Convos (Blog)
Applied creativity and inventive thinking for regular people in everyday life.
Go To Bed Earlier
Tasha Eurich talks about the three conditions that we need to thrive: 1) confidence, 2) choice, and 3) connection. To help, she created a quick self-assessment activity. I like new tools, so I thought I’d give it a try and evaluate my current mental state.
Strat Plan Woes
Last week, my inbox included the subject line: “Hello, and Strat Plan Woes.” Two thoughts: 1) Yikes! and 2) Been there. Nothing like cutting right to the chase.
Can’t Make Babies
In Liberating Structures parlance, the team was stuck in a classic Rigidity Trap. We like the success we’re enjoying now so we get stuck. We don’t want to give up our current programs – even when we know they aren’t producing the impact they once enjoyed.
Human-First Learning
I run my own facilitation business, but I’m a teacher at heart. I love designing learning experiences that surprise and delight all parties involved – the students and the instructor(s). Delivering those learning experiences is special too.
Mark Your Miles
Goals should be SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound), right? Organizations love the SMART framework because it forces people to set goals that are measurable. But what if SMART goals aren’t actually that smart?
Describe It For Me
Recently, I’ve been doing some program mapping with groups. On paper everything looks great. But the teams feel unsettled. They know they have too much on their plates. They have no room left to innovate. Where to cut? Where to refocus? Where to create space? Where to begin?
This Hits Different
Work culture lies to us. We’re told resilience is a muscle that we can keep exercising – but what happens when that muscle gets injured? We’re told what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger - but what happens when added stress leaves us weak and listless?
No More Wasted Talent
To be clear, the morally ambitious path is not easy – and success is certainly not guaranteed. But pursuing morally ambitious causes is better than continuing our mind-numbing, pointless and even harmful jobs.
Wildly Better Place
Spoiler alert: this book (Moral Ambition) pulls no punches. It’s irritatingly wonderful. Bregman sets up his thesis from the first chapter: “Moral ambition is the will to make the world a wildly better place.” In his view, moral ambition is the antidote to our culture’s mind-numbing, pointless and even harmful jobs.
AAA Leaders
I created the AAA Leaders worksheet after reading about a class of architecture students who were struggling to find inspiration for their final design projects. I started thinking about the people who inspired my leadership journey.
Invent Over Innovate
On the one hand I understand the urge to eyeroll every time someone claims an “innovative breakthrough.” On the other, sometimes we do arrive at truly ingenious solutions worth celebrating.
Innovation Means Agency
Innovation is an overused buzzword. Many groups I work with have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes innovation. In my estimation, innovation is simply about taking personal ownership over a problem you are facing and finding solutions that make things better.
Invent The Backstory
Sometimes we run through life on auto-pilot – too focused on surface assumptions. Next time you notice something unusual in your environment, or just need a light-hearted moment, try creating the backstory.
Things That Ding
“What are you putting aside to be present this morning?” the facilitator asked. One of the participants said she was silencing the “things that ding” – and that phrase stuck with me through the morning.
Hey, I Like You
We need to build our professional networks more like school kids expand their friendship circles. As grown-ups, we overcomplicate the whole networking experience.
Convos and Crumbs
After 20 years, I left my secure tenured job in academia to go all-in on my passion: helping individuals and teams grow their creative confidence and inventive thinking. In case you are wondering, this is not a normal career path.
Notebooks On Notebooks
I have notebooks on notebooks of thoughts and ideas. Usually, I’m inspired by something I’m reading so I write my thoughts down to get them out of my head. Many of those ideas find their way into blog posts. Occasionally, those thoughts turn into a course idea or an experimental learning experience.
Stretch for Novelty
If you were to measure your team’s Bonding & Bridging Quotient (not a thing, I just made it up), where would you score? High on bonding? Low on bridging? Go ahead, take a minute and check in with yourself.
Bridge to Different
Ok, so we’ve been discussing how creative teams need two conditions work well collaboratively: bonding and bridging. On paper, bonding seems simple enough: get the team on the same page. But things are never as simple as they sound. Yesterday we tackled bonding. Today, we jump to bridging (no, wait… don’t jump).
Group Work? Yay!
I love working in groups and with groups. Seriously. I find people fascinating. I love how each member brings a different perspective to the work or problem at hand. When I work with teams as a facilitator, one thing I look for is their capacity for bonding and bridging. Huh? Let me explain.