Who Took the Farmer’s Hat and how reflective dialogue can be good for your board

Tuesday night (this post is republished from May 2017),  I started the board retreat with a reflective dialogue based on reading the children’s classic Who Took the Farmer’s Hat? I sent the book around the room, with a different board member reading each page. The reading took about five minutes. Then I asked this question: …

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Renaming board committees

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” The theme of the November Nonprofit Blog Carnival is abundance. Moving from scarcity to abundance means we need to reframe how we see and think about our communities. I worked at City Year many years ago. City Year’s founders embodied the abundance mindset. …

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Wear your allegiance on your name tag

I’m on the board of WaterFire Providence. At our meeting last week, I got a good chuckle out of the name tag fellow board member Peter Van Erp was wearing. An architect, it wasn’t surprising that Peter designed his own custom tag. Knowing him as I do, I guessed immediately Peter’s board commitments — WaterFire …

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Answer me – dammit!

Board members: Want to INFURIATE your Executive Director? Ignore their emails. Don’t return their phone calls. It seems there is a rash of this going on these days. In the last few weeks, this has been at the top of the frustration list among executive directors I’ve been working with. Can’t get a meeting date …

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Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

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Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

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Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

The post Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament appeared first on Cause and Effect.

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Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

The post Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament appeared first on Cause and Effect.

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Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

The post Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament appeared first on Cause and Effect.

Continue reading

Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament

Yes, this is a blog about preparing name tags. Name tags or badges are those simple and remarkably effective little tools that introduce us to each other at conferences or other events. Name tags help us overcome our shyness about talking to someone we don’t know by removing the need to ask their name. Or, …

The post Preparing name tags – a facilitator’s lament appeared first on Cause and Effect.

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