Facilitating Strategic Conversations for Collaborative Problem Solving
While I was delivering 360 feedback to a division chief, we noticed several comments from his staff that they didn’t feel supported because he didn’t spend enough time with them. I was wondering if he was ignoring them or if he didn’t have good relational skills. Hmmm... I was focusing on deficits. Then I looked at... Continue Reading →
I was coaching a new client this week - a director looking at a career move. She expressed excitement over a job posting which she shared with a colleague, who then asked her “Why would you want that job?” That response sharply dampened her interest, so she didn’t apply. When I asked her how she... Continue Reading →
Everyone talks about active listening, but it seems so hard for people to improve their listening skills. We can't just tell them, "You need to speak less and listen more. " That doesn't usually work. We have to find out what makes it difficult for people to hold their tongue and focus on other people's... Continue Reading →
You’re a firm of coaches or consultants, committed to your ongoing learning and development - you’re not sure you have the time or stamina for an ongoing learning group, so what’s the firm to do? Reading and discussing a book or an article is a popular suggestion, but people sometimes find they don't find... Continue Reading →
Colleagues often ask me: How do you develop a dynamic learning cluster or community of practice with engaged members who are generous in sharing their knowledge and expertise? These practices comes from my 15+ years’ experience creating a world-class professional learning network and several communities of practices (COP) for directors, coaches and facilitators. Successful COPs deliver... Continue Reading →
Have you ever introduced a new tool in a facilitated process, and it didn’t go well? What did you do? A month ago, I was facilitating a 2–day business process redesign, in which the team had to change a business process from a rolling to an annual basis; there were a lot of moving parts,... Continue Reading →
You’ve heard of “flipping the classroom”?? Well, think about applying that to designing an educational program with a panel of speakers! I had invited 3 panelists to speak on “Changing a System or a Culture” for the Boston Facilitators Roundtable (BFR). When I considered my experience listening to panels, I realized that quite often, after... Continue Reading →
Have you ever been in a meeting where an important decision was being made, when you had something important to contribute - and you considered speaking up, but hesitated – and then decided not to say anything? And kicked yourself afterwards for not speaking up? Chances are we’ve all been in meetings where we didn’t... Continue Reading →
Are you trying to initiate change in your organization? Maybe to increase accountability, to change a business process such as implementing EHR's (electronic health records), increasing the diversity of staff? How are you getting people on-board? How are you describing the change? I was consulting a few years ago on a change management project, coaching... Continue Reading →
