Tell Don’t Ask

I am a fan of collaboration and co-creation — they build buy-in and reduce blind spots every time. But I am also committed to meaningful engagement. Too often when people are planning stakeholder consultations or community engagement, they are doing so because they feel they should or have to, but when you scratch below the surface, they actually don’t have anything worthwhile to ask people. Instead, they either just have information to share, or they are simply “ticking a box.” (For more on this, have a look at the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation. If you’re at the “Inform” end of the scale, be there clearly and proudly!)

Continue reading “Tell Don’t Ask”

Play the Game Well

How do you feel about board games?

[Some of] our family loves them, and when we found our holiday travel plans cancelled this year, we reverted [mostly] contentedly to our usual early January pastime of marathon sessions of whatever new games were under our Christmas tree.

Our favourite this year is Scythe, and our obsession with it is teaching me five things about living well amidst the tensions of adaptability:

Continue reading “Play the Game Well”

Pruning your Practice

I am no gardener, but it’s my understanding that plants benefit from being pruned. And pruning involves not only removing dead wood, but also overgrowth.

Overgrowth might look like uncontrolled wildness, but it can also look like promising new buds and beautiful flowers. Sit with that for a moment. These healthy, lovely parts need to be removed in order focus the nutrients that allow other well-placed blooms to thrive. Continue reading “Pruning your Practice”

Top