What
A free half-day masterclass-style workshop with lunch provided.

When
Monday 24th October, 2016.

Tea / coffee from 9.30 for a 10am start. Finishing at 12.30 with lunch.

Who
This workshop is aimed at Chief Social Work Officers, Chief Integration Officers and other senior staff in the health and social care sectors with a designated senior leadership role in Scotland.  

 About

This workshop, led by Dr Robert French, explores how to negotiate a way through the complexities of our managed world, in order to do some of the worthwhile things we feel passionate about. Under the relentless pressure for positivity and for productive work, how can we find a space to take the negative seriously? What happens if we give attention to lack, which is the root of desire? Exploring what the poet John Keats meant by the idea of ‘negative capability’, this workshop will present thinking about:

• lack, want and desire, and the relationship between them
• the nature and potential of negative capability
• the need for leisure and the philosophical life
• explore together with participants whether any of these ideas resonate with their experience and have any relevance for their working lives as leaders and managers.

About the speaker

Dr Robert French is a Reader in Organisational Studies at the University of the West of England. Since moving to university in 1990, from his initial career as a school teacher, he has tried to understand why is it that some projects, groups and organizations 'work', while others do not and to help others to identify answers for themselves, whether students or consultancy clients, individuals or groups. It is a question that underlies his writing on management, leadership and friendship in organizations. In particular, Robert believes that many of the current problems we face are made worse by the lack of an ethical dimension to our thinking about managing, leading and organizing. The topic of the workshop is an area Robert is currently exploring with his colleague and co-writer Dr Peter Simpson.  

Please note this is a free workshop with lunch provided, however a £50 fee will be charged to those who do not attend without giving at least 48 hours notice.