Getting People to Change

If creating the world we want means getting people to change what they currently do, how can we get people to change? That’s a question we hear a lot when we tell people what we’re doing at Creating the Future. We share that we are building a movement for making visionary community results the norm … Read more

Monday Morning Rock Out!

Happy Magical Monday, everyone! And it is indeed magical. After last week, I cannot help but see magic in everything around me! Last week, in a small room papered with wisdom and passion, six of us shared our dreams for the future we want to create. We laughed and we cried and we learned. In … Read more

What Does It Take to Reach for More?

Most of my quasi-sabbatical time has been spent exploring what I have been calling a “Continuum of Becoming” – a placeholder name, but a descriptor nonetheless. The “continuum” is a critical component to the work we are doing at Creating the Future. If we are seeking to engage everyone doing social change work in the … Read more

Building a Program by Engaging Community

On August 1, I embarked on a month of “semi-sabbatical,” writing and exploring and planning and reading.  I say “semi-sabbatical” because I only decided mid-July that the time was right.  So there are still some tasks to be done, some projects with timelines that won’t allow me to simply abandon ship.  This post is about … Read more

Coaching vs. Consulting

An interesting discussion ensued on Facebook the other day.  As I pondered a blog post that has been brewing in my mind, I asked, “Coaches: I’m working on a list of the ways coaching is different from consulting. Any ideas / thoughts?” I was not prepared for 18 responses, some contradicting others, all of which … Read more

One Tip – and Only One – for Fixing Dysfunctional Boards

I confess that sometimes even this Pollyanna gets fed up. I don’t get fed up with the same things as most people in this field, though. I get fed up with blame and intolerance. I get fed up with pointing fingers at symptoms, focusing and refocusing on addressing those symptoms, drilling deeper and deeper, unpacking … Read more

Community-Driven Consulting Hits New Zealand

(Part 2: Community-Driven Tour 2010 in New Zealand. To read these posts from the beginning, head here.) The Class Consultant Class #8 in New Zealand.  Ten brilliant minds, all part of UNITEC’s Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management, spent 5 days re-training their brains to focus on potential and possibility (vs. problem-solving).  We learned from their … Read more