Catalytic Thinking in Action: A Case Study from our Facebook Group

Creating the Future hosts several online communities, currently housed at Facebook. Our “big tent” group is for folks who want more exposure to and practice with Catalytic Thinking. It is appropriately called the Catalytic Thinking in Action group. As that group has grown, there has been a growing need for facilitation to make the experience … Read more

Building Thriving Online Communities: Functions & Roles to Support Success

What roles, structures and functions are the backbone of support for online communities that are thriving – where people feel safe to explore and learn together, and to just be themselves with one another? In our first meeting on this topic, we described what “thriving” would look like in online communities. And in our second … Read more

Building Thriving Online Communities – Meeting #4

What conditions allow disparate individuals to gracefully become a community that brings out the best in every participant? Join us on Thursday, October 17 at 12noon ET (NA) to continue our exploration into that question!  Meeting #4 of our Building Thriving Online Communities team will continue our discussion of turning conditions for success into practical … Read more

Creating Thriving Online Communities – Summary: Meeting #2

A common theme in so many conversations these days is the power of people with a common purpose, regularly gathering to learn from and support each other. Most of us have seen both sides of this coin – groups that flourish and thrive and nurture and grow, and groups that languish and eventually die. What, … Read more

Building Communities for Community Benefit Consultants (Meeting #2)

What would it make possible (and for whom?) if consultants and coaches to community benefit groups were able to gather together to discuss their craft and its impact on both their clients and their communities? What conditions would set the stage for that vision to be reality?  And what could make Creating the Future’s existing … Read more

Safe Space for Consultants (Building Thriving Online Communities: Meeting #1)

Consultant lingo – it’s so common there is even a parody Twitter account called “Shit Facilitators Say,” tweeting out ditties such as, “Tell us about your group process. How did you decide who would write on the flipchart?” High on any list of consultant-isms is always the phrase “Safe Space.”  Part of the job of … Read more