In 1983 Judy Wicks started the White Dog Café in Philadelphia. It has become an exemplar for a community-based enterprise. Where I live, community enterprise is slowly but surely being eroded as an increasing number of national or international chain stores supplant local stores. While this typically provides benefits such as cheaper goods the longer-termContinue reading “Engagement and community building – the White Dog Café”
Category Archives: Stakeholder engagement
Book review – We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement
Rudy Karsan and Kevin Kruse’s book is pragmatic and of use to anyone looking to improve employee engagement. The book is organised into four parts. The first two deal with the individual and I will get my objections to them out of the way before discussing the gems to be found in parts three andContinue reading “Book review – We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement”
Leadership and engagement – keeping it simple
Some people say that you can’t teach leadership in a classroom. In some ways I agree, because learning leadership should be like learning to walk – something a baby finds difficult and scary, but evidently possible as there are so many role models doing it. I have been teaching leadership for five years and oneContinue reading “Leadership and engagement – keeping it simple”
Learning as a foundation for engagement, part 3: Tools
Earlier posts in this series introduced organisational learning and explored why the practice hasn’t had much traction in organisations. This post offers tools for learning processes. 1. Suggestion box blog In this cartoon by Harvey Schwadron – an employee outside the boss’s office drops a suggestion into the suggestion box. Unfortunately, the suggestion box hasContinue reading “Learning as a foundation for engagement, part 3: Tools”
Learning as a foundation for engagement – part two
From part one of this series, it is evident that the concept of organisational learning has been around for decades. But it doesn’t appear to have made much impact. For me there are two primary reasons: embedded defensiveness over-complicated prescriptions 1. Embedded defensiveness Shooting the messenger is a practice that in earlier days manifest itselfContinue reading “Learning as a foundation for engagement – part two”
Learning as a foundation for engagement (part one)
Four organisational capabilities support internal and external stakeholder engagement – leadership, organisational learning, communication and adaptive capacity (or change). This post examines the strong links between organisational learning and engagement. The discipline of organisational learning has been around for a long time, but does not appear to have gained much traction. I suspect, as engagementContinue reading “Learning as a foundation for engagement (part one)”
More reflections on blogging
I have been blogging now, consistently for most of this year. I am starting to see the fruits of my labour as the search engines seem now to have discovered my blog. Blogging as exploration and inquiry I have been a student for most of my life, completing my formal education just a few yearsContinue reading “More reflections on blogging”
Leadership for our fragile oasis
Last week the NASA astronaut Ron Garan, and the great Muhammad Yunus addressed the Global Social Business Summit. They conveyed a similar message, but from totally different perspectives. Ron Garan is one of those elite who have seen the planet from the outside, and as with several of his peers, the experience had a transformationalContinue reading “Leadership for our fragile oasis”
Stakeholder engagement pays – indirect benefits
With the new year looming, smart companies are considering their development options for the coming year. The smartest will be looking to further develop their engagement capacity. In an earlier post, we looked at the direct benefits of engagement. Here is a sample of some of the indirect benefits of engagement for each of theContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement pays – indirect benefits”
Pepsico, Ethiopia and chickpeas – a win-win-win
Pepsico are engaging with partners and the Ethiopian Government in an initiative to improve chickpea production. Chickpeas are an ideal crop – they grow well in Ethiopia, the have great nutritional values, including high protein and, being a legume, help build soil fertility. Chickpeas – image credit and history of human use The plight ofContinue reading “Pepsico, Ethiopia and chickpeas – a win-win-win”
Bruce-Iri 