I’ve been fortunate enough to have been facilitating a community group of concerned people in a small town around a large and highly controversial proposed mining project for more than 10 years. It may actually take another 10 years for it to come to fruition – if it ever does ...
read more →
I encounter teenage girls fairly frequently (that sounds a lot creepier than I intended) and I have found – not universally, but quite often – that they have a rather unusual speaking affectation. I’ve often found this particular sound coming out of them a little weird, but sort of dismissed ...
read more →
In previous issues, we’ve talked about the power and benefits of making informal conversation – small talk, chitchat – with people and various stakeholders prior to the meaty conversations that you’re likely going to have. Small talk breaks the ice a little, greases the wheels, starts to build a tiny ...
read more →
So, there are better, more effective ways of crafting emails, but consider the message that the medium itself sends. If you have the option of actually talking with someone face to face, even when it’s less convenient for you, get up, move, walk, drive if you have to, but go ...
read more →
Email is the most used communication device in the work world, right? If you’re anything like me, you use email far more than the phone; text might be catching up and video conferencing is now in competition. It’s easy to just take emails for granted, but it’s not smart to ...
read more →
This is one of those stories that I debated about even using in this newsletter, I’m trying to avoid going too deeply into the polarized political pit. But, fact is, it’s become impossible to avoid in this work that you and I have chosen to do. Working successfully with the ...
read more →
It was interesting to find the corporate world acknowledging the value of engagement but using different terminology, in this case, influence … mutual influence. In other words, operating differently from a position of unilateral hierarchy, coercion or authority, which is the way that we have come to expect most companies ...
read more →
Blokes and birds who deal with anyone who’s lost the plot would be bloody well served by considering the following before starting their next chinwag....
read more →
And as much as I want to think I’m an exception, I’m sure that I do, too. We all do. We’ve lost the art of brevity and if we want people with short attention spans to pay attention, we’d better be brief....
read more →
Working with people in leadership positions reveals an interesting conundrum related to credibility with communities. Leaders more often see themselves as cheerleaders for the projects that they manage. That zeal, however, makes it difficult for them to empathize with those who don’t see those projects quite as positively, which creates ...
read more →
