Leaping on the Neck of Ideas

I stole the idea of a blog about the process from a presentation a colleague was doing.  Ever the magpie, I’m completely unashamed of the fact but will credit fellow magpie Eliot Lloyd here to avoid plagiarism.

On the same day we had to come up with a solution to the fact that it was impossible to share our ideas with colleagues and gain feedback in the way we planned:  A large open meeting simply wasn’t possible: no rooms available at times when a reasonable number of people could come.  So, as my office seemed the only available option at Luton, what could we do?  Small was the logical conclusion and drop-in sessions were born.  Different members of the core group have met with groups of two, four, five colleagues.  And it was quickly clear that this was in fact a better approach, more personal, more likely to generate a thoughtful response and application to specific courses.  Feedback on the process as well as content has been good so far.


Departmental meetings this week will reach a wider audience, more for information than response given the time available in those meetings.

I find it very interesting to think about where ideas come from.  I know mine usually come when presented with an obstacle.  Put a task right in front of my nose and that’s when I’m most likely to be creative and solve problems.  I don’t always succeed, of course: I’m definitely not over-promising when I don’t know who is reading this.

Others, including people on our review group, reach out more to new space, more the space of opportunities than of problem solving.

We are searching outside for ways forward by taking ideas and inspiration from elsewhere: watch this blog for news of a vision visit coming up shortly.

Then we’ll wobble it all up, mix it around and come up with something which isn’t anybody’s sole idea and few ideas remain intact in their original form.  They will all have become “ours”.

Along the way we will be like a poet in the PG Wodehouse novel Uncle Fred in the Springtime who waits hopefully for an idea to come along and then leaps on its neck and wrestles it to the ground.

About the Author: Elizabeth Parkin
Elizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.