From and With Each Other
Learning from and with each other happens everywhere and all the time in agile learning organizations. Microlearning happens when content is delivered in bite-sized (3-5 minutes) bursts at the point of learning need. Learning in the flow of work happens when learning...
A Cite Your Sources Haiku
Cite sources always. Respect, intelligence, growth. Bad plagiarism. - A haiku about the pitfalls of being the VP of Strategy who didn't credit Harrison Owen when they applied (not "invented") Open Space Technology or the COO who takes credit for Toyota's "five whys"...
Five Productivity Lessons from Espresso
I love coffee. It’s delicious, chock full of life-enhancing antioxidants and fosters connections and collaboration, too. After spending a few weeks in Italy last year, I developed a love of espresso. In addition to the concentrated caffeine boost that a shot brings,...
Three Professional Lessons from Barber Shops
I go to Uptown Barbers in Vancouver’s (Mt. Pleasant ‘hood to get my hair cut every six weeks or so. Marco and Ben – the two barbers who I most often visit – deliver haircuts as good as the banter in their shop. Being able to start and sustain great conversations while...
How Replacing a Toilet Uses Modern Learning Practices
Last weekend my friend and I replaced the toilet in my en-suite bathroom. I’ve written before about the lessons learned from home renovations, which this article builds on, highlighting how the art and science of toilet repairs/replacements reflect the ways that...
The Lego Dad Activity
This weekend my youngest son burst into the office and proudly showed me his Lego creation - it's me sipping coffee while riding a "pizza delivery hover bike with other foods, like apples and fried chicken!" And so the Lego Dad Activity was born! This invention makes...
Three Ways to Augment Work with AI
As technology continues to advance, organizations are turning to AI and natural language processing tools like ChatGPT to automate repetitive tasks and free up employees' time. By leveraging these tools, employees are able to focus on higher-level, more meaningful...
Five Tips for Navigating Worklife Complexity
Worklife is complex. Whether we are making sense of hybrid work and its impact on the employee experience, raising a family, or changing career paths, every day we make decisions amidst complexity. Recognizing this reality and the impact that it is having on leaders,...
Why Connected Neighbourhoods Solve Loneliness
Amidst all the crises we’re facing, folks are understandably overlooking the epidemic that nobody is talking about: loneliness. This problem has been plaguing humanity for decades and the pandemic is only making things worse, as some country’s are reporting that one...
Simple and Sustainable Goals for 2023
Most people who made new years resolutions in 2023 have already quit them or will do so by tomorrow. Over 80% of folks who set bold goals or committed to keystone habits for 2023 will abandon them by the second week of February. I have shared my goals at the beginning...
Five Ways to be a Human Being at Work
Work puts too much emphasis on process, transactions, technology, outcomes, outputs, and the bottom line. Even though we work with people we really like and respect, we often treat our colleagues differently on the job than we do our friends. Somewhere along the way...
Time Management
Time management is commonly thought of as the ability to keep oneself organized in order to get as many high value tasks completed as possible. Time management is also the acceptance of what Oliver Burkeman calls "the finitude" of time and understanding the choices we...
Evaluating Two Iconic Christmas Carols
Christmas is this Sunday. Christmas carols are a cool part of the holidays. About a month ago, my oldest son’s music class was asked what Christmas carol they should perform for the school’s concert. He recommended “Christmas in Hollis” by Run DMC because he really...