Shared stories lift people’s enthusiasm, motivation and capability for their shared purpose. Jumpstart storytelling is a simple but effective way to bring out the most powerful stories in a group. I have used jumpstart storytelling in groups focused on improving the public service, exploring Internet issues and to review learnings from other sessions. I will explain […]
I recently facilitated the team-forming process for GovHack 2017 in Wellington. I have facilitated team-forming for three GovHack events and for other hackathons such as Open Data Day and Datarama. Over these events, I have developed a process that you may find valuable for opening hackathons. I’ll describe my process and some of my thinking […]
Innovation thrives on creative tension, but conflict can equally destroy productivity and make life miserable. The different perspectives that people bring to a problem often stem from a culture long-established in their organisation or specialist community. Tensions can arise across different ways of seeing the World. Here are some practical ideas for maintaining constructive relationships between groups […]
For an organisation to reach its full potential, its culture and strategy need to be aligned. The first step in a process to develop culture or strategy is to understand your starting point. Here is a template you can use to make a quick assessment of how culture and strategy are developing now.
I am sure you have heard the phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Its worthy intention is to remind us that a strong culture is important to getting things done in organisations. We know that even with a great strategy, a destructive culture makes it really hard for people to do their jobs. What the phrase […]
One of the main causes of team failure is team members with misaligned goals. If the co-founders or team members want similar things, they will pull in a similar direction. If their goals are misaligned, they won’t. The longer it takes to discover conflicting vision and motivation among team members, the more painful the breakup […]
Recently I noticed myself using the word “engage” a lot. I was engaging this person and those people. I even thought maybe what I do is “stakeholder engagement”. Then I realised I had this badly wrong. The whole idea of “engaging” people is self-contradictory. An oxymoron. In government, NGOs and even business, we make decisions […]
Perhaps you know the old joke: How many social workers does it take to change a lightbulb? One, but only if the lightbulb wants to change. People often ask me how I make people collaborate. I can’t, of course. And neither can you or anyone else. People collaborate when they want to, when they feel […]
Here is an interview with me from May 06, 2015, in which I discuss building trust and strategy-making with the splendid Mike Riversdale for the Access Granted podcast.
Transparency is an important part of open government, governance of any organisation, leadership and interpersonal relationships.