FOLKUS Blog
The Importance of Beginning
I have been meaning to write this particular blog for a while, yet have got sidetracked thinking that the topic is self-evident. Of course beginnings are important – doesn’t everyone know that?
Yet it is my experience that so many human interactions skip past the moment of meeting and go to content and solution finding … Continue reading »
The Power of Choice
I think it is fair to say that no one likes to be told what to do. Most people like to have choice over their actions; they appreciate autonomy and freedom to work things out.
Yet we have structured so many of our human interactions into systems where people ARE told what to do, what … Continue reading »
A Rich Landscape for Working with Complexity
The other day I was talking with one of my clients as we co-designed a workshop about the Power of Co in her region. She wanted to know about Collective Impact and enquired whether it was the “latest new thing” in the landscape of organisational and community change.
Her question prompted a reflection on just … Continue reading »
Adept Principles Are Useful For Making Sense of Collective Learning
I recently facilitated an exciting event where over 90 scientists and science communicators gathered to consider how they might work together. The content of their various research initiatives covered the full spectrum of complex challenges facing most countries in the world. These include climate change, natural disasters, high-value nutrition, biodiversity, sustainable seas, technological innovation, early … Continue reading »
How Is Our Collaborative Fitness?
I heard an interview on our national radio this morning where a university chancellor was expressing his frustration with the behaviour of the local council. The media bite said the university “was accusing the city council of ignoring its contribution and potential.”
The interview was peppered with terms like coordination, cooperation and collaboration being used … Continue reading »
A Picture of the Big Picture
In this blog I want to share a graphic that I put together a couple of months ago. My learning with Theory U inspired the graphic and I have been using it with my coaching clients as they embrace collaborative ways of operating. My 12-year-old daughter used her digital skills to bring my sketch to … Continue reading »
Travels Revealed That a Shift is Happening
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and learning as I, along with one of my Twyfords’ colleagues, have been meeting with folks from a number of sectors in New Zealand. From health to water to housing to literacy and more, these people are all operating in complex situations and collaboration is … Continue reading »
How Being a Parent Helps the Shift from Ego to Eco
Last weekend I found myself in a situation where within earshot my husband was explaining what I did for work to one of his colleagues. At the end of his explanation, his colleague said: “Right so she is a parent?” I think he may have been on the money.
My work focuses on supporting people … Continue reading »
Dealing with the Tangles
I have spent a fair amount of my summer break untangling things. The sort of twists that occur in an active summer with fishing lines, ropes, children’s salt laden hair, bundles of string and more. As I have been doing the untangling I reflected on how this could be a metaphor for collaboration.
The situations … Continue reading »
Harnessing the Power of All Parts
Working with two particular client groups over this past week has really made me reflect on how often we as humans are working with dualities and how we sometimes let one part define our working behaviour.
A duality refers to having two parts, often with opposite meaning like the duality of good and evil. They … Continue reading »
“Just Do It” – the importance of action in collaboration
Nike’s advertising slogan has proven durable since it was coined back in 1988. It is relevant not only for those playing sport but for all of us involved in collaboratively tackling complex dilemmas. “Just do it” encourages action and this blog muses on how important action is to effective collaboration.
The very nature of complex … Continue reading »
More C Words To Add To The Collaboration Basket
By now you will know that we at Twyfords use a lot of words that begin with the letter C. The quick baker’s dozen offered up in our book “Power of ‘Co’ ” include: coordinate, cooperate, contribute, consult, connect, compromise, communicate, common, commitment, collective, cohesion, coefficient and of course the crucial one collaboration.
This blog … Continue reading »