Welcome to the Community of Practice

1/15/2014

Welcome to our Community of Practice Forum, a forum dedicated to highlighting people and organizations around the world who have created best practices by applying our core communication tools and models to real life, real time situations.

The purpose of this forum is to serve as an incubator for ideas, where people share and learn from each other’s experiences. It is a place to inspire others and also be acknowledged for your cutting edge communication practices.  Our goal is to create a community of people practicing together; a powerful support network with the purpose of helping each other to transform engrained communication habits into sustained, positive outcomes.

So please share any applications – big or small – that have worked for you. We look forward to joining the conversation.

6 Comments

Stephanie

8/27/2013 06:50:38 am

I really enjoyed and got a lot out of your presentation in Naples. I have already used the gratitude and recognition section to write a thank you card to the couple that watched my dogs while I was gone. Instead of the typical "Thank you so much! I appreciate your help!" I focused on giving specific examples of how they had helped me and assuaged any anxiety or guilt I felt leaving my dogs because I knew they were safe, happy and being cared for by the best people. Needless to say, they were thrilled with the card and they told me that I had made their day.

Georgine

8/27/2013 07:15:22 am

I work as the Outreach Services Manager for the Fairbanks North Star Borough Libraries

One of my other hats is as a trainer of library staff in the how-to’s of readers’ advisory services – which is the art of connecting library users with books they might like to read for pleasure.

One area where many people find themselves way outside their personal comfort zone is that of initiating a book-related conversation. Few people have problems following up on a patron-initiated query, but even then, they are often not sure how much is “enough”.

So, thanks to the Glasers’ training, I sort of had a “brainstorm” when planning a full-day readers’ advisory workshop for libraries on the Kenai Peninsula – I had the attendees use the PRES model to create / write down two short (45 seconds – 1 minute) targeted book suggestions. They then broke into small groups for lunch (4-6 people) and, over the course of the meal, everyone was to work his or her two book talks into the mealtime conversation. It worked like a charm. Everyone got through the exercise unscathed – and reported that they had a thoroughly enjoyable time, too. (I’ll have to take their word for it, since I sent them all off without “teacher”). But – several did take the time to tell me that this was a wonderfully “freeing” tool.

So, here’s the intro on the handout I gave them to start off the PRES session (the rest was simply several “forms” on which to write their own PRES’s:

Talking About Books: PRES
For busy people, with little time to wait.
For library staff who really don’t have time to engage in a leisurely reader’s advisory conversation.
A 45-second solution (book talk on the run) based on a management tool from Peter and Susan Glaser.
Point (title) – “I think you might enjoy Kate Quinn’s MISTRESS OF ROME.”
Reason (appeal factor) – “You’ve said that you enjoy the way Diana weaves history, romance, and believable characters into an absorbing story.”
Example (plot / story tidbit) – “Well, this is first century Rome with a Jewish female slave who catches the eye of both a famous gladiator and a very scary and twisted emperor. You can just feel the history.”
Summary – “It’s a whole different time period, but the characters are so believable, and the history suits the story as well as the Jamie’s Scotland fit Claire.”

Tom

8/28/2013 04:32:30 am

We used the PRES and Collaborative Problem Solving models for our prioritization meeting and it worked well. We used the PRES for each participant to state their top 3 items, we also incorporated the scoring from the collaborative Problem Solving model which helped with the prioritizing of the remaining items. This process saved us valuable time, as it kept everyone on task, allowed participation by all, and provided a positive outcome. This was the first time many of the participants had used such a process in a meeting and I can tell you they were all very impressed with the process.

Matt

9/4/2013 06:11:47 am

Group facilitation is a key component to the successful implementation of Innovision, the City of Ankeny’s response to today’s challenges with the goal to “make Ankeny a more enjoyable and attractive place to live, work and visit through the work of the city organization.” It is particularly relevant as it relates to leading and facilitating work of employee teams. The Glasers have helped leaders in organizations throughout the world tap the thoughts and ideas of frontline employees and make them more effective. An all day interactive session was led by the Glasers for directors, managers, supervisors and other employees that are helping to implement Innovision. The session helped them improve their facilitation skills for leading employee teams in the future.

The collaborative problem solving techniques staff members learned in the training are especially useful in managing Quick Fix Teams. The primary question of this method is asking employees the question: “What actions can we take to …” Through this question, directors, managers and supervisors can quickly and thoroughly get valuable input from frontline employees on how to improve some aspect of the workplace.

Rick

9/10/2013 04:48:44 am

As a result of the Town Hall Meeting, in which Drs. Peter and Susan Glaser acted as facilitators leading a group of City staff who had received customized training in Collaborative Leadership, the results from the individual group discussions were provided to the City of Kenai Council at its next Council Meeting. In addition to the group outcomes, City Staff developed a list of seven “Consensus Topics/Suggestions”, which were provided to Council and to members of the public who attended the Town Hall Meeting via mail and/or email.

Merry link

10/15/2013 02:37:30 am

Anger, grudges, and hatred are something that we should try to avoid as much as humanly possible. Forgiving is what we are called to do, not just as Christians, but as imperfect humans. Forgiving people is something we absolutely MUST do - not for them, but for us. It is the only way to free ourselves from the control over us that we give others when we are angry, hold a grudge, or hate them. To best describe the effects,( and I DO like the physical implications you call attention to), I see it as shooting yourself in the head and expecting someone else to die.
As I have discovered in my personal life - forgiving someone who absolutely does NOT deserve it, frees you in a wonderful way, and leaves them struggling with the mess on their own.
It took me a while to see that forgiving is not saying what they did was right, it was rather proclaiming that you are refusing to let them or their behavior control you or your life.

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