A couple weeks ago, dozens of Denver creatives came together at IdeaLab 2017 to discuss using their talents to create social change. These are the sketchnotes I created for the event.
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As we celebrate Earth Day this year, I am moved to share a story that is more personal than the ones I generally do because this month I am also celebrating one year of being car free.
As you might expect, not driving a car has changed my life. I want to share my story with you because of what you might not expect: it has also made me a better person. Let me count the ways...
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Dear Hoop Dreams, Our nonprofit wants to share information about our programs with Latino individuals. In addition to translating text into Spanish, how else do you suggest we tailor our materials for this audience? Lost In Translation
Dear Lost in Translation, Thank you for asking this question, which I believe will open doors to increased understanding for hopefully many readers. I have one simple recommendation: Get help from those with experience.
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Recent events have led me to give considerable thought to dominant hierarchies, their inevitable collapse, and how we can best transition to a different, more balanced social network. I believe that much of this transformation is fundamentally about how we think of power. In 1959, social psychologists French and Raven described five bases of power...
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Nonprofits often believe that because they don’t sell products, marketing doesn’t need to be a priority. But nonprofits do provide services, and because services are inherently relational, building relationships should be job number one. That’s what marketing is all about: connecting people. Some individuals (and therefore organizations) feel awkward about self-promotion, but everyone knows that what keeps nonprofits going is the people they serve, the team providing solutions, and the donors and funders that make it possible. You don’t need a multi-million dollar campaign to have successful marketing. The cash and even the tools that you have on hand is less important than the actions that you commit to taking. There’s really only nine things you absolutely must have.
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A couple months ago, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Collective Impact Summit where a wide range of topics related to working collaboratively were discussed. Naturally, the whole time I had my eyes peeled for ways that relevant knowledge is not only being captured but is being transferred. Since then, I've run across a few extra examples of how folks are using visuals in particular to share insights about collaboration. Here are ten visuals I recreated to synthesize my learning. I believe they describe just about everything there is to know about Collective Impact to date.
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In recent years, the power and popularity of storytelling has become commonplace. Research shows that stories are a part of all that we do because they help us in many important ways. Any work that involves people always tells a story. When we recognize that, we can ask ourselves whether the story we are telling is the one we should be.
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Did you know that employee time spent in collaborative activities has increased by more than 50% in the past two decades? Making this time count is important but it can also be challenging. Whenever individuals come together to solve problems they will be faced with competing needs. Groups must keep in mind that communication tools will need to help individuals get their social needs met while also advancing the group’s ability to execute tasks. Visuals can play a key role in maximizing time spent together and ensuring that these needs are not in competition.
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Many of us have heard colleagues complain about team efforts that feel like “herding cats” or “rearranging chairs on the Titanic.” It is very common for group members to report dissatisfaction with meeting processes in particular. This can become a vicious cycle because an individual’s engagement with the group will largely depend on their perception of the group. While many may realize that their group is stuck, few may realize that miscommunication is at the root.
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