Facilitating Strategic Conversations for Collaborative Problem Solving
Photo credit: Polarity Management, Barry Johnson I was delighted to present a workshop on Polarity Management to the New England Alumni of the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Once people understand what a polarity is, they find them all over the place - at work, at home, and even as they struggle with a polarity within... Continue Reading →
If you’re a mid-career professional trying to land a new job or to move up the career ladder, what are your metrics of success? Is “landing that job” the only metric? What other metrics might there be? What can you learn from the process aside from landing the job? I’ve been coaching a few mid-career... Continue Reading →
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 →
