A lost opportunity
1 July 2010Apologies, this is a bit ranty… An information sheet for a local community group arrived in my letterbox today. Here’s a few exerpts: The [group] requires your input and support in order to maintain its vigour and effectiveness and to ensure that it is accurately representing your views. and Please provide us with an up-to-date…
Collaboration
27 June 2010There’s been an interesting discussion amongst facilitators about whether or not collaboration is more complex now than previously. I can’t speak for organisations, or anyone else for that matter. All I can say is that for me collaboration has never been easier. I can find people to collaborate with – whether they live nearby or…
A more satisfying way of working
14 May 2010We’d just finished working together face-to-face for a week. We gathered in one of our apartments, too tired to venture out for dinner. We opened a bottle of wine, a few beers to celebrate and ordered pizza. Someone suggested a song. Two guitars, a group of friends – singing, laughing, improvising. What were we celebrating?…
Open data movement afoot
18 March 2010At last year’s TED conference, Tim Berners Lee called for the an open data movement with the free sharing of raw data and all the benefits that would come from that. You can watch the original talk here. Last month, he gave an update in this six-minute talk. He shows how mashable maps are being…
Touring with the band
8 March 2010While watching this excellent trio of talented Quebecois musicians known as Genticorum I was musing the nature of collaboration. Each of these musicians is no doubt talented in his own right, yet together they can do so much more. I saw this time and again over the last few days watching various bands perform. I…
Crumbs!
8 March 2010With shared interests in facilitation and open space, and a passion for improv, conversation, and exploring ideas, it was really only a matter of time before Johnnie Moore and I developed a workshop that brings all of that together in some way. It’s called Crumbs! and you can read about it here on Matt Moore’s…
How might we design a conference?
28 February 2010I’ve been reading Tim Brown’s Change by Design and I’m surprised at how much the principles in the book about design thinking resonate around what Johnnie Moore, Chris Corrigan, Anne Pattillo, Geoff Brown and I have been doing for a national conference on evaluating behaviour change. In collaboration with the conference organisers and hosts we’ve…
The heart of connection
14 February 2010When we find, and stay in touch with, people whose ideas and conversations align and challenge, who are generous and willing to share not only their insights, but also their fears and anxieties, questions and musings, whether we’ve met or not, this is the heart of connection. And it’s worth nurturing. Post Script: Checking out…
Possibility
22 December 2009Maybe it’s the time of the year – long days, warm evenings, sitting about with a bottle of wine, chatting with good friends. End of the year, beginning of a new one. Is it any wonder that ideas abound? That anything seems possible? I was listening to Sir Ken Robinson on the radio today. He…
A great meeting? Oxymoron?
27 November 2009I took part in a great meeting today. True! And I’m not good at meetings. Usually. They drain my energy, leaving me feeling as though I’ve lost something. Just between you and me, I struggle to be ‘good’ at meetings. I have even been known to exhibit all the behaviours I most dislike in workshop…