6 Low-cost high-value strategies for virtual collaboration on a budget

[This post expands on a ‘virtual collaboration on a budget’ slide I used in a webinar last week, for Charity Village] I’ve been snake-bit a few times, when it comes to virtual collaboration. Nothing deadly, it’s just that I’ve experienced too much frustration, and squandering of dollars, at the feet of the technology gods. Basically, although […]

Alternate Dispute Resolution helps support a growing entrepreneurial culture in Tanzania

Last month, November, I was in Tanzania. Stationed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, I provided Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) advisory services to the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA). TCCIA has 20,000+ members. I was there as a Volunteer Advisor with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO). I’ve volunteered, internationally, with […]

Webinar on Virtual Collaboration – December 8, 2016 with Charity Village

This Thursday, December 8, I’m partnering with Charity Village on a (free) webinar on virtual collaboration. Register here. CharityVillage is the Canadian nonprofit sector’s largest and most popular online resource for recruiting, news and how-to information. As a flavour of what’s in the webinar, I wrote this article,  High-context communications in a low-context virtual world, […]

A good metaphor for why habits are so hard to change

A good metaphor is gold. Here’s one about how habits are created and why they are so hard to change. It’s from Harvard neurology professor, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, via Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. I love this metaphor. It’s brilliant. And, so winter. So Canadian. […]

Managing the Half-Life of Workplace Conflict

Recently, I was asked by a local organization to assess a workplace conflict situation and provide some recommendations for them, going forward. While I did that, I also realize that the tensions that had surfaced in the group don’t just end, full stop. In many ways, they morph and carry on, below the surface, in […]

Remembering the Brilliance of Ursula Franklin: The Real World of Technology

Ursula Franklin died last month, in Toronto. She was 94. Ursula Franklin was a “Canadian giant” for a whole lot of reasons; she was a world-renowned physicist, feminist, Quaker, author, pacifist, professor, Holocaust survivor, public intellectual, mother, and mentor. She was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1982 and with the […]

That Was Picasso! A sports psychology model for mastering personal challenges

The PGA tour, professional golfer’s association tour, is winding down for another year, over the next few weeks. I golf. Not a lot; enough, though, that I’m motivated, after a bad round (not infrequent), to go out, and do it again. No pain, no gain? It’s the psychological side of golf that has me hooked. […]

Summer Fun and Learning at Toastmasters

I’ve been part of a local Toastmasters club for the last two years.  This was my first foray into the Toastmaster’s world. We meet once a week; early morning (6:55-8:15 a.m), at a local community centre. Toastmasters and my experience with Toastmasters Toastmasters focus is to provide a supportive environment to improve public speaking. Toastmasters originated in […]

Conflict Manifest [A Poem]

[Reflecting on the many journeys we all take when it comes to managing interpersonal conflict, this poem morphed its way out of me, today.] Conflict Manifest I was going along, swimmingly Buzzed by my world And then it happened To my surprise My buzz wasn’t theirs Conflict manifest The dawn of conflict reveals itself Out […]