to be given a different test/treatment, rather than a unique, individual and special customer/patient. Two of these tests involved biopsies, which are invasive, and one involved a scan, which consisted of preparation (consumption of the so-called barium meal) and being scanned in a piece of sci-fi hi tech equipment. And at regular intervals, to the extent that it became a routine, blood tests in yet another part of the hospital or, more conveniently, at my local GPs practice.
By and large, the service standards were pretty uniform across silos. But, when going to the hospital for a lymph gland biopsy, I experienced journeys within the journey, discovering that there were information gaps as well as the effects of social dynamics among the service staff. When I arrived in the recovery room following the biopsy, there appeared to be some competition among the attendants as to who was going to transport which of the three patients to their wards. In fact, what was going on was the kind of joshing among workmates which is common in any work place, but it seemed to be out of place in a recovery room (where one of the patients was still unconscious) and it wasn't clear to what extent the two conscious patients present were to be admitted as participants in this social encounter. (Basically, all I wanted was to get back to the ward as quickly as possible, so delays caused by the social activities of staff were unwelcome, but I didn't feel that displaying any signs of displeasure would speed my journey!)
The glitches and confusions that can occur in the medical journey have most recently been illustrated over the past week. On Monday I saw the haematologist for my six month post treatment check, when I was informed that my white blood cell count was lower than it should be at this stage. I was warned that, since my immune system is compromised, I must avoid getting any infections and that if I suffered from a rise in body temperature, I should come back to the hospital. Fine. Then on Friday I started a cold. Is this an infection as defined? The hospital ward which I would normally call for advice was closed by now, so on Saturday morning, I called the alternative ward which is to be referred to out of hours and weekends.
The duty nurse advised me to initiate another journey because out of hour treatment has to be dealt with by a set of sub procedures which are not actually managed by the hospital. As I discovered, this involved calling an out of hours number, subsequently talking to a doctor, who then referred me to our little local hospital, where I saw another doctor, who having confirmed that my temperature was too high, then prescribed treatment. What I didn't ask her was whether I should, on Monday, refer to the RBH and inform them. Is it important to do so? Or is it irrelevant? This is another aspect of the patient journey which differs from the non medical customer journey: judging whether doing or not doing something will jeopardise the outcomes and quality of the service.
So, the medical/patient journey has revealed some significant differences with the regular customer journey, which I feel demonstrates the limitations that need to be taken into consideration when importing private sector concepts and practices into public sector contexts and into a context, like medical treatment, where ultimately the patient isn't in the traditional customer relationship with the provider. That doesn't mean that medical services should ignore the principles involved in managing the customer journey -- achieving a uniformly high level of provision across journey stages seems to be a worthwhile goal, for instance -- nor does it mean that patients should simply meekly accept whatever is given to them, but in the end, importing ideas and practices from one context to another has to be carefully judged.
Wednesday 9 June 2010
Summer's Lease
I see that my last blog celebrated the arrival of summer. Well, as the Bard said, 'summer's lease hath all too short a date'. The main comfort to be gained from the grey skies and rain is that flowers tend to last longer and there isn't a need to water the garden.
While sitting in the garden during the brief summer interlude, it occurred to me that one of the things which gardeners experience is seasonality. In fact, it's something that gardeners, like farmers, can't escape from. It also means that gardening involves looking back and evaluating performance in the current season as it passes and looking forward to planning and preparing for the seasons to come. Given that so much everyday life has been isolated from seasonality -- most of all in the availability of all year round produce in the supermarket -- it's salutary to be reminded that ultimately everything that we eat and enjoy is seasonally determined.
This thought led me to ponder on seasonality in our sector, and on the ways that this affects managing. In the UK, the ELT sector is highly seasonal -- as is, coincidentally, the retail trade, where big players like John Lewis make their profits during the run up to Christmas. Consequently, planning has to be seasonal, with a lot of forward planning to ensure that when the customers arrive, everything is in place to receive them and provide a teaching, learning and social experience which will not only meet, but exceed their expectations.
With this in mind, I looked to the 'cash cows' in the garden. These are mostly the hardy geraniums which really are very hardy. But even hardy plants need some care, including staking and watering when the weather is hot and dry. Likewise, the cash cows that are the core of any ELT operation need care and maintenance. Letting such stalwarts take care of themselves is a big mistake, but one that is easy to make if management attention and priorities are diverted to launching new products.
So, thinking green thoughts in a green shade has a tendency to lead to management thoughts as well. Which leads to another thought: so often the people I work with on management courses complain of the lack of time and opportunity, thanks to day to day operational pressures, to think the kind of management green thoughts that are vital if long term strategic planning isn't to be ignored. Just as the gardener has to take the long view of cultivation, so too the manager needs to -- and there should be 'space', both physical and metaphorical, where managers can think such thoughts. In other words, managers need a 'garden' to which they can retreat, away from the daily pressures of weeding, pruning and watering the organizational plants for which they are responsible so that they can take a longer view of managing their garden for seasons to come.
While sitting in the garden during the brief summer interlude, it occurred to me that one of the things which gardeners experience is seasonality. In fact, it's something that gardeners, like farmers, can't escape from. It also means that gardening involves looking back and evaluating performance in the current season as it passes and looking forward to planning and preparing for the seasons to come. Given that so much everyday life has been isolated from seasonality -- most of all in the availability of all year round produce in the supermarket -- it's salutary to be reminded that ultimately everything that we eat and enjoy is seasonally determined.
This thought led me to ponder on seasonality in our sector, and on the ways that this affects managing. In the UK, the ELT sector is highly seasonal -- as is, coincidentally, the retail trade, where big players like John Lewis make their profits during the run up to Christmas. Consequently, planning has to be seasonal, with a lot of forward planning to ensure that when the customers arrive, everything is in place to receive them and provide a teaching, learning and social experience which will not only meet, but exceed their expectations.
With this in mind, I looked to the 'cash cows' in the garden. These are mostly the hardy geraniums which really are very hardy. But even hardy plants need some care, including staking and watering when the weather is hot and dry. Likewise, the cash cows that are the core of any ELT operation need care and maintenance. Letting such stalwarts take care of themselves is a big mistake, but one that is easy to make if management attention and priorities are diverted to launching new products.
So, thinking green thoughts in a green shade has a tendency to lead to management thoughts as well. Which leads to another thought: so often the people I work with on management courses complain of the lack of time and opportunity, thanks to day to day operational pressures, to think the kind of management green thoughts that are vital if long term strategic planning isn't to be ignored. Just as the gardener has to take the long view of cultivation, so too the manager needs to -- and there should be 'space', both physical and metaphorical, where managers can think such thoughts. In other words, managers need a 'garden' to which they can retreat, away from the daily pressures of weeding, pruning and watering the organizational plants for which they are responsible so that they can take a longer view of managing their garden for seasons to come.
Thursday 3 June 2010
Summer at last
Today has been a perfect June day. In fact, June is probably the best month for gardens in England, and when the weather is as perfect as it has been today, a garden is one of the very best places to spend time.
As the garden faces east, it receives the morning sun which, at this time of day, is slanting and has the effect of stage lighting. So, as the sun rises, successive parts of the garden and planting are in the spot light. I enjoy this performance from the patio, which is quickly in full sun light. At the bottom of the garden, the bamboo foliage is back lit, and then plants in the border, as captured in photographs on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravelhill/. Quite rapidly, different plants and flowers take their cue and for a few minutes are centre stage. It's quite magical.
Sitting in the garden on a low chair also provides a new perspective, since the plants are much closer and instead of looking down at them, one is looking at them eye to eye. This is quite different from the viewpoint obtained when visiting most gardens, as such visits usually involve walking around and observing rather than simply sitting and enjoying (few gardens have much in the way of garden furniture). So, today has been a day for sitting and being on close terms with the flowers.
This morning they were joined by Betty's iris, which has put out its first flower. This is a deep 'iris' blue, adding to the blue geraniums that are also in flower. Although there are already plenty of plants in bloom -- notably the geraniums -- there are quite a few yet to flower, anticipation being one of the pleasures of gardening.
As is making use of existing garden stock. The lower part of the south, north facing border has become somewhat bare as the early spring plants have died back, and although the ferns are now well advanced, a couple of them have yet to produce significant new foliage. I didn't want to buy anything to fill the empty spaces, and was reluctant to plant more hellebores as the potted seedlings are destined to go to my son's garden when he moves in this weekend. Fortunately, at the top of the garden by the steps from the patio there was quite a large bergenia (elephants' ears) which was almost completely obscured by pots and acanthus. So, I dug it out, broke it up, and planted some pieces while putting others into pots to accompany the hellebores to their new home. Problem solved and money saved.
In fact, bergenia is one of those work horse plants which will grow in a wide range of conditions, doesn't seem to need any TLC, and can be split up and plonked in the soil and still thrive. In short, a plant that fully meets my criteria for a place in the easy care garden. After all, on a perfect June day, who wants to work in the garden? Today has been a time to sit back and enjoy it.
As the garden faces east, it receives the morning sun which, at this time of day, is slanting and has the effect of stage lighting. So, as the sun rises, successive parts of the garden and planting are in the spot light. I enjoy this performance from the patio, which is quickly in full sun light. At the bottom of the garden, the bamboo foliage is back lit, and then plants in the border, as captured in photographs on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravelhill/. Quite rapidly, different plants and flowers take their cue and for a few minutes are centre stage. It's quite magical.
Sitting in the garden on a low chair also provides a new perspective, since the plants are much closer and instead of looking down at them, one is looking at them eye to eye. This is quite different from the viewpoint obtained when visiting most gardens, as such visits usually involve walking around and observing rather than simply sitting and enjoying (few gardens have much in the way of garden furniture). So, today has been a day for sitting and being on close terms with the flowers.
This morning they were joined by Betty's iris, which has put out its first flower. This is a deep 'iris' blue, adding to the blue geraniums that are also in flower. Although there are already plenty of plants in bloom -- notably the geraniums -- there are quite a few yet to flower, anticipation being one of the pleasures of gardening.
As is making use of existing garden stock. The lower part of the south, north facing border has become somewhat bare as the early spring plants have died back, and although the ferns are now well advanced, a couple of them have yet to produce significant new foliage. I didn't want to buy anything to fill the empty spaces, and was reluctant to plant more hellebores as the potted seedlings are destined to go to my son's garden when he moves in this weekend. Fortunately, at the top of the garden by the steps from the patio there was quite a large bergenia (elephants' ears) which was almost completely obscured by pots and acanthus. So, I dug it out, broke it up, and planted some pieces while putting others into pots to accompany the hellebores to their new home. Problem solved and money saved.
In fact, bergenia is one of those work horse plants which will grow in a wide range of conditions, doesn't seem to need any TLC, and can be split up and plonked in the soil and still thrive. In short, a plant that fully meets my criteria for a place in the easy care garden. After all, on a perfect June day, who wants to work in the garden? Today has been a time to sit back and enjoy it.
Wednesday 2 June 2010
Garden Blog: trading
When I was an undergraduate studying anthropology, we spent some time on the neolithic, that significant transition from hunting and gathering to the growing of crops. What made the cultivation of grains possible was a genetic flaw: grain whose seed heads failed to burst and scatter their contents. This same flaw meant that grain could be gathered, threshed, stored and planted. Probably this discovery would have been made by women who, in a hunting and gathering society, do the gathering. Interestingly, this possibility was not, as I recall, discussed when I was studying the neolithic.
The discovery of grain which could be gathered and subsequently planted to yield another crop would have been of little value had the knowledge -- and, presumably, some of the grain -- not been diffused. And this is where I can imagine the trading instincts of the proto gardeners would have been essential. Gardeners love swapping and trading knowledge and plants, and I can imagine women in these proto-neolithic communities exchanging information and seeds, giving rise to the spread of the earliest forms of agriculture.
Decades after finishing my degree, I was introduced to another interesting field: the study of innovation. The pioneering work on the diffusion of innovations took place in the context of agricultural extension work in the mid West of the USA. Extension workers were interested in finding out how new trends -- including new crop varieties -- were disseminated among farmers, and that research revealed that this is essentially a social rather than a technical process. And this is also what is also true of the dissemination of new varieties in gardening.
In our garden are many plants whose progenitors were gifts from fellow gardeners. Virtually all of these plants are named after the donors. So, one of the most prolific and colourful of the hardy geraniums is for ever known to us as 'Pauline's geranium', and there is John's fuchsia, Patricia's hosta, Pamela's skimmia, Clare's sedum, and so on. Similarly, in the house, there is Maureen's cape primrose, Damon's clivea and Meg and Hug's hibiscus (in fact, the latter two plants spend the summer in the garden.) The result is that the garden has become populated not only with plants, but also with friends.
No doubt this eponymous style of naming plants would have been practised in neolithic times. And, as new varieties have evolved, other people's names have been used. A particularly vivid hardy geranium in the border is named after Ann Folkard. I wonder who she was? And who, I wonder, was Mrs Robb, whose name is commemorated in the extremely invasive euphorbia robbiae which I spent last summer eradicating from the garden? I don't expect ever to know, but what I do know is that my modest garden is much the better for being stocked with Pauline's geranium, Patricia;'s hosta, and the other plants whose donors are commemorated in the names we use to identify the plants which they originally donated.
The discovery of grain which could be gathered and subsequently planted to yield another crop would have been of little value had the knowledge -- and, presumably, some of the grain -- not been diffused. And this is where I can imagine the trading instincts of the proto gardeners would have been essential. Gardeners love swapping and trading knowledge and plants, and I can imagine women in these proto-neolithic communities exchanging information and seeds, giving rise to the spread of the earliest forms of agriculture.
Decades after finishing my degree, I was introduced to another interesting field: the study of innovation. The pioneering work on the diffusion of innovations took place in the context of agricultural extension work in the mid West of the USA. Extension workers were interested in finding out how new trends -- including new crop varieties -- were disseminated among farmers, and that research revealed that this is essentially a social rather than a technical process. And this is also what is also true of the dissemination of new varieties in gardening.
In our garden are many plants whose progenitors were gifts from fellow gardeners. Virtually all of these plants are named after the donors. So, one of the most prolific and colourful of the hardy geraniums is for ever known to us as 'Pauline's geranium', and there is John's fuchsia, Patricia's hosta, Pamela's skimmia, Clare's sedum, and so on. Similarly, in the house, there is Maureen's cape primrose, Damon's clivea and Meg and Hug's hibiscus (in fact, the latter two plants spend the summer in the garden.) The result is that the garden has become populated not only with plants, but also with friends.
No doubt this eponymous style of naming plants would have been practised in neolithic times. And, as new varieties have evolved, other people's names have been used. A particularly vivid hardy geranium in the border is named after Ann Folkard. I wonder who she was? And who, I wonder, was Mrs Robb, whose name is commemorated in the extremely invasive euphorbia robbiae which I spent last summer eradicating from the garden? I don't expect ever to know, but what I do know is that my modest garden is much the better for being stocked with Pauline's geranium, Patricia;'s hosta, and the other plants whose donors are commemorated in the names we use to identify the plants which they originally donated.
Tuesday 1 June 2010
My Garden Blog: foliage
In my parents' garden, and in most others at the time, the stress was on flowers rather than foliage. This meant, among other things, that a lot of attention was given to propagating and planting out of annuals, such as the non hardy salvia mentioned in another blog. I recall, among other things, pansies and marigolds as part of the annual planting routine, and, of course, they provided lots of colour --pretty brash colour in the case of the marigolds. Other favourites were cosmos and stock. Distinctive or attractive foliage was a largely unappreciated bonus.
When visiting benchmark quality gardens in the UK, one can't ignore the attention that is given to foliage display as well as to flowers. The trick is to have an interesting variety of foliage so that, as with flowers, there is variety within a small compass. Coincidentally, I developed a fondness for hostas, a plant which, pre-eminently, is grown for its foliage, since the flowers, though attractive enough, are not really its USP. Over the years, some lessons have been learned about successfully incorporating hostas in such a way that their foliage is highlighted and provides summer long enjoyment.
Firstly, they don't like a dry site. The hostas planted in our south border didn't thrive. So, they were transferred to pots.
Secondly, slugs and snails just love hosta foliage. So, the plants have to be robustly protected against these predators. This is more easily accomplished if the hostas are in pots, and one of the most effective slug repellents is in the form of coffee grounds. Over the year, I save these every morning, and by spring, have a covered bucket full of grounds, which are then applied just as the first signs of leaf buds are appearing. Predators are coffee averse.
Thirdly, the potted plants must be well watered and fed during the growth season. Don't let the pots dry out at any time. It's almost a case of apply the coffee grounds, water and feed well and regularly, stand back and enjoy.
Having them in pots means that they can be moved about, although with seriously large plantings of hostas, this isn't easy and is probably best avoided! From season to season, the clumps benefit from being divided. This has the advantage of providing more hostas, and extra plants can be given away as gifts. In fact, several substantial pots of hosta in the garden originated in a gift from Patricia, our next door neighbour. Her gift hosta has thrived, been divided, has multiplied, and next season will provide some useful clumps to give to our daughter-in-law for the garden in their new house.
The other foliage plant which I enjoy is the acanthus. There are three clumps in the garden, one in a large pot. The clump at the eastern end of the south facing border is adjacent to a stand of yellow bamboo, and is interspersed with loosestrife. These make an interesting combination. The large pot on the patio near the house is grouped with a big pot of lime coloured hostas, and a very large pot of day lillies (hemerocallis). So, there are three very different forms and colours of foliage and, in due course, very different types of flower as well.
The hemerocallis, like the hostas and the acanthus, are refugees from the border, where they didn't really thrive. In their new homes, they have all performed with exceptional vigour and provide a profusion of foliage and, ultimately in the case of the hemerocallis, of flowers. The fact that they last only a day is part of their appeal, and with a good sequence of flowering, they provide a fine display over a couple of weeks at least.
The ephemeral nature of flowers intensifies the enjoyment that can be gained from them. Only the good old faithfuls like the wargrave pink hardy geranium and some of the salvias maintain a lengthy flowering period. For most of the rest, there is a peak period, and the awareness that their flowers are only providing temporary delight is, in fact, a significant part of the reward obtained from cultivating them.
When visiting benchmark quality gardens in the UK, one can't ignore the attention that is given to foliage display as well as to flowers. The trick is to have an interesting variety of foliage so that, as with flowers, there is variety within a small compass. Coincidentally, I developed a fondness for hostas, a plant which, pre-eminently, is grown for its foliage, since the flowers, though attractive enough, are not really its USP. Over the years, some lessons have been learned about successfully incorporating hostas in such a way that their foliage is highlighted and provides summer long enjoyment.
Firstly, they don't like a dry site. The hostas planted in our south border didn't thrive. So, they were transferred to pots.
Secondly, slugs and snails just love hosta foliage. So, the plants have to be robustly protected against these predators. This is more easily accomplished if the hostas are in pots, and one of the most effective slug repellents is in the form of coffee grounds. Over the year, I save these every morning, and by spring, have a covered bucket full of grounds, which are then applied just as the first signs of leaf buds are appearing. Predators are coffee averse.
Thirdly, the potted plants must be well watered and fed during the growth season. Don't let the pots dry out at any time. It's almost a case of apply the coffee grounds, water and feed well and regularly, stand back and enjoy.
Having them in pots means that they can be moved about, although with seriously large plantings of hostas, this isn't easy and is probably best avoided! From season to season, the clumps benefit from being divided. This has the advantage of providing more hostas, and extra plants can be given away as gifts. In fact, several substantial pots of hosta in the garden originated in a gift from Patricia, our next door neighbour. Her gift hosta has thrived, been divided, has multiplied, and next season will provide some useful clumps to give to our daughter-in-law for the garden in their new house.
The other foliage plant which I enjoy is the acanthus. There are three clumps in the garden, one in a large pot. The clump at the eastern end of the south facing border is adjacent to a stand of yellow bamboo, and is interspersed with loosestrife. These make an interesting combination. The large pot on the patio near the house is grouped with a big pot of lime coloured hostas, and a very large pot of day lillies (hemerocallis). So, there are three very different forms and colours of foliage and, in due course, very different types of flower as well.
The hemerocallis, like the hostas and the acanthus, are refugees from the border, where they didn't really thrive. In their new homes, they have all performed with exceptional vigour and provide a profusion of foliage and, ultimately in the case of the hemerocallis, of flowers. The fact that they last only a day is part of their appeal, and with a good sequence of flowering, they provide a fine display over a couple of weeks at least.
The ephemeral nature of flowers intensifies the enjoyment that can be gained from them. Only the good old faithfuls like the wargrave pink hardy geranium and some of the salvias maintain a lengthy flowering period. For most of the rest, there is a peak period, and the awareness that their flowers are only providing temporary delight is, in fact, a significant part of the reward obtained from cultivating them.
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