Some of the results from yesterday’s collaborative art project, adapted from an exercise developed by Juliana Coles and published in Kaleidoscope: Ideas & Projects to Spark Your Creativity. The six of us all worked simultaneously on sixty surfaces, with no individual person having ownership of any one board. The exercise uses a timed script with a […]
Tag Archives: Collaboration
A quick visual exercise can utterly transform how a group understands itself. I recently worked with a Board that perceived themselves as very divided. One camp was supposedly dedicated solely to the organization’s Program H and placed an extremely low value on Program C; the other camp reversed these values. They told this story over […]
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I once worked with a cohousing community on revising their decision-making policy, with which many members were frustrated. It was seven pages long and I found it difficult to understand despite multiple readings; each community member I asked described it differently. Some bemoaned the fact that they could never get anything done because the process […]
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This weekend, in honor of Martin Luther King Day, I attended the incredibly moving film Selma. What most stood out for me, watching that line of people marching toward a line of angry, heavily armed policemen, was their courage. To march forward, knowing you are likely to be physically attacked. To do so with a […]
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Last night I spent a couple of wonderful hours talking and scribbling with my visual thinker friends John and Veda. We are all reading Lynda Barry’s new book Syllabus and working through many of her exercises, acting as support group for each other. John also shared the stuff he’s been doing from Ivan Brunetti’s book […]
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At a recent meeting, I was reminded how hard it can be to separate the quality of an idea or the validity of a fact from the popularity or authority of the person expressing it. Have you ever suggested something at work and been pooh-poohed, only to have someone ELSE suggest the same damn thing…and […]
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I spent all day Saturday doing landscaping work with my cohousing neighbors. I actually don’t like gardening all that much. I have very little experience or knowledge, having lived all my adult life in trailers, apartments, and condos. But the foliage was threatening to take over and so the troops were assembled and armed with […]
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In a previous post, I shared a list of Twenty Declarations – things I absolutely know to be true. I’ve added to them over time: 21. Ain’t no way out but through! 22. Don’t pre-plan your bummers. 23. You can’t think outside the box if you don’t know what box you’re in. 24. Creating and […]
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Meetings and presentations are a necessary part of doing business; too often they are dry, boring, unfocused, or simply unproductive. Gain a strategic edge by sharing your vision and creatively engaging your audience using visual facilitation tools. Why rely on words and text for so much of our group work and communication when 75 percent […]
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