A good part of my home province, British Columbia, is on fire. I’m grateful, in more ways than one, to those who are fighting those fires. Due to the hot and dry conditions, there are hundreds of forest fires currently active, many of them out-of-control, across British Columbia. 14,000 people have, so far, been forced to […]
Manage your Workplace Conflict Fires as if you were a Forest Fire Control Expert
July 12, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Seven Tips for Mediators based on insights from the climate change discourse
July 5, 2017 by · 1 Comment
I was at a social gathering the other night. My conversation partner was lamenting that their message, they work for an environmental agency, wasn’t getting through. Paraphrasing my friend, “All the facts are there. The planet is at peril. People still don’t get it, though. They carry on, as usual.” Alert to a timely opportunity […]
CESO support of Aboriginal communities’ development in Canada informs its International work
May 2, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Last week, the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) sponsored an event in Victoria, coinciding with CESO’s 50th anniversary and National Volunteer Week. The event welcomed Volunteer Advisors, local government and community leaders, clients, and supporters. I’m a Volunteer Advisor with CESO. I attended. CESO is an international development organization working in Canada, with Aboriginal communities, and around the […]
Communication and Diplomacy: The skills workplace managers need to improve most
March 21, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Raise your hand if you’ve been witness to a workplace conversation that goes something like this? Employee: I wish you had checked with me before making the decision. Manager: I just assumed that it worked for you. Employee: It puts me in a difficult position with the team. Manager: Don’t worry. I’ll talk to them. […]
Show me: Restorative Justice
March 15, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Remember “show and tell” time when you were small? It wasn’t “tell and show” time. It’s “show”, first, for a reason. A local ‘show’ came my way this week. It was from the terrific folks at Restorative Justice Victoria. Restorative Justice video (video not displaying? click here to watch it on Youtube) Restorative Justice Victoria’s (RJ […]
The CEO, The Profits, and The Conflict
March 9, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) has been around almost as long as the nation state of Canada. The CPR was incorporated in 1881. The last few years have been good ones, for CPR shareholders. Yet, that “success” may have come at a price, workplace culture, as last weekend’s Globe and Mail feature on the CPR […]
Use diverse strategies to create workplaces that better benefit women
March 8, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Today is International Women’s Day. The UN adopted ‘women in the changing world of work’ as its’ theme for International Women’s Day 2017. On that front, UN Women has a few facts you should know, starting with the wage gap: From the Executive Director of UN Women: “Achieving equality in the workplace will involve governments’ targeted […]
Adopt a multi-dimensional approach to reduce workplace bullying and harassment
February 22, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
Today, February 22, 2017, is anti-bullying day, aka Pink Shirt Day, in Canada. While the focus of the day is bullying in schools, bullying behaviour has no boundaries. Schoolyard bullies, unanswered, take their act forward; to their families, communities, workplaces. Bullying behaviour in the workplace A respective workplace seeks to mitigate bullying and harassment behaviours. […]
Use Peer Assists to Transfer Knowledge and Solve an Organization Challenge
February 17, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
I follow Nancy Dixon’s blog, Conversation Matters. Her work is focused on the people side of knowledge management. She has developed a succinct model for how to transfer knowledge to help solve an organization challenge. Peer Assists are part of that model. Using peer assists to transfer knowledge between teams Frame: In Dixon’s model, Peer Assists are […]
