Approximate Read Time: ~5 minutes But First…We Need Your Help Last week we launched a very brief survey about our e-learning program and would love for you to participate. We appreciate all of the responses we’ve received so far. Your feedback is very important to the success of this research. Your participation: The online survey …
How to Recover from Strategic Planning
Approximate Read Time: <5 minutes If you are not a fan of strategic planning, join the club. It’s a big club. Just the name “strategic planning” is enough to put some people to sleep, cause others to start pulling out their hair, or cause others to pull out the hair of nearby sleeping people. Really…what …
Strategy Planning Can Be Good for Mental Health?!?
Approximate Read Time: <5 minutes We can hear the outcry now: “What? Seriously!?! Strategic planning drives me crazy! I can’t think of anything worse for my mental health!” Okay, look, not everyone enjoys strategy planning as much as we do. But hold with us for a minute and think about this: What if strategy planning …
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Embracing Your New Normal
Approximate Read Time: <6 minute In the Spring of 2020, we completed our last strategy planning contract with an organization. Throughout the pandemic we not only refused strategy planning contracts, but we also dissuaded organizations from undertaking strategy planning. When some of our business depends on strategy planning… How crazy was that? That’s a …
Last Chance to Claim Your Seat!
Approximate Read Time: <1 minute Only five seats remain for Preparing for Controversy in the Fog of (Culture) War. Click on the “Register” button below to claim and save your seat. The workshop link will be sent to registrants by 7:00 PM EDT (GMT/UTC-4) on Tuesday, April 18. We hope to see you on the …
How to Succeed in Community Engagement Without Really Trying
Approximate Read Time: 7 minutes For the past four weeks, we’ve explored the role of the US Culture Wars in community engagement and whether we can find common ground in the current social and political climate. Today we are going to explore how we can succeed at community engagement despite deep cultural divisions, using the …
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The Myth of Common Ground?
Approximate Read Time: 4 minutes When controversy flares and conflict is brewing, there is often a push to find “common ground.” That makes sense, but does it work? It depends. We know. That’s not a response many like to hear but it is the most truthful. What does common ground depend on? It depends on …
Nap Time is Over for the Dogs of (Culture) War
Approximate Read Time: 4 minutes “Let sleeping dogs lie” is an adage that dates back to the 13th century according to some historians. Others claim that it goes back further than that, to the Hebrew scriptures. Proverbs 16:17 says, “He that passes by, and meddles with strife belonging not to him, is like one that …
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Navigating the Fog of (Culture) War – Part 2
Approximate Read Time: 4 minutes Last week, in Navigating the Fog of (Culture) War – Part 1, we ended with an introduction to Inquiry Engagement. Inquiry Engagement prioritizes listening and hearing from people before we start our campaigning. Through Inquiry Engagement we can catch glimpses of the controversies that could lie ahead and then create …
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Navigating the Fog of (Culture) War – Part 1
Approximate Read Time: 5 minutes These headlines (below the logo) from only the first two weeks of March are the latest dispatches from the ever-shifting frontlines of the resurging culture war in the United States. We Say Gay! Hundreds of Iowa students walk out of class to protest LGBTQ bills Des Moines Register, March 1, …
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