This morning, along with about 30,000 other people, I decided to make my way towards the cenotaph in downtown Ottawa, to be present at 11:00 am for, what is for me, one of the most important ceremonial moments of each year. Remembrance Day commemorates the most challenging part of what we are fighting for – freedom, health, and a better, safer future. One thing that became obvious as the magic hour neared was that many of us were never going to get close enough to see what wa

When we introduce LEGO to a group of participants, about 90% grab for the kits as soon as they hit the table, throw one open and get to work. It’s remarkable to watch, really. They just can’t keep their hands off the stuff. Like kids in a … LEGO store? (Note: If you’re wondering what LEGO has to do with anything, see our Lego page for a full explanation.) The other 10% are what we call ‘The Hesitant Few”. These folks may have one or two things going on : they are unfamiliar w

The skill most needed by Visionary Leaders is the ability to surf the edge of chaos. They demonstrate this skill by having the courage to convene their collaborators, the finesse to engage them fully, and the tenacity to sustain their momentum. IN GENERAL: The principles of collaboration apply. 1. Convene, engage and sustain. Adapt your methods as the lifecycle of the initiative evolves. 2. Ensure that there is a common understanding of the temporal context of the situation (

Leaders have struggled for decades, with greater and lesser degrees of success, to navigate the complexity of their world. They want to understand their situation and environment, their risks and opportunities, and the level of commitment across their team. Many have tried to build a process or tool that enables deep common understanding, a shared sense of purpose, and strong situational trust across a diverse team of stakeholders. From our assessment, back in 2001, no one ha

Regardless of industry, all effective leaders are continually trying to understand their situation and environment, their risks and opportunities, and the level of commitment across their team. Many have tried to build a process or tool that enables deep common understanding, a shared sense of purpose, and strong situational trust across a diverse team of stakeholders. From our assessment, back in 2001, no one had succeeded. So we built one. And we succeeded. Therefore, with

Truth be told, there is no tool or process in the world of facilitation that is failsafe – there is no single logical progression that you can take every group through, with utter clarity and transformation manifesting themselves on the other side. However – there’s a template that we’ve been using for close to twelve years now, and it’s proven itself to be pretty darned robust, so we thought we would share it. Originally designed by Christina Comeau, and based out of TRIZ, 1

Leaders have struggled for decades, with greater and lesser degrees of success, to navigate the complexity of their world. They want to understand their situation and environment; their risks and opportunities. Often, these leaders use a strategic planning method called SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to help them achieve clarity and to begin planning a path forward. But we don’t find SWOT a useful way to go about these things. In fact, we find it es

I watch teams as they structure decks for executive consumption all the time. It can be painful to watch. Hundreds of unnecessary words get crammed into each PowerPoint slide as subject matter experts try to fit years of understanding and expertise onto single pages. Complex, meandering storylines appear, and consistent vocabulary… does not. During the subsequent presentation, where deck after deck is brought forward, the executive team tries to appear alert and interested,

Your challenge: You’re looking at $150M worth of proposals for great projects that could revolutionize the services you are offering. That’s exciting! But you have only $15M worth of budget available to invest. That’s a challenge. At CTLabs, we believe we’ve found the solution. We call it “Collaborative Prioritization.” And it works. The essential problem: Since time immemorial, there has been too much to do, and not enough time, money, people, whatever, to do it in. So, for

One of the things I am most thankful to Christina Comeau for teaching me was about the five steps of change: Attention, Intention, Information, Insight, and Action. This five-step process takes place, consciously or unconsciously, at every level of every activity in our lives, including our work lives. In complex organizational change, we watch it occur from the lofty heights of overall program management down through to each tiny email written as a part of the change process

Enabling a culture shift can be a fairly straight-forward process. You don’t even need to download my e-book for $9.99. You can have it here, for free. Start from outcomes. Directionally, where and how do you need your culture to shift? What do they need to do tomorrow that is tangibly different from what they are doing today? Engage them collaboratively, continuously. People change – all the time, every day – and not just their socks! People change – they just dislike BEING

A part of the CTLabs engagement process – the most noticeable part – is the workshop element, the events. Events are where a client brings 1 or 501 friends, stakeholders and neighbors into open collaboration for a day or three, using our processes to enable innovation or transformation, as the situation may require. The question asked around the client core team table is the same one asked after a wedding date has been chosen: who should we invite? Clients usually choose to g