Mini-Minutes of Ottawa Meetings
of the Network of Organizations Alive! Practitioners

Archives:     All     2006     2007

April 11, 2008 - No plans made.

March 14, 2008 - Pamela had planned to come but cancelled at the last minute. Jennifer had planned to come but cancelled when she found out it would be just her and me. Don arrived but no one was there! The topic was going to be The Training Organization.

February 15, 2008 - Our regular second Friday of the month meeting was scheduled this month on the third Friday, to accommodate our three guests from LASI World Skills. Eight NOA! Practitioners and nine guests joined them for a non-profit Consultation Event. We had breakfast, did some serious-fun networking, and listened intently to the history, work, and plans of LASI World Skills. We then used the Organizations Alive! Model to check our understanding of the organization, and begin to discuss and explore opportunities. This organization provides a critically important service in our community, and it was a great privilege to be included in their thinking for even just a few hours.

January 11, 2008 - Well, freezing rain warnings conspired to keep people at home for our regular second Friday of the month gathering. Only Julia and Jan braved the weather for some reflection about 2007 and planning for 2008.

December 14, 2007 - Organizations Alive! Practitioners joined RA Associates for a Christmas party at Cille's home in Kanata. It was great to have a relaxed social time with old friends, and to make many new acquaintances. Thank you, Cille. Santa Jan passed out buttons with the Organizations Alive! graphic on it, specially made by Elizabeth, of Tiger Tale Projects.

November 9, 2007 - Thank you Michelle, John, Julia, Linda, Alejandro, Yvette, and Marina for a great ‘Breakfast Plus’ meeting on Friday! It was wonderful having an open agenda to spend some quality time together. How did the four hours fly by so fast?! And thank you, Linda, John, and Michelle, for bringing your projects to the table for some real-time application with OA!

Some of the books that were mentioned/recommended included:

The Passion Test (Attwood Bray)
Moonshine Consulting
Sales Dogs (Blair Singer)
Non-Violent Communication (Marshall B. Rosenberg) 

We also discovered how great the Crayola Twistables SlikStix markers are on a flip chart. I have had these in my briefcase for a long time, but never tried them out. They write smoothly and quietly, have no smell, don’t dry out, and come in four bright colours. Available at Staples in the kids drawing section.

October 12, 2007 - Thank you, Jen, for leading us through the discussion on Communities of Practice, and in particular, NOA! So much to think about!

Recommended reading included:

Spiral Dynamics by Beck and Cowan
The Up Side of Down
Alchemy of a Leader
Ahoy Mates! by Ottawa’s own Bob Garrow
Scaling Up

Also recommended:

Movie – Jane Austen Book Club
Program - Lifesong Adventures
Conference – Systems Thinking in Action in Seattle in Nov.

Best quotable – “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” (thanks, Julia!)

September 14, 2007 - Thank you, Don Officer, for initiating and facilitating our conversation on Poetry and Facilitation. There were many wonderful connections and ah-ha moments through the day. Great job. Thank you, Linda Vanderlee, for sharing your dreamy space (www.RendezvousRupert.org) and gourmet talents. Ahhh and yum! And thank you, Poets - Yvette, Julia, Alejandro, Linda, Don, Pamela, and Synandra! You wrote wordsworth gold! Amazing discoveries!

But we didn't just sun ourselves, eat a great meal, and write poetry! We explored the use of poetry in facilitation, which brought many thoughts and tools together. Some of the many ideas shared were:

1. Post short poems, or quotable quotes (which can sound a lot like poetry!), on the wall and ask participants to choose the one they like (or relate to) the most. Have them introduce themselves using the poem (and what they like about it), or go into groups to explore it (and each other) in more depth.

2. Read a poem together and let the group discuss it free-flow, as Don did with us using 'Constantly risking absurdity' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It is a safe way to speak of the unspeakable, the conflict, the loss, etc. - to break up a log jam in conversation.

3. Share poetry (stories, quotables, etc.) as part of the organization's folklore - in newsletters, e-mails, board room graffiti, signature bylines, etc.

Jan also used the Organizations Alive! lens to help 'see' poetry in organizations - where it originates, what it could influence, and what could feed it. Check out The Heartbeat ... (blog) for more.

August 10, 2007 - Alejandro Gonzalez presented on the SAS², which is a collection of concepts, methods, and tools designed to support collaborative research and social action in a wide range of fields. Its purpose is to broaden and deepen diagnostic thinking about real-life situations so that the people involved may creatively solve problems and increase the effectiveness of decision-making.

He also overlaid the Organizations Alive! lens to help us see how they complemented each other. Thank you, Alejandro, for sharing the processes, examples, and potential of this new resource that you are so enthusiastic about!

July 13, 2007 - We had another wonderful breakfast meeting last Friday. Breakfast conversation was of birds, things falling from the sky (berries, rain, fish), teamwork, persistence for a task, brain science, changing paradigms, leaving a legacy, positive policies and procedures, and the difference between knowledge and action. You had to be there to know there was indeed a flow of conversation!

Pamela Schreiner brought us all into focus with a presentation, handouts, and discussion on the Balanced Scorecard. Thank you again, Pamela! The definition she shared of BSC from Kaplan and Norton was - ‘The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management system that uses performance measures to implement the strategy.”

There were four (maybe more) connections to Organizations Alive! that we made:

1. The usual groupings or themes typically used in the Balanced Scorecard corresponded to the four Success Factors of Organizations Alive! These were Vision and Strategy (Strategic Vision), Financial and Internal Processes (Resource Management), Customer (Customer Service), and Learning and Growth (Membership Potential).
    

2. Organizations Alive! helps to make the linkages for the groupings when using the Balanced Scorecard (i.e. the interfaces). The Balanced Scorecard alone does not identify how the groups interrelate.
    

3. The Balanced Scorecard process moves from Strategic Vision to Resource Management to Strategic Vision to … - i.e. the first interface. It is a process of establishing the vision, mission, strategic themes, objectives, and performance measures. Then, as the work is done (Resource Management), data is gathered and fed back to the Strategic Vision to keep the process aligned, meaningful, and on target.
    

4. The Balanced Scorecard process is on the ‘task’ side of the Organizations Alive! Model, but it is only truly effective when it incorporates the ‘people’ considerations, input, and feedback as well – i.e. that it itself is balanced!

Some of us stayed for the Mastery Group meeting from 10:00-12:00. As usual it was a powerful time together, with many insights, affirmations, and encouragements. 

Book references from the morning were: The Balanced Scorecard, The E-Myth Revisited, and McLuhan for Managers. Check out the Recommended Reading List for links and details.

June 8, 2007 - It is strange how our breakfasts seem to unfold with a theme, despite our lack of coordinating such a thing! This month the theme seemed to be Feedback - The Welcomed, the Unwelcomed, and the Necessary.

Yvette, Sevilla, Alejandro, Don, Jennifer, Dave McColl (guest), and Jan met for breakfast and Jennifer's presentation on Emotional Intelligence facilitated by Jennifer. She is trained by MHS to use the Reuven BarOn EQ-i. Thank you for your great story-telling style, Jennifer! Check out the recommended reading that wove its way through our conversation!

We also launched our first Mastery Group meeting following breakfast. Don, Yvette, Sevilla, Jennifer, and I stayed to share, discuss, and explore the challenges we face in our work, and as a community of practitioners. We hope this will become a regular event.

May 11, 2007 - Don, Alejandro, Yvette, Cille, Carole, and Jan met at Kristy's Restaurant. It happened that we found ourselves talking about making money (and our various attitudes, fears, and desires about it) during breakfast, which was a perfect segue for Don's presentation and facilitation of the discussion about the book -  Meet and Grow Rich by Bill Hibbler and Joe Vitale. He prepared a one-page handout for us, which you can read on the NOA! website (in the files section). The core idea of the book is the mastermind approach to meetings. Although our discussion was a shorter version of a typical mastermind meeting, we decided it was worth incorporating into our monthly breakfast meetings. Well done, Don, and thank you!

April 13, 2007 - Gordon Laing facilitated the mindful discussion this morning at Kristy's Restaurant on the subject of the federal government's Management Accountability Framework as viewed through the Organizations Alive! lens. Jen, Alejandro, Jennifer, Synandra, Pamela, Cille, Julia, Sevilla, and Jan were his attentive audience and rowdy inquisitives. We may have to finish our discussion at a future breakfast meeting or special meeting! Thank you, Gordon.

March 9, 2007 - Synandra, Sevilla, Jennifer, and Jan met at Summerhay's Grill for a tête-à-tête and eggs. We talked about the latest version of the 3-fold Applications brochure, upcoming meetings with new clients of the Organizations Alive!™ Model, Sevilla's worldwide contracts, the tipping point, customer courage, politics, the Training Workshop in Calgary, and personal news.

February 9, 2007 - Thank you, Tracey, for facilitating our discussion about marketing the Organizations Alive!™ Model. Julia, Yvette, Jen, Jennifer, Alejandro, Gordon, and Jan, along with Tracey, brainstormed phrases, expressions, questions, etc. that we use to share the model, start discussions, explore possibilities, etc. Feedback was also given on the current marketing tools, and the proposed 3-fold brochure on applications of the model.

January 12, 2007 - Linda (www.rendezvousrupert.org) took Jen, Don, Alejandro, Yvette, Sevilla, Jennifer and Jan through a taste of her Visioning Workshop in Sevilla's home for the afternoon. Among other pot luck treats, Sevilla served her fabulous, homemade, gentle lentil soup. As Jennifer said: "We were fortunate to have our bodies and minds nourished with fabulous soup and creative ponderings."

December 8, 2006 - Santa Jan delivered a prototype of the new Reference Guide to Alejandro, Sevilla, Yvette, Gordon, Julia, and Don today at Summerhay's Grill this morning. The Reference Guide is meant to be a teaching tool and workshop handout. Thank you Tracey (Hagerman) for all the input and encouragement to its design and development! The breakfast was great, and so was the feedback.

November 10, 2006 - Gordon, Heather, Jen, Julia, Linda, Tracey, Yvette, and Jan had breakfast with Kylie Charleston of Accessing Excellence in her training rooms at 86 Centrepointe Drive, in Ottawa. As always, I (Jan) learned something new about branding and marketing. I think I ‘got’ the branding process more clearly than I have before. And ‘saw’ how the unconsciously-competent dynamic is so difficult to move out of, and yet critically important in order to reach customers effectively.

October 13, 2006 - Wow, Linda! Love your 'new' barn! What a great place for meetings, parties, retreats, and other get-away events (www.rendezvousrupert.org). And thank you for hosting breakfast this month with Jennifer, Yvette, and Jan. The food was great, as usual. And the conversation even better. We covered personality type, emotional intelligence, relationships, synchronistic happenings, networking events, Organizations Alive! developments, and the possibilities for your wonderful, cozy rendez-vous space!

September 8, 2006 - Sevilla, Gordon, Julia, and Jan had a great meeting this morning at Sevilla’s. We actually followed the agenda! Well, sort of. After some munching and updating, we discussed new developments in the OA! business and marketing plan – including blogging, breakfasts, e-mail lists, and how to make money! We touched briefly on the Consultation Events. Thank you, Sevilla, for hosting and sharing your sunny kitchen nook.

August 11, 2006 - Jen hosted our August meeting. Alejandro, Jennifer, Yvette, Jen, and Jan met and enjoyed Alejandro's homemade huevos divordiados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huevos_divorciados). Delicious! We discussed our breakfast meetings at some length and agreed that more structure was in order (are we evolving?) - from just networking and sharing to strategizing and professional development as well. We also watched 'Everyday Creativity' also by Dewitt Jones and available through www.starthrower.com.

July 7, 2006 - Sevilla, Jen, Linda, Don, Alejandro, and Jan all met at Yvette's, by the pool on for a pot luck breakfast. Yum. Jen brought a DVD - Celebrate What's Right with the World' by Dewitt Jones (available through www.starthrower.com).

June 2, 2006 - Don, Jen, Alejandro, Yvette, and Jan were at Gina's Diner for breakfast. It was another past-paced, high-volume, information-rich, and idea-ladened all-around great time. We now know that Huevos Divorciados (at 41 William Street, Ottawa) has the very best Mexican food; www.linkedin.com is worth checking into for networking; we need to get comfortable with wikis, rss's, and podcasts; Balance Scorecard and Organizations Alive! are a good fit; and so much more.

May 5, 2006 - Linda, Catherine, Alejandro, Gordon, Yvette, and Jan met at Gina's Café. Plans for the May 11th Consultation Event and the first Practitioner Licensing Workshop on May 19th were discussed, along with everything from laughter therapy, to the square wheel exercise, and upcoming ODNOO events.

April 7, 2006 - The second NOA! breakfast meeting was held at The Corner Bar in the Glebe. Don, Alejandro, Jennifer, Jen, Yvette, Sevilla, and Jan sat shoulder to shoulder at a small table, and brought each other up to date.

March 3, 2006 - NOA! met for the first time for breakfast at Nate's Deli in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Jen, Don, Alejandro, Jennifer, and Jan were there and created some very lively and interesting discussion. Plans were made to meet regularly on the first Friday of the month.