It’s challenging being a mainstream Christian church these days, in Canada. Declining membership, aging congregations, questions about relevancy, not to mention dealing with the Indian residential school legacy, witness Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yet, paradoxically, there is opportunity. Opportunity to reach out, engage, dialogue, explore new possibilities. This is the approach The United Church […]
Constructive Conflict: Revisiting the genius of Mary Parker Follett
July 11, 2010 by · 3 Comments
Last month, my collaborative-minded web friend, John Folk-Williams, introduced us to Mary Parker Follett, in this article on his excellent blog Cross Collaborate. Among the living humans from 1868-1933, her insights reflected a brilliant mind, systems thinking, and in retrospect, are visionary. I was totally intrigued, and so I followed up… First, I procured […]
Haliburton Community Farm: A collaborative model worth emulating
June 27, 2010 by · 1 Comment
We need more places like Haliburton Farm. Last month, I partook in a farm tour, dinner and conversation there. This week I visited this local farm to chat a bit more with Elmarie Roberts, one of the farmers working the property. Our conversation reinforced my view that Haliburton Farm is a powerful, collaborative community model […]
4 Factors that are reshaping the world of conflict resolution
June 20, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
From my feeds (RSS, Twitter), I’ve recently come across some interesting goings on in the world of conflict/dispute resolution. And as much of it jives with my own experience and take on resolving conflicts, I thought I’d summarize, with a few examples, what I see as key factors impacting the practice of conflict resolution, going […]
The Magic Relationship Ratio
June 12, 2010 by · 4 Comments
In relationships, accentuate the positive. Negative interactions have more clout than positive interactions. It is not a balanced equation. You need to have many positive interactions for each negative interaction, if you want a healthy, sustainable relationship! Relationship expert John Gottman sees each of our daily interactions with another person as bids for connection. By […]
11 Good reasons to support your community dance
June 6, 2010 by · 1 Comment
While we’re investing in building and nurturing collaborative habits, let’s not forget that many tight-knit communities have learned, survived, and prospered, by working AND playing together. So, let me suggest something for the playing, community dancing. 11 reasons why I’m a big fan of traditional, community-oriented music and dance. I previously shared my reasons why […]
Victoria's Family Collaborative Law Group: Raising the bar on ways to manage family conflict
May 25, 2010 by · 1 Comment
The Collaborative Family Law Group (CFLG) is a Victoria-based interdisciplinary group of independent professionals, whose mission is to encourage and promote a new process to create positive solutions for people in conflict and families in transition. Indeed that’s why I’m a fan of theirs. Recently I attended, as a guest, one of the regular monthly […]
Musings on peeling the onion and visual thinking
May 20, 2010 by · 2 Comments
We all have needs. When we’re stuck, dealing with unmet needs can help get things moving forward again. Understanding needs can be like peeling an onion; there are many layers. It may be a bit painful in the peeling, yet good things can happen afterwards, not the least of which is crafting sustainable solutions, as […]
