The Think Again team had a great day in the beautiful Derbyshire town of Buxton, hosting workshops at a conference for the county’s headteachers. In a taster session titled “Turning a crisis into a drama”, we helped around 50 heads think how they would react if the unwelcome spotlight of a media crisis was turned on their school.

The delegates, especially the brave volunteers who took part in our live improvised crisis, showed common sense, a sound knowledge of the risks and challenges involved and an overwhelming commitment to put the safety and wellbeing of their pupils first.

But there were some interesting lessons learned and some fascinating professional debates along the way. For more details of our crisis management and other media training, check out our “What We Do” page.

Many years ago, in what now seems like another life, I was a ski instructor.  It was actually what first got me interested in coaching and training – and the theory and practice of how people learn and develop.  And many of the things I learned then still prove useful, long after I last led a group of nervous first-week beginners down a snowy slope.

During our training, we were taught mountain rescue techniques and the basics of emergency medicine.  It was there that I first learned the concept of triage, the system of prioritising accident victims according to their likelihood of survival.  It struck me then that triage had wider applications, and it’s been a theme throughout much of the personal and organisational development work I’ve done ever since.

To find out exactly how a simple system used by paramedics and A&E nurses across the world, which I first tried on a gale-swept hillside in the Cairngorms, helps companies and organisations make complex decisions about change and strategy – you’ll have to give us a call.  We’ll gladly talk to you about triage, and all our other training offers.

And I promise not to tell you to bend your knees.

Congratulations to the talented people we’ve been working with in the field of music education. They see on a daily basis how playing an instrument and singing enrich children with skills and friendships that can last a lifetime.

Which is why they have campaigned so hard to protect funds for musical activities in schools, along with groups bands, choirs and orchestras for young people. Today they got their reward.

The Goverment has responded positively to an independent report by Classic FM’s MD, Darren Henley, on the future of music education. The result: a ringing endorsement for the superb work our clients do and a commitment to public money to fund it further.

The report sets out challenges too, but we are confident our clients will meet those with the same creativity and determination. They will also capitalise on the strong position they have gained through careful negotiation and influence.

We have worked with them throughout the process: training, consulting and advising. Their message was clear and they communicated it well to their key stakeholders. Now they stand confidently in the face of change, ready to embrace the opportunities it brings. We’re proud to have played a part in their success.

Read the Henley report in full here

And a summary of the Government response here

Internationally renowned speaker Richard Gerver is joining us to launch a range of new training for head teachers and senior leaders in schools.

Richard is himself a former headteacher who now leads global thinking on innovation and how to guide people through change successfully.

Together, in response to demand from the education sector, we have developed courses to help headteachers improve their communication skills to better promote their school and their vision for young people’s learning in the 21st Century.

Richard believes there is an urgent need to invest in school leaders to give them the strongest possible voice in the changing educational landscape. “At a time when great head leadership has never been as important, nor as challenging, resources to support that talent are diminishing. Communication is the key to leading people through change and these courses are tailor made for senior educators on the front line.”

Following successful pilots, Think Again’s series of courses for senior leaders in schools and colleges will be available for booking from this spring. We are thrilled to have Richard on board to help us develop a powerful offer that will meet an urgent need in the education sector. More information will follow soon.

Read more about the inspirational work and thinking of Richard Gerver or follow him on Twitter.

Last week, I was privileged to attend the recording of the final of this year’s Apprentice, the two-hour special featuring the deciding task and the “you’re hired” moment,  followed by interviews with the candidates and Lord Sugar.  It was a great experience which allowed me to taunt fellow Apprentice devotees with hints about the final task and the winner for several days, even though most people had – correctly – guessed that Stella would triumph.

I love the Apprentice, partly because I think it’s clever, well-made television, partly because it manages to make the fairly mundane business of selling, managing and negotiating look interesting and partly because the films make my home city look the most glamourous place on earth.

And from among the posturing, the self-deception and the backbiting, some home truths emerge about human relations and the reality of effective communication.

The standout points from this series for me would have to include Karen Brady’s magnificent, withering boardroom condemnation of in-fighting among the female candidates.

And, of course, Stuart Baggs. Or “Baggs The Brand” as he would have it.  I’ve been puzzling over why he became such a widespread object of hate during this series, and why his eventual downfall (“you’re not a big fish..” etc.) was greeted with such glee. He is, after all, far from the most annoying candidate in the programme’s history, he’s still young and he clearly has some ability and drive.

I think in many people’s minds, he came to symbolise a much disliked aspect of modern life – the replacement of real talent and hard-won experience by arrogance and an ability to spout buzzwords and cliches.

It may sound an odd thing from a company which makes its living from helping people to present and communicate more effectively, but substance is still much more important than style; the best presentation in the world won’t help if your basic message is flawed and you can’t deliver on the promises you make.

The humbling of “Baggs the Brand” was a timely reminder of that.

But for me, the star of the series will be Joanna, “the cleaner from Leicester” as she called herself, whose transformation into a more thoughtful, collaborative young businesswoman was a revelation.  A key moment came in the interview programme, when one of Lord Sugar’s aides told her:

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a cleaner, still less running a cleaning company, why don’t you concentrate on making that more successful?”

It was a good question, which clearly made an impact on Joanna, and a reminder that sometimes we all need other people to tell us the obvious.

It also reminded me, oddly, of the speech given to high school students by Martin Luther King a few months before he died, which can probably serve as Think Again’s Xmas message:

“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.  Be the best of whatever you are.”

If you’re still unclear about what David Cameron means when he talks about the Big Society, you’re not alone.

A good proportion of the audience in the hall to hear his conference speech seemed to be reserving judgement, and his own Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt struggled to define exactly what it meant on Newsnight a few hours later.

Perhaps I can help.  Last night, I was at a packed meeting in the imposing Great Hall of Dulwich College.  It was the first public meeting of the Save the Herne Hill Velodrome Campaign, which aims to secure the future of the South London cycle track – the last surviving venue from the 1948 Olympics.  The organisers had hoped that a hundred people might turn up, they stopped counting at 700 and the speeches and presentations had to be relayed to an overspill room by TV.

The Velodrome, first built in 1903, has been under threat for as long as I can remember and its current crisis is complex.  The track itself is in desperate need of repair and rebuilding, a specialist task which will cost around £200k; the listed grandstand and clubhouse buildings are closed, condemned as unsafe; activities at the site are run by a local cycling club entirely through volunteer effort; the freeholders of the land, Dulwich Estate, have been unwilling to offer leases for more than 12 months at a time, but outside investment has proved impossible to obtain without the guarantee of a longer lease.

Unless a solution is found soon, the Velodrome will close, almost certainly for good.

In a few short months, that solution has emerged in the form of a campaign spearheaded by a small group of passionate, concerned citizens. Their effort has united stakeholders, many of whom previously disagreed, but who now speak with one voice: cyclists and cycling clubs, local residents, children and their parents, schools, politicians, sports organisations, funders, businesses and local historical societies.

From a standing start, the campaigners have generated a significant level of support and publicity, with celebrity endorsements from Olympic stars Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins, along with Lord Coe and the Mayor of London’s sports advisor Kate Hoey.  They’ve attracted positive coverage in national newspapers, on radio and TV, and their effective use of digital media has brought a worldwide following of 3,500 people on Facebook.  And 700 people to a school hall on a Wednesday night in October.

It looks very likely that they can now put together a credible proposal for how the Velodrome can be run, and a business plan for its finances, which will convince the local authority and freeholders to guarantee its future.

It struck me half way through the meeting that this mixture of campaigning individuals, skilled volunteers, interest groups, private and public finance might have been what David Cameron meant when he said “society is not a spectator sport”.

Big Society in the flesh.  But saving a much-loved and well-used sporting facility in a prosperous part of London may not be typical of the challenges this idea, and the country, face.

The committee of the Velodrome campaign were able – from local residents and track users – to draw on the skills and time of several lawyers, including a QC; professional graphic designers and website experts; experienced publicists, marketeers and press officers and at least one very senior media executive.  No substitute for hard work and passion, but a big help off the line.

How likely is it that – say – an education project for travellers’ children, or a half-way house for drug users would attract the same level of support and enthusiasm if it was threatened with closure?

Clearly, telling your story effectively and powerfully has never been more important. But how much of a safety net will remain after the spending review later this month?  And how big will Big Society really be?

I only met Steve Mead once, at a party for a group of cyclists who were planning to ride from London to Paris to raise money for the Geoff Thomas Foundation, a leukaemia charity of which I was a trustee.

Tragically, Steve never made it to Paris. His own leukaemia returned, and he died two months before the ride. But he was represented in spirit by some of his closest friends, and their emotional reaction on reaching the Eiffel Tower after three hard days cycling will stay in my memory for ever.

Steve’s friends are behind Le Mead – a tiny but effective organisation which generates funds for leukaemia charities in his memory; so far they’ve raised more than 18 thousand pounds.

This year, their ambitions have stepped up a gear; around 15 Team Le Mead members will attempt to ride from Venice to Milan in four days, 300 miles over the fearsome Dolomite mountain range. The route includes the frankly terrifying Stelvio Pass, a series of hairpins which rise to more than 2,750 metres.

Think Again is proud to be sponsoring the Team Le Mead riders. If you’d like to help, please visit their Justgiving page, here.

On the road again, and having a great time helping our clients to think about how they sell to their customers. Entertaining, interactive and innovative training. Two days this week at the brilliant, newly rebuilt MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) in Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park – an exciting building in lovely surroundings, especially on a sunny day.