The Potentiality

John Horn's Website for Community Builders

organizational development

Six Professional Game Changers from Improv

I’m part of a team that is delivering a big piece of work using agile methodology, which I’ve written about before. With our project moving and changing so quickly we find ourselves reacting to new circumstances and having to improvise…

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….

The Business Case for Playing Every Day

Play is a central part of being human. Here is a business case for bringing play to your life and your practice every single day.

Five Career Development Trends Impacting Organizations

I wrote this article in January, 2020 (pre-pandemic, but just barely). What has changed? What’s stayed the same? How do these career development trends hold up? John Also, register for Cannexus23 today! — Career Development Trends Next week career practitioners…

12 Ways to Bring More Joy to the Workplace

Workplaces are not synonymous with joy. According to Gallup and everyone else who measures this stuff, 85% of the global workforce is not engaged or actively disengaged. This is concerning enough on its own, but Gallup has also found that…

What Comes After Burnout?

Burnout is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. Due to factors such as recognition (or lack thereof), workload, and safety, nearly one third of Canadians are…

Where We Work Should Be Beautiful

When I was in Italy as a member of Vancity’s Co-operative Study Tour we visited a worker co-op called Kilowatt and I fell in love with the space and its people. The organization focuses on consulting, communication and education that…

12 Ways to Positively Disrupt Your Workplace

Whether you work somewhere with nine or 9,000 employees, we’ve all been frustrated by organizations experiencing the malaise of average. When people stay in the same role or team for too long, get too comfortable with “the way things are”,…

Three Workplace Trends to Watch

Work will never be the same after this. The coronavirus pandemic is challenging what we know about how, when and where work happens. Why organizations exist and what companies produce is being questioned, too. We have an opportunity to use…

How to Cultivate an Owners Mindset

Today I turn 38 years old. Well into my late-30s and with a stronger sense of myself, I find myself reflecting daily about how I show up as a parent, colleague, friend, and leader in my community. Academics like Carol…