Being Open-minded about Spanning our Boundaries

While I like to think I’m pretty open-minded, this past weekend was a reminder of how much I still need to work at growing my receptiveness to boundary spanning.

I was honoured to be invited to take part in what was billed as an “Aboriginal Thought-Leaders Forum at the prestigious Banff Centre. The wisdom and experience of the predominantly academic participants, in combination with the inspiring mountain views, pushed me to a far greater receptiveness and understanding of narrative inquiry as a means or methodology that can be used to better understand and capture learnings.

To be honest,… More Posted on 04-25-10

On Being an Expert

As I am a reluctant speaker and presenter, one of the redeeming values of me delivering workshops at conferences is that I am often able to attend and learn from other people’s sessions. In a time of declining resources, it really is a free and often serendipitous kind of learning.

This week I sat in on a keynote address delivered by a vivacious and fun blonde who was presented as an expert able to assist participants with their management and leadership challenges. Without a doubt she knew how to engage an audience. She was cute and funny and moved… More Posted on 04-18-10

Just-in-Time-Feedback

Although I try really hard to avoid it, too often these days I find myself doing a little too much just-in-time, management-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. While often challenging, it only works because our team is pretty much a just-in-time workforce. And, while it means we’re nimble and entrepreneurial, it in turn is driving a need for just-in-time-feedback. The feedback we need in our day-to-day work, as well as in our individual performances, can’t always wait until the next meeting or the next performance review. Recently it became apparent that feedback sometimes even needs to happen on the fly.

We were on an Aboriginal… More Posted on 04-11-10

Challenge the Mundane

Maybe it’s because spring is a time of renewal and growth or perhaps I just need a dash of something different but this past weekend I found myself wandering through fabric stores. My overwhelming desire to create trumped the fact that I haven’t sewn in years.

According to many, everyone is creative and should be making the effort to nurture and celebrate it especially during World Creativity and Innovation Celebrations that occur every year from April 15-21st. 

It started as the result of a headline in the National Post in May 2001 that read, “Canada in Creativity Crisis”. Creativity… More Posted on 04-04-10