Culture Clash for Innovation

I’m reading The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje.  I got introduced to this book by local filmmaker Mandy Leith, one of the presenters at the recent Wired Words symposium I attended, in Victoria. Murch is one of the 20th century’s great film editors, having worked on many classics; […]

Diversity: A pathway to connection, common ground and innovation

Diversity is a hallmark of innovative teams.  One of the best ways to expand your own problem-solving capabilities is to diversify; apply a different lens, different perspective, to the problem. Traditional pathways If you’re a facilitator, you know how to build bridges between people’s differences, find common ground, as a stepping stone to joint solutions […]

Meghalaya's Living Bridges: Multi-generation collaboration

In a world of “what’s in it for me” and short-term interests, its uplifting to see another way, a way where an individual’s contribution is not directly linked to final outcome, at least in their life time! Susanna Jani, colleague and author of the BC Distance Family Mediation Blog, thoughtfully, sent me the link to […]

The Good News: Restorative Justice

Two recent news items about restorative justice caught my intention.  Which one should I let “take the day”? The first was what I consider a bad news story.  Alberta pulls restorative justice funding, read the CBC news article headline.  The Province of Alberta will stop funding restorative justice programs.  This is hard one for me […]

What is Community and who are Community Connectors?

According John McKnight and Peter Block, “community” is a general term to describe what occurs outside systems and institutions. It also refers to an aggregation of people or neighbourhoods that have something in common. … and (from John and Peter), characteristic of “community connectors” are people who are:   Gift centred; see the positive, the […]