Group items tagged

good article on planning off-sites that work by Logan Chandler and Bob Frisch, June 2006, The Magazine. Has a chart listing objectives, content, meeting design and structure, and participants 60 days out, 45 days out, 30 days out, 2 weeks out, and 1 week before the meeting.

In research on CoA communities, went to NYC CoA to see what they offered and ran across the most active site so far. See excerpt below for rebooting your life offered by The Transition Network, which I think is the women's group that Lisa knows. Is relevant to WLS. See book title on Reboot your life, Energize Your Career and Life by Taking a Break in excerpt below. "REBOOT YOUR LIFE - A special workshop on taking a break and making the most of it Are you feeling: Disengaged and too tired to figure out how to change that? A yearning for an adventure, or extended travel to recharge your batteries? A need for time to heal your heart and/or body? Or to get on the path to wellness? Like you need to plan for your "retired" chapter or already retired and wanting a more fulfilling life? Two of the co-authors, Rita Foley and Jaye Smith, will share important and useful insights gained from their four years of research, interviewing over 300 individuals and 50 organizations for their book, Reboot Your Life, Energize Your Career and Life by Taking a Break and from their workshops. With both discussion and fun exercises the authors will cover important topics such as : Overcoming emotional hurdles to taking time off work Turning job loss into an "unexpected sabbatical" Managing and planning for the stages of your Reboot Break Pre- retirement planning Deflecting robbers of your time What can I do next? Living a life of balance and passion Reboot Partners workshops, book and talks have been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and on Martha Stewart radio, Oprah's OWN Network, and WPIX New York."

"A comment on Joho's (Dave Weinberger) blog post--a memoir of blogging--bySuw Charman-Anderson, January 9, 2014. Excerpt: " I wonder too if my lack of blog writing is related to a lack of blog reading. My RSS reader became so clogged that I feared it, wouldn't open it, and ultimately, abandoned it. And then Twitter and now Zite arrived to provide me with random rewards for clicking and swiping, showing me stuff that I had no idea I wanted to read. Instead of following the writings of a small cadre of smart, lovely people whom I am proud to call my friends, I read random crap off the internet that some algorithm thinks I might be interested in, or that is recommended by the people I follow on Twitter. That may or may not be a good thing. We were all aware of the problems of homophily, and the random clickage does help combat that. But the problem with not following people's blogs closely is that there's no conversation anymore. My blogs used to host great conversations, and I would happily engage in fascinating discussions on other people's sites. You can't do that so easily with Twitter, and Facebook. Indeed, most of my interactions on Facebook, which are scarce as I loathe it, end up being pointless arguments with friends-of-friends who turn out to be idiots. I'd love to see a resurgence in blogging. I think, personally, I need to delete Zite from my ipad and find a good RSS reader so I can follow the blogs of those people that I really care about. Not the worthy blogs I ought to read, but the works of people who matter to me. And then I need to get back to commenting, like this, because there's nothing more encouraging than finding out that people care about what you write, that people appreciate it. And David, I really do appreciate your writing - you're as inspiring and fascinating now as you were back in 2001! "

post by Meghan M. Biro, July 28, 2013 on collaboration success. Excerpt: The fact is there is nothing more important to leadership and organizational success than collaboration. It exponentially increases the odds of amazing things happening. But it can be tough to achieve. Bringing people together and then igniting and nurturing a collaborative effort is a key test of leadership and workplace culture. Technology provides amazing tools to make this happen. It is nothing short of a game-changing community-builder. 1. Build an online infrastructure for social learning and networking 2. Set limits 3. Get it off your chest 4. Ignite inspiration 5. Be yourself

Forbes, 10/22/13, by Jacquelyn Smith "Entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset. It's an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It's a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous improvement. "It's about seeing the big picture and thinking like an owner," says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker, author and president of Humor at Work. "It's being agile, never resting on your laurels, shaking off the cloak of complacency and seeking out new opportunities. It's about taking ownership and pride in your organization." Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and founder of FlexJobs, says: "To me, an entrepreneurial spirit is a way of approaching situations where you feel empowered, motivated, and capable of taking things into your own hands. Companies that nurture an entrepreneurial spirit within their organization encourage their employees to not only see problems, solutions and opportunities, but to come up with ideas to do something about them." Entrepreneurial companies tend to have a more innovative approach to thinking about their products or services, new directions to take the company in, or new ways of doing old tasks, she adds. "Entrepreneurial spirit helps companies grow and evolve rather than become stagnant and stale." According to Jay Canchola, an independent human resources consultant, entrepreneurial spirit is also associated with taking calculated risks, and sometimes failing. "

"Something successful entrepreneurs should aim to have: Conviction. Being an entrepreneur is not the easy road to success. Sure, you're your own boss-making the conversation in which you ask for a raise far less awkward-but the hours are long, the market always crowded, the naysayers plenty. There will be discouraging news. But the ability to stand behind your decisions is essential. No one else can tell you what you want for your company, and don't let them try. Drive. As an entrepreneur, time is not on your side. The best-laid plans are those that are executed as swiftly as possible. Don't sit on an idea or wait until you've had a chance to "sleep on it." Act now. Innovation. The original brainchild might have been the thing that got you excited enough to take the leap into entrepreneurship. But longevity will depend on continually coming up with new ideas, from products to ways to market them to which audiences to target. Not all of these ideas will be winners. But having them is not optional. Inspiration. You may be your only employee. Or you might have a team that looks to you to engage them, foster their talents, and involve them in the bigger picture. Those employees who feel excited about, and part of, the overall vision will be encouraged to grow alongside you, and work hard for you. Focus. Establish your daily, weekly, quarterly goals and go after them. Connect dots on a daily basis. Avoid distractions, and distracting people. Independence. It's a lonely road, entrepreneurship. Though your goal is to foster community within your company, there will be days when you wish everyone else would be willing to work as hard as you are, to want it as much as you do. But realize that your company's success does mean more to you than it does to anyone else. Be willing to go the road alone on those days when everyone else has seemingly pulled off for lunch. That's what'll make the difference."

Interesting article on how Reddit fired a popular staff person who facilitated the AMA (Ask Me Anything) guests going into different subreddit communities without notifying volunteer moderators of these communities ahead of time. Volunteer moderators closed their communities except to passworded members to show their unhappiness with Reddit executives' lack of early communication, etc. by Rich McCormick, July 2, 2015. Communities reopened within a couple of days.