TOOLS AND TACTICS


From this page you can access the tools shared in Tactics for the Tightrope.


These are compiled in three sections in the book. Simply scroll down through the tool boxes below.


Alternatively download all the tools in one pdf.


You can also buy the book right now though and you'll soon hold all these tools in your hand...

These tools are especially useful for thinking about the space where the self meets the sector or the organisation. You can think about them as an individual, a business (even of one) or from a sectoral perspective. 

Tool What you might use it for
Livelihood Assets Canvas To assess and identify livelihood assets as described in Chapter Four, and to identify strategies and tactics that might make the most of them, or strengthen them in future
Ikigai To identify your ‘sweet spot’ in terms of what you should best spend your time – life, even – doing on the tightrope, given the world and your own capabilities
GROW Coaching Model and template To give structure to a coaching conversation about you, current situations and/or future activities
28 Coaching Questions To self-coach or to provide a framework of questions for coaching others
RESPECT Context Analysis To consider the external environment and boost your situation awareness
Certainty Spectrum To explore your risk and change appetite and think through the implications for your work
Renewing purpose via a cheesy film trailer To explore and articulate your purpose, why it’s needed and what difference it makes

The tools and frameworks in this section are especially useful for thinking about the space where the inside of an organisation or a practice meets the sector or the immediate world outside. You could adapt them for an individual perspective, or apply to a business (even of one) or use them to gain a sectoral perspective.. 


Self-Assessment Characteristics of Creative Resilience To identify strengths and vulnerabilities for an organisation, network or sector using the framework of the eight characteristics of creative resilience as the basis for action planning for the future
Creative Resilience Canvas To describe your organisation or network’s underlying business model and how it leads to value and creative resilience – a creative resilience adaptation of Osterwalder and Peigneur’s Business Model Canvas
Assessing your business model – six questions To identify strengths and weaknesses in your business model so you can make the most of strengths and work with or on weaknesses
Resilient Choices Canvas – to help assess ideas and projects To help decide to do or not do projects that might affect your creative resilience
Four quadrants of creative resilience To explore why you are feeling a certain way when you think about your creative resilience as an organisation, sector or network, or to understand the risks in your current situation
Three Governance Triangles To do a health-check about how well your governance is working in terms of roles, insight, review and future thinking
A learning log To keep a simple, shareable track of learning from your work
Most Significant Change To add to quantitive evaluation methods when evaluating people-orientated activity pre-determined ‘indicators of change’ are limiting and where participant voice is important

The tools and frameworks in this section are especially useful as you or your organisations or network move outside your immediate concerns and explore your connections with the broader sector and society. Some of them can be done alone or thinking about your connected self.

Tool What you might use it for
Starting from ABCD To map six different sorts of assets and capacities found in communities or places, and then identify actions for the future
Multiplying leadership coaching questions To reflect on non-hierarchical leadership practice and identify positive actions, either alone or with others
Multiplying Leadership Dashboard To think about your approach to a project, or to engaging with a community or place, or for overall planning purposes, considering who you connect, collaborate and multiply with and how
The after action review To review a project and learn from what was done, and to identify improvements
The Failspace Wheel of Failure To consider a project and what it achieved from a range of perspectives and ask, “success or failure for whom, or which groups?”
Connecting Organisational Memory and the Adaptive Cycle To recognise where in the adaptive cycle you are (and have been and might be in future) so you can devise tactics for the future.
34 Stray and Sundry Tactics To provide inspiration when you are ‘stuck’ and need some things to try or projects to plan
A Cultural Doubtnut To think about the likely ecological sustainability of a development and the effect of achieving creative resilience