I love facilitation techniques that are “high density”—that is, they pack a lot of meaning into a single exercise.
I have written previously about how the common technique of “dotmocracy” can be improved upon. I stand by those observations and wanted to show you a very recent example of why. It also provides greater detail to support a recent post about deciding how to decide before deciding. Continue reading “High-Density Collaborative Techniques”
If you are a fan of 1970s music, you might know Nick Lowe’s 1979 hit, “Cruel to be Kind.”
Since I devoured Brene Brown’s new book, Dare to Lead, that song has taken up residence as an earworm for me, with a slight modification to the main lyrics: “You’ve gotta be clear to be kind, in the right measure…”
My sixteen-year-old daughter Genevieve has spent this semester of her Grade 12 year involved in an experiential business leadership program with 47 other students from across our region. One of their final assignments was to organize a charity gala in six weeks. That gala happened two nights ago. I’m still buzzing. It was a magical evening and one that I expect will be a transformative marker in the lives of many of those young people. The process was an amazing example of collaborative leadership that I trust you will find inspiring and relevant.
Do you have a “big word” for 2019?
You may have heard about this. Choosing a single word that acts as a “north star” for your year. Recently I’ve connected with people whose 2018 words were calm, conviction, action, pirate and steam train. The possibilities are endless, see?
I’m not very good at single words. I’m more of a “series of big categories” kind of thinker. But I did have a word to guide my work in 2018. It started out as “fearless.” Then it got either downgraded or upgraded, depending on your perspective, to “brave.” That seemed more authentic to me. I can’t control being fearful, but I can control if I behave bravely in the face of those fears.
In the absence of information, we make assumptions.
Humans look for patterns. We love to fill in the blanks. And when we don’t know an answer, we fill in those blanks based on our own ideas, often in the absence of evidence. This works well when playing Mad Libs, less well on math tests, and really poorly when it comes to collaborative decision-making.
