I guess the shoe is on the other foot now.

In previous work environments I was sometimes asked for my opinion on a specific matter or to provide feedback as part of a larger group. It was frustrating to find that when the final decisions were made, it often appeared my voice hadn’t been heard at all. Consequently I wondered why I had bothered to contribute in the first place and would be tempted to hunker down and just mind my own business.

Nowadays the position is reversed as I’m the one who as project director is soliciting feedback… More Posted on 08-31-08

Importance of Sports

Except for the somewhat puzzling, seemingly excessive, Canadian TV coverage of volleyball, I must say I’ve really enjoyed watching the Olympics even though it resulted in far too much late night TV.

Unfortunately, instead of being inspired by the Olympics, exercise in our house has consisted largely of wrestling for control of the channel changer or sprinting for snacks during the commercials.  Ironic isn’t it? 

I am crossing my fingers in hope that with the Olympics now being over I’ll be motivated to let my own games begin.

I’ve also been thinking more about sports because we just hired… More Posted on 08-25-08

Losing Ourselves

It’s been a while since my last pajama party.

Our all-female community development team (we’re working hard to change that) needed some intense planning time. As a result, one of our staff offered up their family cottage. At virtually no cost, it would allow the nine of us two days of uninterrupted work as well as some fun bonding time.

Although it seemed like a good idea at the time, I learned I’m much too old for sleepovers.

It took me another two days to fully recover from the aftereffects of too little sleep and too much… More Posted on 08-18-08

Creating Communities that Care

Not that I’m name dropping or anything but I had a meeting this week with Susan Aglukark, a unique, three time Juno award winning singer.

It’s a long story as to how that came about, but the point is that her name and a comment she made during our conversation is responsible for the thinking tangent that prompted this column.

During the talk, Susan, who is by the way a lovely, intelligent, thoughtful woman known for her social activism, shared a bit about the cultural influence of her Inuit background.

She explained that the harsh reality of the… More Posted on 08-10-08

Exploring Nature

One of the qualities I love most about my husband is his amazing patience.

It was especially evident during our recent vacation with our respective extended families at a Haliburton cottage. Ultimately the two weeks included fifteen adults, four kids, one surprisingly wimpy Pit Bull, one Shih Tzu, and two somewhat yippee Bichon Frise.

Both the dogs and the kids were absolutely delighted with the outdoor setting and the activities. Always safely buckled into life jackets the kids rowed, paddled, swam, explored, and chased bubbles and dragonflies until they were so tired they couldn’t see straight. One night my… More Posted on 08-03-08

Boomer Reflections

As I write this column I’m sitting on the deck of a cottage overlooking the appropriately named Paradise Lake. Lots of time to think, perhaps too much?

I certainly could have begged off from doing this column - the editor was quite okay with that - but somehow my overdeveloped work ethic and conscientiousness meant I didn’t provide advance notice and therefore feel obligated to meet my regular deadline.

I’m also struggling somewhat, yet again, with the realization that I’m simply not very good at doing nothing. There’s an Italian phrase, “Il bel far niete” that means the beauty of… More Posted on 07-11-08

It’s Time to Unplug Our Kids

My good friend Carol is deeply committed and works hard to live a healthy, active lifestyle. She’s inspirational in terms of how she manages to build fitness into days jammed with the demands of a busy and meaningful career balanced with caring for her immediate and extended family. 

One of the things she somehow manages to fit into her day is walking her nine year old daughter to school. While I’m sure there are days when it would be a whole lot easier to drive, she chooses instead to not only spend quality time with her daughter but to… More Posted on 07-07-08

Investing in Yourself

It was a first for me.

And, while I knew it would likely be a good experience, I didn’t anticipate that it would also be quite so emotional.

The occasion was my first ever therapeutic massage.

A badly broken ankle several years ago has managed somewhat insidiously to impact my gait and hip, ultimately throwing the right side of my body off kilter.

Over the past few years I’ve flirted with physiotherapy, orthodics, and acupuncture all of which provided some, but not a lot of, relief.

Although not a good thing, over the last six months,… More Posted on 06-28-08

Can Leadership Be Shared?

My brain hurts.

I’ve just come off a very intense three day think-tank with a small group that included individuals I’ve known and admired for years as well as a number of talented new colleagues.

Incredibly diverse in their thinking, experience and skills, they all came together to help advance an initiative focused on improving the quality of life in communities.

As I was the only one who knew everyone, it was a tad stressful. Going in, I crossed my fingers and hoped they’d all play nice.

Mostly they did.

However there were tense moments along the… More Posted on 06-22-08

Only You Can Prevent Data Smog!

Although I am an admitted information junkie I must confess that recently I’ve suffered from a bit of data overload.

Although normally I can handle it and even enjoy it, I think data is like food – best when served in reasonably-sized portions from several food groups leaving one satisfied but not stuffed.

Today it seems the amount of information is enough to choke the heartiest of eaters, even when chewed properly.

The constant spew of email, voice mail, phone calls, meetings, newspapers, magazines, memos and more is overwhelming.

While there are experts giving us lots of information on how… More Posted on 06-07-08

Becoming a Community of Practice

I’ve just come back from helping to facilitate a three day leadership retreat. Rather than feeling drained as a result of the advance work and long days on site, I feel absolutely rejuvenated.

The participants, a very special energetic group of leaders, brought a great deal of wisdom as well as their passion for strengthening communities. One couldn’t help but learn from their experiences and be buoyed by their enthusiasm.

In addition to this keen group of participants we had an amazing team that planned and implemented the retreat. It was fascinating to watch as the team members took turns… More Posted on 06-01-08

Do Communities Have a Personality?

I had a brief conversation this week with Sally a woman who, with good reason, is very unhappy with her job. In addition to clearly being underpaid and too often treated unfairly by her employer, she isn’t in a place that allows her to utilize her creativity or pursue her long-time dream of interior decorating.

Knowing my husband and I had recently moved across the country to pursue our careers, Sally said rather wistfully that we were very brave. She then went on to say that while she knew she had to make a move, she also knew she… More Posted on 05-24-08

Needed: Social Innovators

Truth be told, I have been known to irritate those in charge, albeit not intentionally.

This week, as we worked to expand the team that will put legs under a huge provincial initiative, I did it again. 

I realized afterward that it was largely the result of my assuming that everyone understood the nuances as well as the values brought by individuals who are best described as social innovators.

And yet, when it became clear that others didn’t necessarily understand their value, I floundered somewhat, finding it difficult to describe their characteristics and why they are so… More Posted on 05-17-08

A Secret Sauce for Communities

We’ve been diligently searching and testing recipes for the secret sauce that will strengthen community leadership, collaboration, and innovation.

Trial and error, research, a brilliant CEO, a dynamite team, trailblazing partner communities and the learnings of the past year were combined in a proposal asking for significant project funding. 

You can just imagine the excitement when we learned that corporate and government funding was approved clearing the way for a $6.5 million community development initiative designed to enhance quality of life in rural communities across the province

Bubbling with excitement we fully expected the national organization with… More Posted on 05-11-08

Finding Community

It wasn’t the most exciting of topics for a meeting but when you’re using public tax dollars and corporate donations there is a responsibility to measure progress….even when progress is something as intangible as quality of life and community leadership.

So one day last week as our small group was meeting in a stuffy, windowless room to further explore the scintillating world of evaluation and its application to our provincial initiative, others in the building were startled and somewhat surprised to hear boisterous enthusiastic voices and a lot of raucous laughter.

As another staff member walked by the doorway,… More Posted on 05-04-08

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