http://darylcook.com Enabling groups to work collaboratively & effectively Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:07:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This morning I read "Living Peace: the open space of our lives." edited by Raffi Aftandelian. This eBook is Raffi's attempt to look at the question: what have we as Open Space Technology facilitators learned about living in Open Space? It's a wonderful collection of heart-felt anecdotes and honest ... http://darylcook.com/2008/07/21/open-space-ebook/ Convincing people of the power of narrative and encouraging them to tell stories rather than use bullet points in their presentations is often quite difficult. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds. In a podcast interview with Elliott Masie, Dan Pink gives a great example that shows it is ... http://darylcook.com/2008/07/18/forget-bullet-points-tell-stories/ If you were to hazard a guess, what percentage of people do you think truly love what they are currently doing at work? I'm not sure where the statistics come from, but according to Steve Denning ... It's a miserable 6%! That means 94% of people are in various stages ... http://darylcook.com/2008/07/16/do-you-love-your-work/ Apparently, in Ancient Egyptian there are two hieroglyphs that effectively translate to 'procrastinate'. The first translates to mean: "laziness in completing a task", which is how most of us typically use the term today. The second--more interestingly--means something like: "the useful habit of avoiding unecessary work and effort". Procrastination a useful ... http://darylcook.com/2008/07/15/embracing-procrastination/ I was at Michael Specht's unconference session at PubCamp last night. He's right, unfortunately, the conversation was dominated by too few. But I'm glad he's written a summary. I was particularly interested in some of the statistics quoted from the Watson & Wyatt research report: A further 2007/2008 ... http://darylcook.com/2008/06/24/enterprise-20-and-employee-engagement/ Just a short note to welcome readers from Flying Solo. Robert Gerrish just let me know that a book review I recently wrote was featured on the site and linked back here. Wow! This is probably your first time here - so let me give you a ... http://darylcook.com/2008/06/24/welcome-to-flying-solo-readers/ I've been busy over the last couple of weeks. Much to do and see. Since starting out on my solo journey, I've rediscovered my inner adventurer and I've been exploring. It's been good to have the time to wander and try some different things and to pursue ... http://darylcook.com/2008/06/18/ive-awoken-my-inner-adventurer/ It's been a long time since I last looked, so I've spent some time this morning updating the links page on this site.  As you might expect from me, it's an eclectic mix of stuff: anywhere from facilitation to fast growth entrepreneurship.  Hey, it's what I find interesting!  Anyway, let ... http://darylcook.com/2008/06/11/updating-links/ Watched a couple of really good talks over the weekend. I enjoyed both of them a lot. Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008: Clay's talk centers on the notion that in today's modern society, there is a massive cognitive surplus, or untapped source of brain power. He tries ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/26/required-viewing/ Seth Godin writes an interesting piece: The new standard for meetings and conferences. In it he argues that the standards, along with people's expectations of face-to-face meetings and conferences have changed significantly. "if you think a great conference is one where the presenters read a script whole showing the audience ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/21/seth-godin-on-meetings-and-conferences/ My friend Gill has spent many years living in and visiting Japan on business. In October she is guiding a small-scale personalised Japan Autumn Tour. She describes her tours as an exercise in small group facilitation -- enabling relaxed, stimulating, enjoyable and interesting interactions with the Japanese people and culture ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/14/want-to-go-to-japan/ Sometimes, it's not explicitly asked and sometimes it is, but I've lost count the number of times when working with clients I hear "so, what's the answer?". I confess that most times I've had to bite my tongue to stop lashing out with a cynical and stern reply of ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/13/the-answer-is-42/ I loved this Dilbert cartoon today. It points to the danger of taking a purely qualitative approach to problem solving. It also reminds me of some of my own very funny stories presenting data in planning sessions. http://darylcook.com/2008/05/09/lies-lies-and-statistics/ Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for. -- Lawrence BlockI'm finding it quite amazing: a number of opportunities and serendipitous events have popped up since I made the ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/08/serendipity/ It's time to announce that I'm embarking on a new and exiting phase of my life. My relationship with Anecdote is about to change. From the 16th May onwards I’ll be working freelance. This will give me greater flexibility and allow more freedom to pursue other opportunities. I ... http://darylcook.com/2008/05/05/going-solo/