Rhythm

In our coalition work, there are a ton of big and little details involved in building partnerships, developing plans, reporting on progress, maintaining progress. From meeting planning (which has at least 25 tasks in itself) to prioritizing, strategizing, implementing and evaluation, there is a lot. And if you have been doing this work for a […]

Similar to new year’s resolutions, beginning the year with an ideal week can be an energizing, exciting and expectation-filled process. We block time to focus, develop boundaries on work and non-work activities and are excited to implement this new method of managing our time. Then, we hit the third or fourth week of January –

One of my favorite practices every new year is to reflect on my schedule and redefine my “ideal week.” I consider the areas that worked well and the areas that did not. I reflect on my meeting vs. focus time cadence and consider what may need to change to live in rhythm more than a

The beauty of our coalition work is that we get to work with people. The people we work with are partners, colleagues and often become dear friends. We learn from them, we learn about them and we treasure the gift of them in our lives. Our partners, colleagues and friends make the coalition work less

In our coalition and team work, we can get caught up doing things that need to be done without considering whether we need to be the one doing them or not. We may have a meeting or a project with a long list of tasks and a short list of people to do them. Although

This time of year has the potential to be both wonderful and overwhelming. We have the opportunity to connect, reflect and celebrate as well as attempt to finish our remaining goals, convene our coalitions at least one more time and finish the year well. When our to-do list gets longer than ever and we struggle

When we are engaging coalition partners, workgroups or teams, we usually want them to actively participate in our meetings. Depending upon the meeting, the level of trust, comfortability of the partners and previous experiences in the meetings, participants will engage at varying levels. One of the ways to garner continued engagement in meetings is to

One of the signs of a functional and trusting group is that you can openly disagree with one another when you meet together. While this is not always easy and conflict can be unsettling, when you are able to disagree agreeably, you often make better and more thoughtful decisions. This is particularly applicable when you

In coalition meetings, we are great at informing, networking and discussing topics. Depending upon the group, sometimes, we are also great at actively working on projects, making progress toward our most important priorities and even collaborating with others. One of the areas that can be particularly challenging in any meeting – or group – is

When we bring diverse partners together to work toward a common cause, one of the benefits of the gathering is to garner multiple perspectives on a topic, issue or project. While this may seem like an easy thing to do, we have to provide an atmosphere where participants feel comfortable sharing their viewpoints even if