> I spent a good chunk of last week at the annual conference of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners, a creative bunch of folks who help businesses document meetings, capture ideas, and solve problems using graphics. I am relatively new to this practice (you can see examples of my graphic work here), so it […]
Comments Off on >Graphics Jam
>My July 31st workshop, Let’s Talk About Money, is filling fast! You can pre-register here; last I checked there were only about seven spots left. The event is being sponsored by Raines Cohen & Betsy Morris of EBCOHO and is designed for folks in any stage of cohousing development. My friend, neighbor, & colleague Dave […]
Comments Off on >Let’s Talk About Money
>I love this quote by my colleague Laird Schaub, on conflict: “In the end it doesn’t matter to me who started it. I want to know who’s willing to end it.” To me, it really speaks to the difference between mediation and arbitration. A mediator helps the parties hear and understand each other’s point of […]
Comments Off on >"He Started It!"
I live in a cohousing community and work with many others as a facilitator, trainer, and consultant. The most common issue for which communities hire me has to do with work – or more accurately, how to get members who aren’t doing their agreed-upon share of the work to get with the program. What is […]
>Kerry Patterson is co- author of three books to which I refer again and again: Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. I receive his e-newsletter, Kerrying On, which I always read immediately — I consign most e-newsletters to the trash folder rather quickly, but I always find useful tips, tools, and stories in this invaluable. […]
>Garr Reynolds (author of Presentation Zen, one of my favorite books) has compiled some great thoughts, images, and video snippets on the importance of play.
Comments Off on More on Play
>The nature of my work is such that I spend a lot of time listening to people talk about the problems/challenges that are going on in their organization or community. It seems to be human nature to assign some degree of blame to a person or people identified as “difficult.” “If only A would stop […]
>Most of the classes and workshops that I teach are born out of my own desire or need to learn and explore the topic. I learn SO much in the process of developing the workshop…and every time I teach, I learn something new from the interaction among my students. I just updated my calendar of […]
Comments Off on >I Love to Teach!
>I spent Saturday in a workshop on Kinesthetic Modeling (KM), a right-brain, hands-on, 3-D facilitation tool. Like a child with a new toy or a craftsperson with a new tool, I am itching to play with it some more! I first heard of KM from my colleagues Andrea Saveri and Leslie Salmon-Zhu; we used it […]
Comments Off on >Kinesthetic Modeling
>One of my favorite recent reads is Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. She embarked on a year-long quest to become a happier person. As I am a sometimes snarky, often irritated, highly critical person, the idea of instigating a similar project for myself was somewhat appealing. (It was especially appealing to my wife!) So I have […]