Expert Companions

During the recent holidays, our family noted how babies and toddlers seem to grow in spurts — whether in height or in their developmental milestones, growth appears to accelerate during particular patches, and it’s often during vacations. (Then we agreed it’s probably because that’s when we have time to pay attention to what’s happening…)

Looking back over your life, can you notice seasons of accelerated growth? I’m curious not just what was happening to you during those times, but who you were spending time with. Can you recall the presence of guides along the way?

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Imagination over Resolution

“We cannot create what we can’t imagine.” ~ Lucille Clifton

Writing a new year’s post on January 6 seems fitting this year, as I’m easing into 2025 rather than running headlong into it.

I would normally be writing about my guiding word of the year (it’s “rooted”), but honestly, my 2024 word didn’t stick at all, to the point I needed to refer back to last year’s early January blog post to remember what it even was (“expansive” that kept autocorrecting to “expensive” — both were true)!

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Learning our Way into 2025

Even though our priorities should flow from our values, when I help clients articulate their values, I don’t start there. I’d rather get to know them a bit first, individually or as an organization, and then reflect back to them what seems to be important to them so that their values are highly personalized to them. (Otherwise, if you ask folks what they value right up front, they’ll always say “integrity, accountability and respect.” Who doesn’t??)

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Vanilla Strategy

In this last installment of my mini-series on ‘facilitation tips from the trenches,’ I’m turning my attention to how the feedback elicited shapes the decisions we make.

Remember that I am a fan of collaborative strategy building. Multiple perspectives are protective. They reduce blind spots and build buy-in.

Except…

…when they encourage us to play it too safe. 

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