Donna Horn

Nourishing Self

2013-03-28T10:58:00.002-07:00

For each of us, there are always good reasons to not do the things that feed your mind, feed your spirit. Think about yourself for a moment. Are you finding time for those things or does the busy-ness of life get in the way most of the time?

Making time for those things for yourself is a choice that requires deliberate action. Choosing to do what will charge up your inner battery instead of one of the urgent priorities that plucks at your sleeve every day.

If you are able to develop a habit of making time for these things for yourself, you can also have an influence on the people in your life that you care about. Encourage them to take some time each day, or week, to do something that nourishes their inner spirit.

can you be counted on?

2012-12-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

Our own integrity is something that we may not spend much time consciously thinking about. It is, however, something that has a tremendous impact on how others experience us. Paying attention to it is something that can have a significant positive impact on our work and personal relationships.

Integrity can be simplified to the foundational concept of being your word, and doing what you said you would do. If you said you would be at a meeting at 1pm, can people count on you to be there at 1pm? If you said you would contact someone to discuss something, did you contact them?

Over time, people have an expectation of you based on their past experiences with you. So, if you typically are late to meetings or appointments, then people expect you to be late. If you typically say you are going to make a phone call and then don't, people have an expectation that you won't have done it.

If you are a person who hasn't typically done what you said you would do, people learn to not count on you for much. Alternatively, they spend a great deal of time managing you...checking in to see if you have done the thing you promised, or just taking over and doing it themselves, or not even asking you to do in the first place because they know you won't do it and they will have to wait a long time, nag, and then do it themselves after all.

This time of year is often a good time to reflect. Is there anything that you want to change about how others experience you? And, if you think you haven't behaved as well as you would like in this area in the past, you can begin right away to change it. Just do one small thing that you said you would do, each day. In a short time, you will demonstrate to the others in your life that you can be counted on.

As the quote goes, any passing moment is a chance to turn it all around.

Freeing yourself up from regrets

2012-09-15T19:20:00.004-07:00

Are there events in your past for which you feel a sense of regret?

Dictionary.com defines regret as 'a feeling of sorrow or remorse for a fault, act, loss, disappointment, etc.' I would define tweak this definition slightly, to be more about a sense of unhappiness with an event, action or experience in the past. The emotion is attached to our own role in it.

Regrets are often identifiable by the language you use to describe them. Words such as 'I wish I had...', 'I should have...' are indicators of regret.

It is useful to take a look at our emotions around something when those phrases crop up and come to peace with however we behaved or whatever we did in that circumstance. If one doesn't come to peace with past actions, the collection of regrets can accumulate. No one would describe the feeling of regret as a positive emotion; it leaves you feeling sad and powerless.

What if you were kind to yourself? Put yourself in the shoes of that past you, and give yourself a break. Undoubtedly, you did the best you could with what you had or what you knew at the time. Or, you made an honest mistake, not realizing the impact of your actions. You have influence over your attitude towards that past event, and you can reframe it so you are at peace with the outcome.

Going through a process of forgiving yourself, and giving that past you a heartfelt hug, can free you up immensely. It can give you courage to continue to try again and again, without fear of failure. We all do things that in hindsight we wish we had done differently. It is part of being human. Being forgiving is a gift that you likely offer to others, so why not to yourself?

how do you tell your stories?

2012-09-05T09:42:00.001-07:00

Our lives are full of events, every day. People we see, news we hear, things we experience. Sometimes it might seem that the day has been uneventful, with nothing to tell. Most days, though, contain a couple of events that we turn into stories to share with friends and family.

How do you decide which events to share with others? What language do you use to describe those events?

It is interesting to pay attention how you typically frame your stories. It is possible to get a lot of mileage from talking about how challenging a co-worker was, or about how terrible a driver was on a commute to work. However, what is the impact of those stories on your listener? Think about your own experience.

When people share positive stories with us, we usually leave the conversation uplifted, inspired. The opposite is usually true of negative stories, although we might not fully be aware of the impact. We might just feel a little more tired or disillusioned than usual, without attributing it to the conversations we have had.

If your listener is someone important to you, you likely prefer to leave them more uplifted and positive after talking to you than before. What would it be like if you shifted your lens and told your story from another perspective? If at the end of the day, instead of a story complaining about your cranky coworker, you had a story of how you helped them to finish an overdue project, relieving their burden and stress?

Wise reminders courtesy of LinkedIn

2012-08-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

I use LinkedIn as a way to connect to and interact with some of the people in my life. LinkedIn is designed to be more of a professional network than other social media platforms such as Facebook. It is geared to helping you to connect with people who worked with you in the past, are currently working with you, or have had some sort of other professional interaction with you.

One of my favourite features of LinkedIn is the 'How You're Connected To...' box down the right side of the page. When you click on someone's profile, this little box gets populated with information about the different ways this person and you are connected.

What is amazing always about the information in this box is how closely connected you are to so many people. You will find you are often no more than 3 degrees removed from anyone else. The six degrees of separation theory states that every one of us on the planet is separated at most by six people. LinkedIn makes the concept very real with its little graphic representation.

We are all very closely connected. If we can develop better ways of leveraging our connections to make things happen, perhaps we can solve some of the seemingly intractable problems in our world.

Unlearning

2012-07-22T22:39:00.002-07:00

When I first learned to distinguish one type of species of tree from another, my world was altered. It was no longer possible to see a tree and think 'oh, there's a nice tree'. Instead, my thought was 'oh, there's a nice western red cedar'.

I can't unlearn tree identification. My brain assembles the information and out pops the thought.

Where does this show up in your life? It might not be trees for you, but something else. How has your knowledge shaped how you see the world?

All the things we make up

2012-07-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

I was wandering in a mall yesterday. I was by myself so I was silent, and that gave me the opportunity to hear what was going on around me. Snippets of conversations as I walked.
With few exceptions, the conversations were about relationships. Accounts of interactions between people. Person A telling person B about something that happened with person C.

This in itself did not strike me as unusual. Our relationships in all areas - work, friendships, family - are critically important to our experience of life. It makes sense that we spend a great deal of time thinking or talking about them.
What did strike me was the degree to which we make things up. The discussions were about different human interactions, someone recounting a story about who said what to who, or who did what to who. And, about what they must have meant when they said it or did it.
We assign meaning to everything in our lives. Then we spend a great deal of time thinking about what we've made up. Not just thinking about it but believing it, and then we make decisions based on it.

What would it be like if the next time someone does or says something to you that you have a reaction to, you stopped for a moment, and took a breath. Then, before you make up what you think they meant, you just checked in with them. Maybe said...'I am assuming that you meant this when you said that. Did I get that right, or did you mean something different?'

What would that be like?

Feeding your mind

2012-06-09T13:59:00.001-07:00

I have spent the better part of the past two days at Social Media Camp 2012 here in Victoria. It's a good reminder for me to make the time to go to events that feed my mind. It's been a long time since my last conference. It's easy to be too busy...with work, with family, with life. I satisfy myself with reading books and blogs.

But it is not the same, and it does not replace the kind of energy I get from being in a room of others learning ways we can work to make the world better. Being inspired. Making a list of things to check out or take on. The experience is an important part of staying the course.

If you are interested in Social Media Camp, maybe so you can attend next year, check out the website here: http://socialmediacamp.ca/

Maybe say yes

2012-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

Time passes at a reasonable speed. Life is full.

When busy, which seems to be always, there isn't enough time to fit in all of the responsibilities. How can one possibly find time for anything more? The default is saying no to anything extra, those spontaneous opportunities that pop up, unplanned. No, I have to work. No, I have to clean the bathroom. No, I have to pay the bills. No, I am too tired.

Sometimes, those spontaneous opportunities are where the juiciest experiences are. The things you will remember when you look back on your year. A friend from out of town calling with a two hour window for a visit. A child inviting you to watch a movie. A beam of sunshine beckoning you to the garden for a peek at what is springing up with the spring. A dog wistfully eyeing you for a walk.

Are you finding the time to fit in those experiences? The next time something pops up, unplanned, pause before that word 'no' is spoken, and maybe replace it with a 'yes'. And see what happens.

Reflection - 2011's Year in Review

2012-01-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

A year ago, in response to a post by Seth Godin, I wrote a post that reflected back on what I had shipped (Seth's terminology) in 2010...what I made happen or delivered. As we once again transition from one year into another, it's time to take a look back at 2011.

Here's my list for what I shipped or accomplished in 2011...

Designed, developed and facilitated a popular and effective curriculum for organizational champions

Worked with several professional teams to resolve conflict, increase effectiveness and improve productivity

Collaborated on the design, writing and release of an online customer service curriculum

Competed for and was successfully awarded a corporate supply arrangement for developing curriculum and delivering training

Competed for and won a spot on a pre-qualified list for the facilitation of citizen engagement initiatives

Explored a country I had never been to before, rich in culture and history

Experienced Venice and the Cinque Terre

Made pasta from scratch with an Italian chef in Florence

Tweeted 800 times

Published 18 blog posts, several of which were popular with readers, including this one which shared about the potential contribution of non-developer citizens

Increased the profile of this blog, nearly doubling the number of unique visitors over the previous year

Published 6 issues of the Prosperous Times professional newsletter

Helped organize and facilitate 11 open data hackathons for OpenDataBC

continued to build and foster relationships with many amazing people

Created a home office with capacity for brainstorming, creativity, beauty, warmth, storage and communication

Also, just before the start of 2011, I made a list of intentions for the coming year. Such as wanting to create a home instead of merely a house. Creating calm, gratitude, connections, writing, sharing, fun, stretching outside what's comfortable. And more doing and less second-guessing, checking in with myself more often.

How did I do with my list? A few gallons of paint, more time, some different furniture and fixtures and my house does feel a lot more like a home. Over the year, there were many moments to focus on being calm and grateful. Lots of writing. Many opportunities for fun and adventure.

Along the way, I also dove into many situations that I would have resisted before. Meeting new people, sharing ideas and perspective, designing ways to contribute to projects, rather than waiting for projects to find me. The second-guessing voice was silenced with less effort.

It can be easy to stay looking forward, and not pause to reflect on what you've made happen. Now might be a good time for you to take a moment to reflect and celebrate what you accomplished or shipped in 2011. And share it, with family, friends, or maybe here on this blog. And, take a few moments to think about what you intend for 2012.

I, too, will be thinking about what to create in 2012 over the next few days and will post it here.

accomplishment and success

2011-12-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting experience this week. A significant result was reached in something I had been involved in. Along with others, I had expended considerable effort towards the project. I was congratulated for my contribution towards the result.

I didn't experience joy, or excitement, or a sense of accomplishment. Why was that?

Because I hadn't set the end result as a goal. It was something that I supported, fully believed in, and contributed effort towards. But I had never taken the time to set any conscious goals around it. So I cheated myself out of the sense of accomplishment that I might otherwise have had.

How important is a sense of accomplishment? It is important. Success feeds on itself. Everything that you accomplish through your work acts as a foundation for what's next. Setting things up so that you have the opportunity to experience the accomplishment is an important part of contributing your best work.

making use of tools

2011-11-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

Last year when my neighbours were building their new house, they gave us rounds of wood from the Douglas-fir and birch trees they had cut down to make room. We lugged the heavy rounds over the fence and across the yard, and they have been sitting piled in a corner every since. Most of them were full of knots from heavy branches.

Yesterday, we rented a log splitter and transformed the massive chunks into firewood. It took about 2.5 hours to turn nearly 100 rounds into about a cord and a half of fir and birch firewood for the woodstove.

I was shocked at how easy the work was with the splitter. I didn't even know that splitters existed until recently. The same work would have taken days or weeks to do by hand.

It made me think about where else this shows up in life. What tools are out there that could make your work easier or faster? Are you using them? Each of us has a finite number of hours in our day. It is good to think about the most effective way to spend our time.

It is also useful to think about what's out there that you may not yet know about. Others have likely developed tools or approaches that could help you to get the work done more efficiently. Finding ways to plug ourselves into the collective intelligence of us all just makes sense.

open data and behaviour change

2011-10-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have an application on my smartphone that keeps track of my data usage for me. It lets me know when I start to get close to the monthly data limit covered by my cell plan. A week ago, it informed me that if I continued on at my current rate, I would use 110% of my allowed limit for the billing period. The feedback helped me to make some changes, such as setting my phone to use wifi instead of the cell network for data where available. Getting realtime feedback from the app made it possible for me to change my behaviour. I moved from unconscious use to paying more attention to what I am doing. It works. Today my app tells me I will be within my use limit.

This is a simple example of an approach that makes a difference for us in areas of concern. For example, we might be concerned about our own electricity use, water use, or carbon production, but not have information available that could enable us to modify our behaviour in these areas.

Think of what would be possible if we had access to our own data, and to data in general about populations similar to us.

I look at my hydro bill each month. I like that my usage data is provided on a month to month basis, and I can compare it to the same period in previous years. But so much information is missing that could be really helpful to me.

What do I really need from my hydro company? Access to my own data, hour by hour and day by day, so I can see what happens when I run a load of laundry, fill my jacuzzi, or leave the kitchen light on for the evening, or run my desktop computer overnight. Give me usage data for others in houses just like mine (electric heat, 1940s construction, temperate climate) so I can really compare how I am doing and make changes.

One of the things about open data that is exciting for citizens is having access to data about things that matter to us. I would love to have better access to data that would help me to make better decisions in areas of consumption and conservation.

the model is all wrong

2011-10-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have become aware of several actions that our Canadian government is planning to take1 or has already taken that have made me uncomfortable. My experience is as if I have suddenly been transported to another country, one that does not have the values that Canada has.

Currently, the way things seem to work is that it is up to us to speak up if we DON'T want something. Our government representatives take action on any number of fronts, and we are expected to let them know if we don't support it. This model doesn’t work well, for a number of reasons.

We have to know about it in order to speak up about it. If it’s discussed only in private, we can’t know about it. If it is discussed openly, the majority of Canadians are dependent on the traditional media’s interpretation of the initiative. The media reports on what they see as important, and from their own particular point of view. This leaves a lot up to someone else.

Even if we know about it, we might not know what it means to us. Most of the time, I need someone with expertise in that area to explain it to me in words I can understand. Ideally, it would be my government representative who would explain to me the implications of actions being considered by government.

Knowing about it seems to come at the last minute, just before something is about to be voted on by government representatives. This does not foster an ideal climate for collaboration or respectful communication.

My expertise in customer service means I know that almost none of us complain. The percentage of people who will actually complain to a business when there is a service failure is somewhere in the range of 3%. Compound that statistic with being Canadian and being known as 'nice', and the inclination of citizens to speak up and say they don't want something is next to none. That doesn't mean we actually want it. It means we are naturally wired to not speak up. Why then are public input models often designed around the concept that something is going to be put in place unless we speak up against it?

The very nature of ‘speak up if you don’t want something’ creates an adversarial environment. It also seems as if you have to be nasty, to use dramatic, sometimes inflammatory language, to be listened to. This tends to perpetuate the belief that those who speak up are the fringe element. I want to see citizens and government representatives engage in discussions in a cooperative, collaborative, respectful fashion.

What, fundamentally, is the point of a public input process? In large part, it is about making sure that government representatives are getting it right. That citizens are in support of what is to be done, and that representatives are acting truly on their behalf. Ideally it involves asking citizens what they want. It isn't about checking a box to say it was done.

There is another critical piece that is missed if public input is not done well. It is about leveraging the intelligence of citizens. For example, I am not an expert on privacy or civil liberties. I am an expert on a set of other things. Our governments need to be able to access and use the intelligence and expertise of Canadians as we move into our future. The public input model is a critical access point to our collective intelligence.

Perhaps I notice the contrast more as I watch the B.C. government, and my local governments, make shifts toward greater openness and transparency. They get it, and they are headed in the right direction. I want our Canadian government to understand the time is now and begin to make the shift as well. There is nothing to be lost, and everything to be gained.

1the most recent example, the proposed Lawful Access legislation, compelled me to write this post (and is the reason for this particular photo). If you are interested, watch this video, read this article, do some other research and decide for yourself what you think about that legislation.

clearing the slate of regret

2011-09-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

The emotion regret doesn't serve us well.

It is possible to look back on an action you have taken with a lens of 'well, I wish I had done that differently'. You can take the point of view that hindsight sometimes shows opportunities for having done something better, but you did the best you could at the time. You can move forward with lessons learned and without any regret.

Sometimes, though, the feeling of regret takes over. Perhaps the action you took had a significant impact, and the outcome was far removed from what you wanted. Maybe people or things you cared about were impacted. Perhaps an opportunity was lost.

Regret can drag you down. It eats away at the energy and drive you need to keep moving forward with the best you have to offer. That in itself is a compelling reason for clearing it away when you become aware of it.

How can you be at peace so you can move on and not be dragged down? Here are three things that I find helpful:

Choose an attitude about the situation that works for you. Such as, 'I meant well, but I made a mistake. I won't do it again.' You could focus on what you learned from it.
If someone was impacted by your actions, you can choose to communicate with them about it. You could let them know that you understand your actions affected them, apologize, and commit to something for the future.
Write down some thoughts, such as what you learned from the situation. To quote the Dalai Lama: 'When you lose, don't lose the lesson'. Much learning comes from things that you would do differently with hindsight. Be grateful for the opportunity you had to learn.

Each of us has our own way of clearing the slate for ourselves. What are the things that you do to move forward?

seeking feedback to improve

2011-08-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

Feedback is essential to getting better at anything.

When you are first developing competence at something, a balance of both positive and critical feedback is helpful. Positive feedback, being coached forward, is a necessary ingredient to motivate you to keep working on it.

However, what do you do when you get to a place where you have a high level of competence at something?

You know you are good at it. You hear from others you are good at it. How do you get even better? What can help you close the gap with true mastery?

What you need to seek out is critical feedback. From experts, people you admire and respect, those who have achieved mastery themselves in that area or those who are pursuing it.

To quote Jim Rohn "Don't join an easy crowd. You won't grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high". Find the people who are really, really good at what you want. Ask them what isn't working with what you are doing, and to tell you what you can do better. And keep track of their feedback, so you can keep working on those areas.

As you become better and better at something, you will need to seek out people with higher levels of competence to give you feedback. It is simpler - and easier on your ego - to not do so. But necessary, if you want to be truly extraordinary at something.

allowing room for failure

2011-08-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

When you are good at something, others pay attention. You are asked to do more of it. Others learn that you are good at it, and they expect you to do it well.

Not only do others expect you to do it well, but you expect yourself to do it well too.

As you do the thing more often, the bar creeps higher. Every time you do it. Eventually, it might occur to you that failure is not an option.

If you believe there is no room for failure, you are less inclined to push the envelope. To try something different, something new. To completely reinvent the thing that you are so good at. It is far easier - and safer - to stay with the tried and true. Even if the tried and true produces good results and reinventing it could produce extraordinary results.

Innovation thrives in an environment where failure is an acceptable outcome. A mindset of 'there is no room for failure' can kill innovation.

Do you allow yourself room for failing?

the real value of employee development plans

2011-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

I believe in goals.

People we would describe as successful are frequently quoted speaking about goals. One clear statement, attributed to one of the pioneers of the self-development movement, Earl Nightingale, is that "people with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that."

Over and over again, my personal experience provides evidence to support this premise. It is an easy equation. When I have goals, I work towards them. When I don't have goals, I drift and feel lost.

To create goals, to stay present to them, to regularly assess progress, and to achieve them, requires some sort of structure. Many personal development and business success books and programs provide just this: a structure to help us achieve our goals. If you follow the approach, you will achieve what they promise. Each of us has own our style of approach that works best for us.

Organizations have forms of personal development plans. These plans are also intended to provide this structure. Although such plans can be useful for employers to evaluate performance, they are also rooted in the basic premise that human beings are happiest and most fulfilled when they are working towards something.

If you are required to have an employee development plan for the organization you work for, consider looking at it from this perspective. It is a structure intended to help you achieve your goals. Not as something you have to do, but as something you choose to do because it makes your life work better.

going with the current

2011-06-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am currently experiencing the amazing country of Italy for the first time. Starting in Rome, then to Venice, now Florence. Otherwise known, in a non-anglicized fashion, as Roma, Venezia, and Firenze.

History, culture, colours, scents, flavours, language, passion collide in this place.

If I try to process it all, it overwhelms. I am working to 'be' with the experience. And to sit back and observe. To seize moments when they arise, but not to force them. To not obsess with ticking the boxes from the guidebooks, and instead create my own experiences.

The approach - of not trying to control each moment, of observing and going with the flow and adapting - has relevance for our work as well. What do we lose, by following our own agenda? When we have an idea of how we want things to go, we have a tendency to force them in that direction. We get upset when things don't go according to 'the plan'. That has us miss out on anything else that could be possible. And sometimes, what else might be possible might be a better option than what we think needs to happen.

There are times when it works to go against the current. Perhaps there is a time constraint, or what is supposed to happen has been decided by some other party.

But consider: what if we are just open to whatever comes up? For me, on this trip to Italy, I have focussed on being curious. I have had the opportunity to be confused, taken aback, delighted. speechless. I have a collection of rich experiences that would not have happened if I had followed a fixed plan.

Some advice for Canadian politicians

2011-04-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

I am never impressed when a business representative spends time criticizing his competition, rather than selling his product or service on its own merit. In fact, a guaranteed outcome is that I will not buy from that business.

If you want to be the best at something, is the path to get there about criticizing what someone else does or has done? I think not. It is about focusing on yourself, not on others. What do you offer? Why are you the best for this work? What is important to you, what do you stand for that makes you the choice in this area?

Which brings me to politics. Our politicians, for the most part, seem to think that criticism, or negative politics, will somehow inspire us.

When I watched Obama's presidential campaign in the U.S. back in 2008, I was struck by the absence of negative politics. It stood out for me as something completely different, and I got how powerful it was. I haven't been able to listen to any politician in the same way since.

A career in politics is not easy. I would imagine that someone who chooses a political career is driven by a strong drive to make a difference, a drive based on values, whether they be integrity, respect, freedom, transparency.

I want to see those values. When a politician speaks, I don’t want to hear the rhetoric and I don’t want to hear the mudslinging.

To my fellow Canadians who aspire to lead our beautiful country, the true North strong and free:
I want to hear what you stand for.
I want to hear why you are doing what you are doing.
Stand on your own merit.
Engage me in why I should vote for you.
Not in why I shouldn’t vote for someone else.

Photo by AndrewMark, courtesy of stock.xchng.

on bad days

2011-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

We all have bad days. Days when we feel low, ineffective, perhaps unappreciated.

There are a few things to remember on such days.

First, be nice to yourself. There's nothing wrong with having a bad day. You can use it to remember later that your life is pretty good most of the time.

Being nice to yourself means surrounding yourself with the things in your life that tend to bring you up, rather than down. Schedule meetings with people whose ideas you find stimulating, and save the challenging folks for another day. Have lunch with a supportive colleague or friend. Listen to music that lifts your mood (a link to my favourite 'bad day' song - a video - here.) Read something that inspires you, and save the newspapers and articles focusing on what's wrong with the world for another time when you feel a little more resilient.

Being nice to yourself includes giving yourself permission to wallow in suffering for awhile. Just telling yourself that you have nothing to complain about doesn't actually make a difference. How you are feeling is how you are feeling. Remember the adage 'what you resist, persists'. If you are really successful at wallowing, you might even be able to see the glint of humour in the drama you are creating about your life. Humour goes a long way towards moving through the low feelings.

Something else useful to remember is that no matter how bad things seem, this isn't how your life is. It is just how you are feeling now. When you have moved through it, you will likely have forgotten how you felt, as well as what took you there in the first place.

Lastly, you can remember that you get to choose the point of view you have, the one that has a large bearing on your mood. If you decide to focus on what's wrong, that is likely what will show up for you. If you instead choose to focus on the things that are going well, you will see more and more of those things in your life. And that perspective tends to feed on itself.

one way to participate in our government

2011-03-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

I spent my day at an open data hackathon yesterday.

What's a hackathon? A group of technical people getting together to share ideas and build things. Specifically, the things they build are web or other types of applications that use data to tell us something interesting and valuable. Hacking, despite the negative connotation of causing trouble that is sometimes given to the word, is about disrupting the status quo, bringing something new to the world.

I am not a software developer nor a programmer. I can't participate in the writing of code to build an application. Nor do I understand a great deal of the technical conversation that swirls around me as those who have the expertise collaboratively brainstorm, debate, and share ideas.

So why do I spend a day at a hackathon?

There are two main reasons.

I am fascinated by data, and I like to learn. I like to be part of helping government and other organizations to understand that regular people want to know more about what affects us. It is through having information that we can do a better job of being citizens, and of helping to support the choices that will be good for our cities, provinces, country and the world. Sit down with others for a short time and the ideas flow. And although us citizens know something of the data and information we would like to have - so that the developers can use it to build applications we can use - we can't even begin to scratch the surface of the interesting data that is held in government databases.
I believe in the concept of hacking. Finding unconventional solutions to problems. Disrupting the status quo. It is a word that resonates with me; although the word is not used to describe what I do, I too am a hacker of sorts. For example, I am a hacker of workplace teams, helping them to shift them from a culture of survival to a culture of power. A culture where each team member has greater self-awareness, greater willingness to learn and contribute, a desire to bring the best of themselves to the work of their team.

When I attend an open data hackathon, I have the opportunity to support these two things that I value. And I can bring my own skills in communicating and engaging others to help others like me to see ourselves into it.

This matters to us. I think we are in a time, in our province and in the world, when we as citizens need to contribute our intelligence. We are facing some challenging issues. We can't expect governments to solve everything on our behalf. Our collective intelligence as citizens is a powerful resource that can be brought to bear. We need to put ourselves out there. We need to find effective ways of engaging and collaborating with the people who work in our governments.

Participating in community events like open data hackathons is one way for me to engage and collaborate. It makes a difference.

Photo by Vangelis Thomaidis courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/.

how to refer someone

2011-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

We often have opportunities to refer someone we know to someone else.

During a conversation, we realize that we know an individual who could be of assistance to our colleague or to their organization.

In that moment, we have a chance to create that individual for our colleague. What we say will form their first impression of the individual. It's a powerful position to be in. When you are in that situation, what do you do?

One approach is for you to tell your colleague everything that you know about the individual. Their strengths and their weaknesses. From your experience, and your point of view.

Another approach is to focus on the person's strengths. You are, after all, referring that person because you believe that they have value to offer. Otherwise, why refer them? By describing their attributes in terms of strengths, you leave your colleague with the opportunity to form their own perspective and impression of the individual.

As people, we tend to see whatever it is that we are looking for. If we are told someone is 'outspoken', we will see evidence for that. It will take extra effort for us to view that characteristic differently. However, if we are told someone is 'willing to be direct with you, and say what she thinks', instead, then that is what we will see.

The next time you are in a conversation and have an opportunity to refer another, see if you are following this approach. The other great thing about it? It feels better to build people up, than to tear them down.

setting yourself apart

2011-03-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

I am a frequent customer at four different coffee shops.

I always order the same thing. An americano. At three of the shops, I need to give the order every time. At the fourth, the employees remember what my beverage of choice is.

What's the impact? As a customer, I feel important. Valued. I want to visit that fourth shop whenever I can. The coffee, the atmosphere, the wi-fi, the comfy chairs and the music are excellent at all. The only difference, the only thing that sets the one shop apart from the rest, is that the employees make the effort to remember my order.

There is a lot of competition for business. Having a great product or service is essential. You can't compete otherwise. Lots of businesses have great products or services. Setting your business apart takes something special. The extra effort you make in serving your customers can be the thing that sets you apart.

Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game. Tony Alessandra.

Simplicity

2011-02-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have become aware that my life is complicated. To be more accurate, I have made my life complicated. I would actually like it to be simpler. A lot simpler. And once something has been made to be complicated, it isn’t so easy to simplify. It takes a fair effort.

It takes a lot of energy to maintain a complicated life. It often happens subtly, over a long period of time. You don’t realize how much it costs you – in energy, effort, time and peace - to keep it all going.

Having too many choices is a form of complexity. Research shows that when people are in a store to make a purchase, and are presented with too many options, they tend to leave without buying anything. Too much complexity overwhelms us.

Take this awareness and turn the lens to where you work. How complicated are the processes and systems that keep your business working? How much of that complexity really needs to be there? What is it costing?

This applies to pretty much anything…project management systems, computer systems, filing systems, business processes. Things should be only as complex as they absolutely need to be, and starting from simplest is usually best. More complex is rarely better. It costs more to build and maintain. And it leaves a legacy of extra time and money to keep it going. Einstein had it right.

I also think there are two considerations in any decision about whether to buy something, or to implement a system or a process. The first is how simple or inexpensive it is to put in place (or to purchase) in the first place. The second is how simple or inexpensive is it to keep it going or maintain. Next time you have a decision to make, you could consider the answers to both of these questions.

This is an article from Volume 1, No. 10 of my newsletter, Prosperous Times.

photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/