What can we learn from relationship experts and apply to our collaborative efforts? Creating a successful collaborative requires us to be competent at building relationships and trust. Some of the underlying principles about human relationships, and building trust, are best understood by experts in the field of human relations. One of those experts is John […]
Archives for February 2009
The power of a story told well
February 16, 2009 by · 2 Comments
I love a well-told story. And when the story itself has clout, even better. A good story, supported by creative storytelling, can move us from a place of compliance to a place of commitment. By-and-large, storytelling is a missed opportunity for organizations. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly […]
Questions are the engine that drive collaborative conversations
February 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
The collaborative facilitator knows that questions make things happen. Questions are the engine that drives healthy and productive group conversation. A few years ago, I took a workshop, on facilitation and asking questions, from Dorothy Strachan in Ottawa, Ontario. She has been a facilitator for a long time, and is an expert in asking questions […]
Moving from the "pain of a new idea" to collaboration and innovation
February 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Collaboration involves people or organizations working together toward an intersection of common goals. Innovation is about a new way of doing something; about making changes in your thinking, processes, products, and/or organization. We know collaborative thought and action can lead to new ideas and innovation. Yet, still we are reluctant to use a collaborative approach […]
A metaphor for the collaborative leader
February 6, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Recently, a colleague leading in a multi-party collaboration described her role to me as being a lubricant to the system. She told me her job was to facilitate, to connect people together who should be connected, to grease the wheels so to speak, and just generally remove obstacles so people could get their work done. […]
