Reflections on a Weekend Workshop by the Thames

It felt right. The environment lends itself to quiet reflection (watch the mist early in the morning; it’s something quite special). The staff attended in number; attentive, stimulating, probing and challenging. I was surprised by the number of them that possessed a Henley MBA and the commitment they personally demonstrated to lifelong learning and/or research. As for the students/candidates/delegates/customers/punters, it’s fair to say we represent a diverse bunch of backgrounds, circumstances, personalities and aspirations. Yet we are all embarking on this journey together. The group – more than any other entity – is the source for stimulation, support & knowledge. The entire cohort seemed like a delightful bunch, and I was very pleased to share my first moments in the day with Mike Powell, Jon De’ath, John Nash & Nikki Hood.

I found the initial exercises opened people up to talking to each other and remembering names; whether it was ‘people bingo’ (close, but no cigar), throwing Phils’ & Chris’ balls around or lowering Dalty’s ‘magic stick’. I noticed that the tutors pushed us for answers before they presented the theory – very little spoon-feeding right from the start.

The most impressive aspect of this workshop is the attention to building the foundations – building relationships between students & staff, as well as encouraging self-awareness – the key stuff that will help us make it through to the end, shaking Harry Potter’s hand at the graduation ceremony.

Belbin Team Roles – I found the results very interesting. Two of my colleagues had previously rated me as a Resource Investigator, which came out strongly, although I was even stronger as a Monitor Evaluator. I found it interesting that weaknesses in one of these team roles could be mitigated by strengths in the other. However, the report was based on self-perception rather than an observer assessment offering 360° feedback and potentially greater accuracy, so I should still keep an open mind on this aspect. Of more interest were my weak spots – Completer Finisher (despite graduating with a good engineering degree, I never had the patience to sit at a workstation and design chips) & Teamworker (although I work fine in a specific team at work, I generally operate in my role as a ‘loner’ out in the Far East, and use diplomacy sparingly by choice, although this varies with the culture I am dealing with at the time). These weak areas need to be improved if I am to attain that MBA.

Learning Styles – I found I was equally a Pragmatist (Rabbit) and a Reflector (Eeyore). I found some of the characteristics contradictory, and need to spend time pondering that. Perhaps I should stop eating roast donkey when in Beijing?

Learning Team – a great bunch that immediately got on very well. It’s a shame that we have suffered one casualty, but I understand & respect the reasons for the individual’s decision. It does however highlight the importance of the group as the support team, and the place you go to when you need to sound off, let rip or confide – it strengthens the team, the learning experience and helps reduce tension & stress.

Team Name – we kicked around various options such as ‘The Hairy Kojaks’, ‘The Long & Short of It’, ‘Back 2 Skool’, ‘The Sub-Primes’, ‘Global Financial Crisis’, ‘The Northern Rocks’ (see a theme here?), but eventually settled on ‘The Watford Gap 8’. Yes, we will be selling t-shirts at the next workshop.

Dinner – does Henley teach catering? Perhaps they should – as well as having an on-site dietician. The Principal’s speech was motivating – well, until the bit about plagiarism. I just don’t get it – to get away with plagiarism takes at least as much effort as studying honestly. With a hard won MBA, you can sleep well at night. But with a ‘cheat sheet’, it will always catch up with you.

Study skills – I had almost forgotten Tony Buzan’s mind maps, having received a poor introduction to them at college, and Matty Smith’s terrific session served as a reminder to the team to develop the skills to research data, mine it for information, process it and analyse it in the frameworks given in the domain studies.

DoM & case study – thought provoking and something of a deconstruction. I have used models like MOST, PEST, Kotler’s 7Ps & BCG for years and sometimes veer between system and reductionist thinking – but I do it from ‘the gut’ subconsciously and hence inconsistently. The case study was interesting (I had to back off at times as I had actually read the official report before the accident) in that it highlighted that managers often don’t know when they have dilemmas to resolve, or if they do, they are not always clear on what they are. It also proved that my learning team, like many others, will have different leaders for different things during the learning journey.

There are those business schools that will feed you with theory and wait for you to regurgitate it at exam time, demonstrating little other than memory and exam technique. With Henley, it’s something completely different. These guys want us to succeed.

My thanks to the staff & students that made my workshop very enjoyable.