Using the CCS

Don’t teach anything new!

By Craig Browne

“Don’t ever let me come into one of your classrooms and hear you teaching something new to your students!” You could see puzzled looks on all our fresh faces. Isn’t teaching all about providing new information?

People sharing their virtual CCS Cards choices around a conference table

Phygital is back!

By Craig Browne

Well, it probably never went, but it sure feels like its having a renewed moment! The term phygital learning, a combination of physical and digital…

Winning new clients using CCS Cards

By Leonie Cutts

Trying to win a new client? As facilitators, we are often in a position where we have to demonstrate our expertise by running a ‘sample’…

Opposites attract or birds of a feather?

Opposites attract, or Birds of a feather?

By Craig Browne

If you are like me, you probably find these kinds of generalisations applied to relationships, somewhat troublesome – too inconsistent to really be useful. I mean, they can’t both be right, can they? Either two people described as “opposite” are attracted to each other specifically because of their oppositions, or they are not. In which case two people who are of a feather – flock.

two men engaging in connection discussion

Do guys feel emotional connection?

By Craig Browne

How’s that for a clickbait title? But I didn’t make it up. Google offered it up to me in the list of suggested questions in response to my typing “emotional connection” in the search bar. As a “guy” (AMAB), the voice in my head immediately shouted “yeah, of course we do!” But as I thought for a moment, I found myself saying “oh, maybe we don’t — maybe I’d better click!”

having to adapt programs to hybrid working

“Hybrid bloody hybrid!”

By Craig Browne

On a phone call the other day with a professional facilitator and long-time CCS user, we got onto the subject of the challenges of adapting to new ways of working. When I brought up the need to be ready for having some participants in the room and some remote, she immediately shouted,
“Oh yeah. Hybrid, bloody hybrid!”

Patricia Parish, certified CCS Practitioner with her Moving toward my True North CCS activity

Finding Your Direction In An Uncertain World

By Leonie Cutts

Helping people to see things a little differently is something that Career Education Consultant, Art Therapist, and Certified CCS Practitioner, Patricia Parish is familiar with. At a recent career conference, Patricia shared her thoughts on managing these turbulent times, along with a unique CCS Cards process she has created for identifying your own True North.

Using the CCS Cards VFE in a session with Baxter

Face to face – But wait, someone’s Zooming in!

By Leonie Cutts

As facilitators we are used to things changing and having to adapt in the moment. As CCS users, being able to mix real and virtual CCS Cards in your sessions, is just another way to help you feel relaxed and assured that you can handle anything!

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Refreshing Strategy

By Leonie Cutts

What conversations are you planning to have with your team to realign for our new normal? We spoke with Jessica Rivera, Senior HR specialist at Patties Foods, about how she engaged the whole team in conversations to help refresh business strategy and create a Culture Action Plan.

Unlocking self-belief blog feature

Unlocking Self-belief

By Leonie Cutts

I heard my new client before I saw her. I was walking up the stairs to her office and she was on the phone to her team. Our meeting ended with her saying, “I feel like I’ve been given a hug”. Find out how CCS Cards were used in a professional career coaching session to help unlock self-belief.

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Keep The Lessons Learnt

By Leonie Cutts

Last year gave us lessons in spades. As we now embark on the new year, it’s prime time to reflect on the lessons and decide what is important to take into 2021 and perhaps beyond. What did you learn from 2020? And how will you make sure you use the lessons to thrive in 2021?

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10 Ways to Think More Effectively

By Leonie Cutts

In a world that seems intent on throwing shiny things and loud distractions in our path, it is critical that we pay attention to how we think, and how we impact others’ thinking. Let’s take a look at ways to think more effectively — with and without CCS Cards.

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Not Creative? Here’s 4 Things To Get You Started.

By Leonie Cutts

Creative thinking is one of the first steps in innovation and something that many organisations are prioritising. So, is it possible to turn creative thinking on when we need it? Bill Jarrard says yes, and gives the four key ingredients.

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3 keys to having tough conversations

By Leonie Cutts

Some conversations are tough, but not having them might be even tougher. Living with the discomfort caused by assumptions or worrying about negative outcomes, can churn up a lot of energy and waste a lot of time. How can CCS image cards make having tough conversations easier?

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The Right Formula for Successful Collaboration

By Leonie Cutts

My partner, Craig and I have lived and worked together for over 25 years. If you were to test us on any personality, learning styles or team profile, you would see that we usually come out in diagonally opposite quadrants. This can cause a lot of tension, heated debate but ultimately, hopefully, a great outcome.

Calamity and connection

Calamity, connection, growth
[And a free board game!]

By Leonie Cutts

Like many Australians, we spent the summer glued to our ‘Fires Near Me’ app — checking it 24/7 to see if we would make it through the heat with our house still standing. Now here we are, self-isolating and social distancing — terms that now roll off our tongue like we have been saying them our whole lives …

Introducing Deliberate Creative Thinking with CCS Cards

Introducing Deliberate Creative Thinking
with CCS Cards

By Bill Jarrard

Guest Blog by Bill Jarrard, co-founder Mindwerx International I have been using CCS cards since Craig and Leonie first introduced them, in all sorts of…

Healing Hearts

By Leonie Cutts

What do you do when you gather for a fun night with girlfriends and the high energy, effervescent, joy giver of the group, confesses she is not in a good place?

I am afraid of singing

I am afraid to sing in front of a group

By Craig Browne

What I am about to tell you I don’t normally share with people. Partly because I am embarrassed by it, and partly because I don’t really like talking about myself in this way. But, I recently had a significant breakthrough with something and I really want to talk about it…

Students from the emPOWERment project use CCS Cards

Empowering young people — with a little help from CCS Cards

By Craig Browne

I found Bethany, a quiet, slight sixth grade girl, waiting for me outside the classroom after the very first emPOWERment project class. She said, “You…

What Freddy Mercury learnt about collaboration

LeadingQueen: What Freddy learnt about collaboration

By Leonie Cutts

Have you seen the movie Bohemian Rhapsody? If you haven’t, you must — I believe it will touch your heart and soul and remind you…

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Permission to connect

By Leonie Cutts

Maslow placed connection about 3 rungs above basic needs in the hierarchy of needs. We now know that connection is a basic need. It belongs…

Unpacked: CCS User Manual for expert use of image cards

Freshly UNPACKED!

By Leonie Cutts

Our attention spans have dropped at least 4 seconds, Netflix is a household name in Australia, and the iPhone has had at least 6 versions.…

Three Simple Steps to immediately experience the Happiness Advantage

By Leonie Cutts

‘The happiness advantage – because positive brains have a biological advantage over brains that are neutral or negative, this principle teaches us how to retrain…