My work as a trainer and facilitator has brought me to many places in the world. Often, the training on-site is the beginning of project which includes facilitating sessions remotely across time zones. Other times,the workshop, keynote presentation, or master class might be part of a conference or a single session for an organization, but planning the event requires meeting across time zones virtually. I know many nonprofits that work globally, either with affiliate offices or partners in … [Read more...]
Step-by-Step Guide: Nonprofit Strolling Meetings
Meetings can not only be a waste of time but also zap our energy. Is everyone sitting around the table, but only engaged on their mobile phones or laptops, checking email or looking at social feeds? Is everyone suffering from “foggy brain” caused by too much sitting down meetings? Walking meetings can help shakes things up. One recent study at Stanford University determined staff were more creative when they were walking versus sitting and encouraged walking meetings for more … [Read more...]
How Your Nonprofit Can Routinize Reflection
Reflection is a critical step in assessing individual and team performance at your nonprofit. A reflective process, whether it is a structured process for individuals or groups, can give us insights about what worked and what could be improved. Reflection requires hitting the pause button and asking and answering questions. How many of us as individuals have the discipline to notice what we’re doing with our professional work or our team? Our natural tendency is to keeping moving forward on … [Read more...]
The One Secret To Better Virtual Meetings: Empathy
Last week, I facilitated a peer learning session for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders and their mentors about healthy and productive meetings. We covered the best practices of meetings, both face-to-face and virtual meetings. I've been reflecting on the discussion we had about how meetings are "under belly" of an organization's culture and ways to make incremental changes to improve meeting culture to avoid wasting time or frustration. Since many of the participants were from organizations that … [Read more...]
Using Design Thinking for A Foundation's Investment Strategy
What if a funder got real-time input from its grantees and other partners to develop its investment strategy? What if they used a design thinking process to not only get feedback from grantees but as a way to develop a more agile way of working? I was thrilled to work with the Brainerd Foundation staff to help design and facilitate a design lab using techniques based on Luma Institute methods earlier this month. Here's what I learned about the facilitating design thinking processes: What … [Read more...]
