Note for Beth: Most of my work over the last twenty years in nonprofit technology has been focused on designing and facilitating capacity building projects, specifically training and peer learning projects that help participants successfully learn and apply skills using online technology, social media, networks, measurement, training design or other topic. The idea around peer learning groups is that participants learn skills that they assimilate as part of their ongoing practice. Over the … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2014
The Art of Facilitating Meetings with Sticky Notes
What's in your facilitation toolkit? Mine includes markers, sticky notes, index cards, and flip chart paper. But wait, paper??? Yes. And, I'm not alone. Take for example my colleague Eugene Eric Kim who shares his facilitation toolkit which includes links to his favorite Post It notes and markers. David Lavenda wrote this excellent article in Fast Company about the history of the Post-It notes and their potential for becoming a killer innovation technology. It talks about the early … [Read more...]
Does Rigorous Data Analysis Thwart Effective Storytelling by Non-Profits?
Earlier this month I co-facilitated the “Impact Leadership Track” at the NTEN Leading Change Summit with John Kenyon, Elissa Perry, and Londell Jackson. Our track was one of three where participants could take a deep dive into a topic and learn from peers through dialogue. The event also included plenary speakers, including a provocative talk about storytelling with data from Alexandra Samuel. Her most controversial point was: “Rigorous data gathering and analysis can get in the way of … [Read more...]
How To Train Your Attention and Be Effective When Working Online
Take a guess. Be honest. How long can you pay attention when working online before your mind wanders? According to the Statistic Brain site list of attention span stats, in 2000 we had a 12 second attention span compared with an 8 second attention in 2013. To put this context, a gold fish has an attention span of 9 seconds! Attention span is the amount of concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted. Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus attention on … [Read more...]
A Guide to Evaluating Networks
Note from Beth:I met Madeleine Taylor back in 2009 while I was Visiting Scholar at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. This was fairly early in the Foundation's exploration of networks and Madeleine came in to discuss her approach to evaluating networks. We draw a lot of network depictions on napkins and had an amazing conversation. I captured it in this blog post. Fast forward five years, Madeleine has published a new guide on evaluating networks. She kindly wrote this guest post … [Read more...]
