Archives for May 2009

Constellation Collaboration: an inspired model for multi-organizational collaboration

The Constellation Collaboration Model offers an inspiring, and sensible, framework for organizations to come together, create partnership, and realize mutual objectives.  It is the vision of Tonya Surman and Mark Surman, and builds on their work with the Centre for Social Innovation, “a social enterprise with a mission to catalyze social innovation”, based in Toronto, […]

Relying on your intuition may be your best decision in times of uncertainty

As a mediator, I often rely on my intuition as a guide in the heat of conflict.  I never really understood how intuition worked though until I read Gerd Gigerenzer’s book, Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious.  A superstar in the psychology of decision making, Gigerenzer thinks relying on your gut feelings (a.k.a. intuition […]

Dismal BC voter turnout = opportunity for public engagement and Gov 2.0

On May 12, 2009, British Columbia voters went to the polls.  Voter turnout was dismal, and some say reflects a crisis!  The day before, May11, the Obama government announced its Office of Public Engagement.  The lack of engaged citizenry creates real learning opportunities.  How will British Columbia respond?     What does it mean to […]

Aboriginal ideas shape and influence our collaborative mindset

In my neck of the woods (British Columbia, Canada), how we imagine ourselves as a society owes much more than we realize to the Aboriginal people who live here (and have for a very long time), and their ideas. So goes the argument put forth by noted Canadian thinker, John Ralston Saul, in his book […]

20 Ways to physically structure your office for collaboration

  Structure influences behaviour. How we design and build our offices will influence the way we work together. I just finished community expert Peter Block’s book Community: The Structure of Belonging. Combining some of the ideas presented in his book, along with a few other sources (also noted in this post), I thought it would […]