Leadership as jazz…no don’t stop reading!
My Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass guitar upon which I am learning…leadership? Read on! It’s a cliche as old as time, one I have been guilty of using occasionally too. Leadership is like jazz, where the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The two loops model of change, Part 3
Part 1: Introduction to the model Part 2: A deeper dive into the model The two loops model emerged from many years of conversations amongst people working in the Berkana Exchange and their friends and...
View ArticleHarrison Owen on chaos and creativity
In this video, Harrison Owen discusses the chaos that is disrupting the order we take for granted and begins to create a new order and a different world. Harrison has been saying much the same thing...
View ArticleKurt Lewin and Field Theory
I’ve been going down a bit of a rabbit hole these past few mornings, looking at some commentary and writing about Kurt Lewin. Lewin, who died in 1947 was a psychologist whose theory and research had a...
View ArticleWhat is actually going on now?
I was reflecting today with a friend on the nature of the world right now. We were discussing some of the story collections I have from the early part of the pandemic when I was running Participatory...
View ArticleSimplify update meetings
When we are teaching dialogue practice and participatory meeting design, I often draw on the example of organizational and team staff meetings. Every organization I’ve worked with has these meetings...
View ArticleOpen Space and Leadership
A little piece I’ve just written about Harrison Owen’s work on High Performance Systems for an Art of Participatory Leadership workbook on the connections between Open Space Technology facilitation...
View ArticleA renewed set of resources for planning and facilitating Open Space...
I finally managed to update all the broken links and misplaced resources on my Open Space Technology resources and planning pages. If you now visit the Open Space Planning page and the Open Space...
View ArticleAppreciating Cynthia Kurtz’s work
A detail from a surf board on display at the Nazare Surf Museum, Nazare, Portugal. If you have been working with me over the past five years or so you will have heard me reference and use the work of...
View ArticleHeard, Seen, Loved
One of our TSS Rovers Women’s team players, Sofia Farremo, signing an autograph for a young fan while standing in our supporters section at a TSS Rovers game this summer. Supporter culture at our club...
View ArticleClapping out of the circle
I was going through some old emails today and found one from 2020 from my friend Susan Phillips in Minneapolis who shared a really moving message about the closing of an important Youth Leadership...
View ArticleA replacement for Jamboard
Ever since Google repurposed their slide app for Jamboard, I’ve been a heavy user. Jambaord is a stripped down whiteboard that allows you to post sticky notes and add images to slides. It’s very...
View ArticleOn the road again and other notes
Dry Falls, Washington, which is where the Missoula Flood waters poured over the rim of the Grand Coulee and created lakes from the plunge pools at the bottom of the cliffs. It’s feeling familiar....
View ArticleI have no idea…
Sometimes a line runs right through people and communities, and sometimes that line is in the middle of road we are all travelling on. …how to address the polarization that is currently plaguing our...
View ArticleTicking away…
A detail from the monastary at Mont St Michel in Normandy showing a person overwhelmed with ripening fruit. He’s probably rushing off to his next zoom meeting. So much has changed since the pandemic...
View ArticleFacilitation practice note: the one-word purpose
Today, I was working with a client designing a one-day conference for their members. As always, my focus was on the chaordic stepping stones as a way to design, which defers decisions about structure,...
View ArticleMeetings that matter as microcosms
Tenneson, Caitlin and I are running a three day leadership course for MacEwan University here in Edmonton. It starts tomorrow and we are having a great conversation at Remedy chai cafe about why...
View ArticlePractice notes: teaching the art of participatory leadership
Some notes from three days of teaching a small cohort of leaders in the art of participatory leadership. —- When we teach the four fold practice of the art of hosting (also the art of participatory...
View ArticleArt of Hosting for Faith Communities and Social Change, Toronto November...
Over the past 15 years I have worked with churches, faith communities and faith-based social justice movements using the Art of Hosting and participatory leadership. In many ways these organizations...
View ArticleJust enough to live a good life
The set up for the weekly staff meeting at the Alaska Humanities Forum offices in Anchorage. We spent the day yesterday with our colleagues at the Alaska Humanities Forum (AKHF) preparing for the Art...
View Article