Hi Barb,

A week ago, my brother found himself stuck at our house for a few hours because his car wouldn't start.

I was stuck too, because his car blocked my car's access to the street. 

My brother thought he might be out of gas, because his dashboard gas gauge had stopped working a couple weeks before.

When the tow truck arrived, they determined that the car was not out of gas. Rather, car battery was dead, as in DEAD. 

After getting a tow and buying a new battery, my brother was off again, with renewed zip.  Not only could he go from 0 to 60 more quickly, but the gas gauge miraculously started working again.  

This incident made me think about an organization I once belonged to. This organization was dragging. They just couldn't get going!  And I and other volunteers who depended on them to move first were stuck waiting for the leaders to decide what to do next. 

Like a non-functional gas gauge, there were indicators of a problem, but the group's leaders didn't know what those indicators really meant.  

In my humble opinion, that that group needed was a jumpstart and a clear direction.  But I wasn't about to volunteer to lead any planning sessions. Oh no! Back then, my experience of planning was that it was B-O-R-I-N-G and relatively useless as soon as reality derailed the plan.

To their credit, the group's top three leaders did decide to do a strategic plan.  But they did it alone and the planning dragged on and on. Volunteers like me got tired of waiting and left to spend our precious energy elsewhere. 

I wish I knew then what I know now about planning, which is ...

• involving more people and incorporating their ideas improves a plan,
• there are planning activities that are quick and effective and that invite everyone to contribute, and
• planning can be fun! 

Does your organization need a jumpstart on planning for 2024? 

Are you hesitating because you think planning is intimidating and tedious?

In January, Trina Walker and I are offering a two-part workshop: Quick (and Fun!) Strategy: Jumpstart Your 2024 Plan.  Participants will: 

• experience simple and fun planning tools,
• be able to involve their whole team in drafting the plan, and
• create a usable and flexible plan that can be easily adjusted as they move forward. 

Sound intriguing?  Registration will open on Thursday, December 14. I’ll be sending out a few emails in the coming weeks with more details and the registration link. 

Please keep an eye out for the emails and be sure to forward the info to anyone you know who might be interested!

Warmly,

Barb Bickford

PS: Fair warning: the Quick (and Fun!) Strategy: Jumpstart Your 2024 Plan workshop will be collaborative! How collaborative is that? Read the Pro-Tip below to find out! 

Quick (and Fun!) Strategy: Jumpstart your 2024 plan!

Whether you are a leader or member of a non-profit, an entrepreneur or a leader of any group, if you are contemplating your plans for 2024, you can lead your group to create the essential pieces of a strategic plan in less time that you thought possible. 

Block off time on your calendar now on Wednesday mornings, January 17 and 31, 2024 to jumpstart your 2024!  Block off time to lead your group through the same activities during those weeks too.  Registration will open next week. Watch for emails about it!

Transitions and New Beginnings retreat

As a leader, you may help people through transitions such as retirement, losses, new jobs or health challenges. But what if YOU are the one navigating a transition? 

This retreat will be held in the lovely St Anthony Spirituality Center near Wausau, Wisconsin (less than 3 hours from both Madison, WI and the Twin Cities, MN.) on the weekend of April 5-7, 2024. We'll explore transitions by using art (no skill required!), gentle movement, conversation and more.

Give yourself the gift of time away, time to ponder your transitions.  Learn more and register.  There are some FAQs on this webpage, as well. 

Reflecting on our Facilitation Practicies and Opportunities using Liberating Structures 

Join the Central Texas Liberating Structures User group on Friday morning, December 15th for a chance to reflect on your facilitation strengths, growth edges and opportunities for implementing liberating structures.  Learn with peers! Register here. 

Blog posts about planning
-- What's better than good old strategic planning?
-- The Why, How and What of planning
-- Use Ecocycle Planning to Leverage what isn't working

My current workshops and courses

Tell people what to expect at your meetings

Here's a novel idea: let people know ahead of time how much you expect them to engage in your meetings. And, tell them what you mean by "engagement".

Elise Keith and friends at the New Rules for Work have created a key that will inform their meeting attendees whether they can just sit back and watch or would need to actively contribute to the meeting's outcome.  

Here is their Engagement key:

• Free Choice  No requirements. Engage as much or as little as you want, come and go as you please. Examples: Breaks, networking, exhibit halls

• Attend  Passive attendance. Sit back and enjoy. Examples: TED talks, keynotes, lectures

• Participate Opportunities for light interaction. Answer polls, submit questions. Examples: Webinars, Q&A sessions

• Contribute Your input shapes the content and decisions. Examples: Audience-led AMAs, short activities, debriefings

• Collaborate Highly engaged, with the floor often open for input and collective steering. Examples: Workshops, hackathons, open-space discussions, unconference

For more on levels of engagement, check out Elise's article about the Engagement Decoder Key.  

How might you use the levels of engagement to help participants know how to participate in your next meeting or event?

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I mentioned above that participants in Quick (and Fun!) Strategy:Jumpstart Your 2024 Plan will engage at the level of collaborate.  They will: 

• Do their homework in the course platform
• Come to the workshop sessions with cameras on
• Actively discuss things in small groups
• Use planning tools to draft mission statements and map out one strategic priority. 

Savvy participants will take it a step farther. They will:

• Schedule planning meetings with their groups now for January and early February
• Lead their groups in the same activities they experience in class, using our step by step instructions.
• Complete their plans in a matter of hours spread over a few weeks, start to finish.

And they'll be off and running!   

Can you imagine leading your group to do that?  We can show you how!  Watch for emails announcing when registration opens! 

Want more tips? Access Ten Tips to Foster Online Engagement.

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