I was preparing for a couple of sessions this past week, designed to share my story in a program called Thought Leaders Business School (TLBS). I was therefore thinking about why it’s worked so well for me. Continue reading “Alone Together”
Safer Decisions Slower
I am a fan of collaboration. I am confident that participatory planning can reduce blind spots and build buy-in.
But I’ve had a couple of recent experiences in my practice that have left me wondering if that insight and engagement have come at the expense of courage and efficiency. Continue reading “Safer Decisions Slower”
Back Where You Started
The shared experience of collaborative planning is a significant outcome in itself. It can build a sense of team, increase depth of understanding, build common vocabulary, and give people a touchstone on which to call in the future when a group starts to drift.
But is that shared experience enough? Don’t we also need to produce something together through it? What happens if our shared experience is one of seemingly landing right back where we started?
The Case for Collaboration
Collaborative decision-making is my default setting. So familiar to me that I barely notice doing it.
Two books have brought that position into sharper focus for me recently.
Truly Collaborative. True Leadership
I’ve recently talking to a whole bunch of people re: how best to strengthen addictions services in Waterloo Region (about an hour west of Toronto) for an organization called House of Friendship (HoF).
Throughout the project, people have been talking excitedly about a new, much-needed space scheduled to open this July that will house HoF’s residential treatment services, day treatment programming and counselling for people concerned about their substance use.
Yesterday morning, I saw a Tweet about a fire at the construction site of that new facility. The cause of the early morning blaze is still under investigation, but the damage is extensive.