Thank You, Story Lady!
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What’s Your Point?
Getting to your point right up front in presentations and written material hit a nerve with people after the last issue, so I think it’s worth exploring from another perspective....
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Profound Bull$%#&
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Empathy and the Myopia of Big Institutions
Having actively worked for and now consulting for both corporate and public service organizations, I’ve watched how big institutions can soon start to think in an insular way, which tends to be fatal to their mission and success. Once big government agencies start focusing solely on their own culture and ...
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Back to the Basics
Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the details and nuance of what we do for a living, so once in a while it’s good to take a breath and remind ourselves of the bigger picture of how good, effective meetings need to happen....
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Soft Skills, My A%$
Eventually we’re going to have to figure out how to talk to, deal with, and work with people that we don’t agree with or maybe even don’t like very much. That’s going to require (re)developing a skillset that feels like we’re losing. I’m seeing more being written about the need ...
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Your Imposter Syndrome
Working with the public and facilitating groups, especially oftentimes upset people, isn’t for the faint of heart – it takes courage, and courage requires confidence. For most healthy people, I think confidence can ebb and flow; it isn’t an absolute constant, and sometimes, when confidence is a little low it’s ...
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White People Own Flashlights
Good issue and stakeholder assessments are key to planning and executing effective public participation projects. The more we really know about the issues and nuances and the more we learn about the people who will be or think they’ll be affected by some action or plan, the more we’ll understand ...
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Working in Groups Can Lower Your IQ
Spoiler alert: Although it wasn’t intended to be, I see this next piece of research as a pretty good argument for skillful facilitation. The social dynamics of the groups seem to be the root cause. This only references one study from Virginia Tech, so take it for what it’s worth, ...
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Burying The Lead
Most people working in public service come to it with advanced degrees. They’ve usually learned a specific way of presenting factual information and arguments. That scientific method works great for scoring good grades but not so much for public presentations and documents. Leading with the main point is important. If ...
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