“Yes, doctor.” It’s easy to agree with your doctor. After all, she knows what’s good for your health. Right? You do, too. Right? Discussing one’s personal health, in a collaborative way, can be a very difficult conversation. Call to action Last month I participated in the Patients as Partners Provincial Dialogue conference in Vancouver. I was there offering […]
3 Ways a Leader Can Increase Cooperation Between Departments
May 4, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
When it comes to fostering innovation, a survey of 3,600 executives globally put “increase cooperation between departments” at the top of their list. That was one of the research findings, by info tech mega corp, EMC, on the Information Generation. The following chart, summarizes the respondents take on “How to Increase Innovation”, and was part of the […]
Inviting Participation In Your Virtual Meetings
April 27, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
As a facilitator of virtual meetings, are you the hub of all communications or do you empower participants to interact among themselves? Virtual participation, interactivity, isn’t just a ‘nice to have’. As with in-person meetings, two-way conversations, facilitator-participants, and participants-participants, are a key determinant of group success. Knowing how to keep meetings participatory in the […]
A Basic 3-Step Model to Help You Resolve a Business Dispute
April 21, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
“This is taking up way more time than its worth”. Those are words I often hear from people weighed down by a business dispute. As a mediator of business disputes (and other non-criminal civil disputes), here is a basic 3-step framework model that I commonly use to help people move from dispute to resolution. You […]
How I Flip a Training Workshop
April 2, 2015 by · 2 Comments
“Flipped” learning is based on the premise that group time should focus on group interactions, and that content that you can learn on your own should be kept there; i.e., on your time. Most people are familiar with the flipped classroom model. Workshops, and certainly meetings, can be well served by taking a ‘flipped’ approach. […]
Respectful Workplace and Construction Companies
March 31, 2015 by · 3 Comments
Employee: “What do you mean I can’t tell him to fuck off?” Boss: “No, you can’t. Our new Respectful Workplace Policy requires that people treat each other civilly and politely. Telling him to f-off won’t cut it anymore.” Established construction companies are in transition. Historically, the construction industry, especially worksite tradespeople and workers, more-or-less accepted […]
Love Your Clients: Give Them What They Want
February 12, 2015 by · 2 Comments
It’s “love” week. Valentines Day is this Saturday, February 14. Of course, the love we offer this week need not be reserved for our partner-in-life or partner-of-the-moment. Why not extend it to your clients, in the workplace? If I were a syndicated advice columnist, Dr. Love, here is how I would respond to this readers’ […]
The Three Sisters Approach to Managing Conflict in the Organization
February 5, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
We need to learn more of the old ways, and adapt them to today’s situations. Where I live, the oldest ways are of Aboriginal, Indigenous, Native origin. In Master chef and educator Dan Barber’s agitating book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, he pays respect to the Iroquois’ Three Sisters Strategy, a […]
In Which Corner(s) is Your Conflict?
January 13, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
When in conflict, the source of the conflict can be confusing, never mind the way out! Ken Wilbur’s Integral Vision is a handy, big picture, framework that can be applied to conflict management: Wilbur’s model is not dedicated to conflict. It applies to everything, literally, as I discovered in his A Theory of Everything. Each […]
