Axiom News Advocacy Blog

The Power of a Question

2011-11-18T21:08:00.010-05:00

Generative journalism is about generative questions
By Kristian Partington

As generative journalists with Axiom News using catalytic questioning as our daily living, we experience the power of a question through the responses we hear in interviews.

Consider Joe Dale, the co-ordinator of an employment program organized through Community Living Ontario that links employers who understand the value of inclusive hiring with others.

Not long ago he was talking about various successes he’s seen in recent months.

“We feel like there’s a lot of momentum and the wheels are starting to turn on the issue and there’s a lot more awareness in the employers’ sector,” Dale told me.

“What has been one of your most memorable experiences during that process?” I asked.

“One of my most memorable experiences?” the co-ordinator repeats.

“Well, that’s kind of an interesting question,” he says, before another pause.

He thought for a moment before describing a man he met who found meaning and value in his life after being out of the workforce for years following the loss of his vision due to macular degeneration.

“He said, ‘You know, I never thought I’d work again and now my wife and I have our own home, and I’m independent and back on track and I just didn’t think this would ever happen again in my life,’ so that was a pretty powerful statement,” Dale recalls.

“How did that experience make you feel?” comes the next question, and it took no time for him to say that hearing a powerful story of rejuvenation helps him see that all the effort is worth it.

A question has the power to allow people to re-examine what it is that gives them purpose, and it gives them license to draw from that purpose as they imagine the future.

It can inspire people to consider a different point of reference for the quests they have in life.

In the case of Joe Dale, a couple of questions reminded him of the importance of the work he does for others.

A question can be a powerful thing.

What questions do you think are powerful?

Comment below, or contact kristian(at)axiomnews.ca with your feedback.

Remembrance and Regret: A Story from 1944

2011-11-11T09:25:00.003-05:00

By Kristian Partington

On a March night in 1944 on a beachhead in Anzio, Italy, 19-year-old James Donald Schofield was shot by German bullets.

I know about him only because I came across his name, and the circumstances of that night while digging for a Remembrance Day story for one of the long-term care clients I write for, Schlegel Villages.

Douglas Martin is a resident at the Village of Humber Heights in Etobikoke and he was there that night, struggling along with Schofield as he clung to life. Today, Martin’s vision is all but faded and his memory is much the same, but his wife, Elsie, says when it comes to the war and that March night in 1944, his memory is clear.

Martin was a member of the 1st Special Service Force, known as the Devil’s Brigade. It was a joint Canadian-American commando unit organized in 1942 and disbanded in December, 1944.

He was on a night patrol along that beachhead when he came under enemy fire. As he lay in a drainage ditch beside the road, a groaning soldier clutching his stomach stumbled into the ditch beside him.

“I recognized him as J.D. Schofield,” Martin told his daughter in a dictated statement — he wanted the story recorded with hope that if it was shared through the veterans’ newsletters, he might one day put his regrets to rest.

“We held onto each other as I proceeded to lead him to our own lines,” his story continues. “He was a heavy man and after a short walk we had to stop.”

With the help of fellow soldiers, Doug managed to get the wounded Schofield to an Italian farmhouse relatively safe from danger where he was placed in a chair so his wounds could be disinfected.

He was later shipped to hospital but, sadly, word returned that his wounds were too great and Schofield never made it through the night.

Martin’s regret is that upon his return to Canada, and in the 63 years since that night, he never contacted Schofield’s parents to tell them his story.

“The only thing I could have said to them was that I was with your son on the night he was fatally wounded.”

I spoke with Elsie Martin after reading his dictated version of that terrible night. She was happy to have me write about it.

After the story was published on the site I couldn’t get the name J.D. Schofield out of my head.

I searched through the archives online for a while and found that Private James Douglas Schofield, a member of the Canadian Special Service Battalion, R.C.I.C., died in Italy on March 13, 1944.

He was from Cambridge Station, Nova Scotia, and his parents, Gilbert and A. May Schofield, must’ve been devastated to outlive their son.

As it stands, I’ve made the legion in Kentville, just down the road from what J.D. Schofield left behind went he left to fight in Europe, aware of Doug Martin’s story.

Schofield is a common enough name in that part of the country, but if there is any family left hopefully we can track them down. They may be nephews or nieces, but I’d hope they appreciate what Doug Martin has carried over these past six decades.

I was touched by the story and I know I won’t forget it.

For all the J.D. Schofields and Douglas Martins, my heart is filled with gratitude.

Peace.

Meeting and Interviewing Muhammad Yunus

2011-11-07T14:26:00.011-05:00

Muhammad Yunus and Camille Jensen

By Camille Jensen

Like all things highly anticipated in life, they are never the way you imagine them. My interview with Muhammad Yunus was to be the same.

Originally planned for late afternoon Monday in Atlanta, a double-booked schedule meant the only time Yunus could be available was Sunday evening after a dinner reception welcoming the Nobel laureate to Georgia’s capital.

It was during an after dinner conversation that I learned the interview would take place in mere minutes (thank goodness I had my recorder), and Yunus and I were escorted to an empty table while the noisy dinner reception ensued.

He had just arrived from Haiti earlier that day, and despite more than likely being tired and not wanting to be interviewed at 9 p.m., Yunus gave me his rapt attention.

Yunus shared with me his vision and hope for the younger generation. While his generation grew up wanting to make money, a desire that made sense for the times, today’s youth are not finding that narrative nearly as compelling. They see problems and they want to solve them. Providing young people a new option to do so using a self-sustaining model is the reason Yunus travels the world sharing his concept of social business.

Yunus also touched on his trip to Haiti where he and the Grameen Creative Lab are establishing infrastructure and a fund to enable the growth of social business. He talked about learning that Haiti imports much of its food: food it could be growing on its own land, and the how technology can support Haitians to discover creative solutions like using a smart phones to deliver health care in remote villages.
(See Haiti Partners Launching Social Business to Improve Education)

We spoke for 15 minutes, with Yunus even waving off one of the organizers biding over his time to let us finish our conversation. In the course of two days, I came to appreciate how Yunus is constantly in service to others, be it pictures, meetings, interviews. It's this last sentiment I'd like to end with.

We talk a lot at Axiom News about the concept of meaningful contribution. It’s different than just serving others, it means knowing what you’re good at, and using your gifts and talents to pursue activities that are meaningful to you.

Yunus is doing this. He spends his time advocating for a way of doing business he believes can put poverty in a museum (meaningful). His many gifts — leadership, commitment, storytelling and compassion — have inspired countless people (contribution). Even large companies like Intel, Danone and Adidas are putting the social business concept into practice, worthy progress that’s important to appreciate.

We plan to continue storying the work underway in the social business movement. But if there’s one takeaway that’s worth sharing from this meeting is the importance of following your passion.

If you’re doing what you love, as Yunus is on the possibility of social business, a life work at age 71, then speaking with a journalist after a long day, suddenly, doesn’t seem so bad.

Related Stories:
Adding Selflessness to Economics

Muhammad Yunus Inspires Young People to Change their World

Sparking Happiness in Communities through Generative Journalism

2011-10-28T15:53:00.003-04:00

By Michelle Strutzenberger

In my 10 years of practicing generative journalism with Axiom News, my most memorable experiences have been seeing how we spark happiness in communities, mostly workplaces but also other congregate settings.

Michelle Strutzenberger

Axiom News stories the good work, vision and commitment of organizations and their people.

In the process, we seek to heighten their culture of storytelling, appreciation and commitment, aiming to catalyze individual and organizational achievement.

But I’ve been both surprised and most deeply affected in seeing some people show a new spark when they’re interviewed and storied.

It’s come through most vividly when we’ve storied the passions, gifts and strengths of people, and how those are making a difference in their and others’ lives.

We do these stories with all kinds of people: front-line staff and people our clients serve including people who have an intellectual disability and residents living in long-term care.

While mainstream journalism tends to focus on the highs — celebrities and royal weddings — and the lows — crack addicts and break-ins — generative journalism mines the untapped treasure-field of the glorious “middle,” what many would consider regular people and events.

I think that’s another reason for its ability to spark happiness — the people we’re storying are surprised by the attention.

I remember Rusty, a young man who has an intellectual disability who is into car racing. He’s obsessed. He races every Saturday and has won a bunch of awards.

I remember trying hard to capture his passion and joy in the story.

His family ended up asking for six copies of the story as keepsakes and to share around.

It was clearly a moment of happiness for them, but also for me. Wonder how many mainstream journalists could say they’re truly happy?

There was also Ana Bajer, a woman with an incredible history living in a long-term care home. Born in Croatia, she was separated from her mother at three years old after her father died. She never attended school as her help was needed to support the family.

In her 20s she and her children and husband spent time in separate refugee camps before they finally immigrated to Canada in the 1950s.

All her life she sought to help and comfort others, and she continued to do in this long-term care home too.

People around her called her the kindest, gentlest soul you could ever meet, and in fact, the corporation had chosen her to be honoured in a special event for this.

But what’s coolest for me, and most relevant to this article, is how honoured she was to be recognized.

With no trace of self-pity, she talked about how she was never noticed by people, except the sick she tended to.

But now she said she so thankful and happy to have a light shine on her for a bit. “I like that very much,” she said.

She asked for a copy of the story to be printed and framed on her wall.

These are just two examples of the many people we at Axiom News lift up through our stories. I know for a fact my colleagues have had similar responses from the people they’ve interviewed.

We’re sparking a focus on people’s gifts and passions, and in turn people feel happy, noticed, honoured and excited. They want to share the stories with their friends and family, put them up on their walls and store them as keepsakes.

I strongly suspect they wouldn’t feel the same way if we had just interviewed them on the abuse they suffered, just as an example.

Our clients, by the way, including Community Living Ontario and Leisureworld Senior Care Corporation, should be given extra attention for even wanting us to do these stories. What does this say about them? I think that’s fodder for another blog.

One final question I’m guessing is on some people’s minds is, what does this matter, especially to an organization? Happiness is nice, but productivity and achievement have to be top. More thoughts on that coming soon!

Four Conversations, a Series of Inspiration

2011-10-21T08:53:00.001-04:00

By Kristian Partington

I’m often inspired by the people I speak with for the stories I write, but this week has been especially striking.

I had the opportunity to interview four women from completely separate backgrounds, and through each conversation I found myself admiring the compassion and dedication they hold so close.

For one article I wrote about a conference that brought together some of the country’s brightest young minds to tackle questions of sustainability.

I spoke with a Mount Allison student of international relations, economics and environmental science named Keleigh Annau, who was at the conference as an alumni facilitator and presenter.

She spoke of the need to combine talents, passions, and knowledge as we look to correct the mistakes of the past in a more sustainable future. She also talked about an initiative she spearheaded called Lights Out Canada — a concept so simple in its brilliance that it’s caught on across the country.

For the same article I connected with the manager of sustainability and corporate citizenship with The Co-operators, the company that, along with several partners, organized the conference.

Wendy Carruthers works day in day out, through the power of the company she works for and beyond, to make the world a better place. She told me how lucky she feels in her job, and though the lines between work and home life may blur at times, she pushes forward with a genuine desire to make a difference.

So there were two inspiring women, striving to make a difference in the world; good start to my week.

Then, for a different article, I had to venture into a dark period in Canadian history and draw out a positive that came from it. I spoke with Monica Danon-Schaffer, an engineer who travels the globe auditing operations for environmental sustainability and pushing for responsible development — an inspiring job in its own right.

But I interviewed Monica about a different role she has a new director with a foundation set up in the aftermath of the Montreal Massacre of December, 1989, when a crazed gunman took the lives of 14 women at École Polytechnique.

He hated feminists and killed those women because they were studying engineering. The Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation was created not long after that black December day as a way to support and encourage women in the field.

While studying for her PhD, Monica was a recipient of one the many grants the foundation has offered in the past 20 years, and she now has the privilege and honour of giving back to the fund that means so much to her on several fronts.

While I reflected on Monica’s story and the savagery of shootings in Montreal, my phone rang. The soft voice on the other end of the line was Lorna van Mossel, an elderly woman who lives at the Village of Winston Park, a retirement home in Kitchener.

The general manager of the village suggested I speak with her about the lifetime achievement award she received at the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Women of the Year gala.

Lorna had dedicated her life to the principles of social justice and fairness for everyone in society, and she has a soft spot for the marginalized and vulnerable. She was recognized for her work helping new Canadians settle into their new homes — work she began with her late husband, Bert, when Vietnam War refugees began settling in Kitchener-Waterloo in the 1970s.

She told me it’s a dedication she’s proud of and work that never ends, though her eyesight is failing as she ages.

Her compassion rang clear as we spoke and I could’ve talked with her for hours, but I had an article to write, so we kept it to about 20 minutes.

I hung up the phone and thought for a time about what passion and dedication mean and how, in the context of four conversations, I had been inspired.

We’ll see what next week brings.

If you have questions or comments, please add them below or feel free to e-mail kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Coming Full Circle from My Previous Life

2011-10-14T18:12:00.002-04:00

By Kristian Partington

About four years ago in what I’ll call my previous life, before freelance writing my way into generative journalism with Axiom News and after my work as a conduit between the public and elected government officials, I worked for an ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful environmental sustainability project.

I was part of a team comprised of Canadians, Americans and Brazilians tasked with making one man’s vision of a personal care product line derived from sustainable materials sourced in Brazil a reality. A large portion of future profits were to be reserved for sustainable development in Brazil, and the idea of it all was beyond exciting.

It was not meant to be, however, but not for any lack of any passion, determination or knowledge.

The global economic meltdown in 2008 conspired against us, and the investor wisely pulled the financing.

And here is sit today, almost three years to the day since I first took off for Brazil, feeling that my path has come full circle.

See, as a generative journalist I write about a range of topics for a range of clients, seeking out the best in the people I story. I also write about subjects that we at Axiom News hold close in our personal commitments to creating a better world.

The concept of environmental sustainability crosses my path on a regular basis for this reason, and yesterday I wrote about an environmental scientist in Brazil named Rafael Tannus, who happens to be a close friend who I met and worked with three years ago.

When that project fell through, I took up freelance writing and eventually found my way here. Rafael left the project, started a consulting business and began chasing his dream of creating an entirely sustainable alternative to petrochemical-based plastics using agricultural waste from banana tree fibres.

He intends to open a factory this February in the Ribeira Valley , the poorest region of Sao Paulo state where he’ll source his raw materials,

He’ll start “humbly,” he says, by creating simple vases that can be made inexpensively, turn a modest profit and prove the technology is viable. In five years, he hopes to be creating a variety of different products, ideally offering this sustainable material as a replacement for various petrochemical-based packaging materials.

He’ll also reinvest heavily in helping the farmers adopt more sustainable agricultural practices.

“For me, the world is unacceptable as it is, so we need to change it,” Rafael told me when I asked about what drives him.

“It’s simple like that; try to change things for a nicer way of living.”

In my current life, these are the stories my fellow journalists and I bring to light. Across the world there are people like Rafael, using their knowledge and ambition to create a better future through innovation.

Coming full circle from my previous life and sharing these stories is an exciting thing to be part of.

Check out www.axiomnews.ca to see Rafael’s story, and many others about people re-shaping their world for the better.

Chatting Journalism with Peter Block

2011-10-07T14:57:00.018-04:00

By Camille Jensen

When author and thought leader Peter Block welcomed us to his workshop on building community, he said our actions must be an example of our intentions, and encouraged us to welcome strangers, organize in small groups, and most of all, be curious about others.

Peter Block blends facilitation with humour and fun.

Staying true to his word, Peter sat down between me and another woman, turning to each of us to say “Hi, my name is Peter.”

I introduced myself, sharing that I work with Axiom News.

While Peter has connected with our founder, yet another Peter, through a project to revamp Cincinnati, I didn’t expect him to make the connection. Axiom News is based in Ontario, and here we were in a community centre across the country.

But he did.

“You’re with Axiom News,” he said immediately. “You guys are doing great work.”

If I had already participated in Peter’s workshop I would have learned a better way to respond, something most of us of never do, by accepting the compliment and saying “thank-you.” Even better, I could have said “Thank you, I like hearing that.”

Instead, I smiled awkwardly and turned the conversation around, gushing how I was “obviously” a big fan of his work.

Peter kept on.

“No, I really think you guys have figured it out. You’ve found a sustainable revenue model, and you’re writing a new narrative.”

There’s an entire section of Peter’s website devoted to new journalism. It’s there he makes the case that while media decries the loss of a sustainable revenue model as a result of the Internet, the real question they need to be asking is what kind of stories they are going to tell.

Peter’s thinking on journalism is very much in line with Axiom News, an approach that focuses on what’s working and brings to life the gifts (Peter’s language) or strengths (Axiom’s language) already in the system.

“If we care about our community, and want to focus on its abundance, we have to track the role that this fourth estate, call it journalism, plays as a major narrator of the stories of our culture and our neighbourhood,” reads the New Journalism section of Abundant Community website.

Peter says this shift in journalism that shares the compassion and generousity alive in our neighbourhoods can play a major civic role in building community, and he's passionate about it coming to fruition.

Our conversation was short, Peter had to excuse himself to start the workshop, but we met briefly throughout the day and during these moments Peter would turn the conversation back to media missing its real transformation opportunity, the move to a new narrative.

When the day ended, I went to say good-bye and Peter hugged me, adding “You’re doing great work.”

This time, I said thank-you.

Building New Ways to Co-Create Communication

2011-09-30T17:26:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

We know that the news world is changing. Previous blog entries here speak to that point. News is changing from top-down communications held by the few and distributed to the many to one where many share what’s important to them through social networks, while the content is distributed through a few niche markets.

People now turn to their social networks to see how their friends and family react to current events and get advice, transforming how people connect with one another and do business.

At Axiom News, our story-sharing services have always been engagement-based. We connect with an organization’s stakeholders for interviews and construct a narrative based on that conversation.

But we know many stakeholders are already producing their own content and media. Many have Twitter accounts, videos on YouTube, press releases and more.

It’s time to start co-creating the news with the organizations we serve.

Over the next couple months, we’re excited to start the co-creation journey with a couple of our partner organizations. We’ll first look at what’s already happening in their community, what types of content is being produced and who’s involved.

We’ll also be inviting people to create content based on story themes we’re working on. Then we’ll start the work of curating and making meaning of the conversation.

Watch for more to come.

Celebrating A Social Space: Vancouver’s W2 Opens

2011-09-23T14:01:00.018-04:00

By Camille Jensen

The frosted snow flake that bounced and bobbed across the electronic screen first caught my attention when entering the W2 Media Arts café.

There for a coffee, the barista saw me admiring the multi-media art displayed on what looks like a vending machine, and encouraged me to touch it. Sensing my finger the screen blotted a dark hole in the picture’s middle. Another woman came over and tapped the picture, spiraling it into a half-dozen pieces that now included our own faces as part of the image.

“It’s a puzzle, now you have to put it back together,” she says.

A staff member of the café piped in, “It’s much harder than it looks.” Smiles.

They didn’t have coffee, the café was closed in preparation for its grand opening night, but this is just one of the ways W2 Community Media Arts is inspiring creativity and community in all its interactions.

Spanning three floors of the new Woodward's building, the artist-run media arts centre is designed to connect residents and artists through digital culture, food and dialogue. It’s located on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, known as Canada’s poorest postal code. The area is home to 6,000 people who have no phones, computers or Internet, according to W2. The centre plans to bridge this digital divide by providing free computers, weekly Internet workshops, and a community meeting space — all encouraging residents to develop new skills and express their creativity.

The dynamic media centre plans to be self sufficient by running social enterprises like its cafe, offering affordable rent to community and alternative media, and hosting events like the newly created and popular Creative Mornings program.

The project is made possible through a 20-year $1-a-year lease from the City of Vancouver in community amenity space built by the developer, Westbank Projects, according to the Vancouver Sun.

It was when I returned later that evening for the ribbon-cutting that I fully experienced W2 as the community builder it intends to be. The building’s atrium is already a favourite space for people to interact with creative design, featuring an indoor basketball court underneath a giant art depiction of the famous Gastown riots. Tonight for the W2 Media Arts open it was drawing a diverse crowd to watch break dancing and listen to DJs spin hip-hop jams.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who was commended for helping the project come to fruition, cut the ribbon remarking that amidst local and global challenges W2 can bring voices to the table that need to be heard.

I saw some of my colleagues from the HiVE — we’re located directly across the street — and was surprised to learn about their involvement in the project. Hazen Sise, senior Architect at Walter Francl Architecture, served as W2's architectural consultant.

Theresa Beer, now an independent communications consultant, worked for the city during the Olympics when W2 opened a temporary media centre. She remembers how the space encouraged independent and younger journalists and bloggers to seek out different stories about the Olympics the main networks weren’t covering, including the issue of homelessness.

I left the event excited. The project is good urbanism, and demonstrates what’s possible when many players — government, business and non-profit — collaborate to achieve social goals. While W2 is still raising funds for its broadcast studio, the social enterprise element ensures the project can be supported in a sustainable manner. Years in the making, W2 Community Media Arts is living into its potential to be an empowering force for its neighbourhood.

Validating the Desire to Dream Big

2011-09-16T17:49:00.002-04:00

By Kristian Partington

I’ve always believed that if you allow yourself to dream big, great things are possible, but don’t allow yourself just one big dream; dream big and dream many.

The more ambitious goals you set, the greater likelihood there is you’ll see them become a reality.

This philosophy began forming when I was a kid drifting in and out of “reality” in classrooms with large windows made for staring out of while information battled with creativity.

I see it at play again in my role as a generative journalist with Axiom News. Throughout my life I’ve had many goals, and still do. In my work, the same things go for my colleagues and I.

I dreamt about mountains when I was 12. Having moved from Alberta to Ontario, I missed big skies and big scenery. I imagined launching a canoe in the Trent River and paddling to Lake Louise with my dog as companion.

Five years later, I stared upon the Rocky Mountains from a perch on the side of the King’s Highway. I hitchhiked to the shores of the Pacific, picked up a smooth white stone.

I dreamt about exploring the outback, coastlines and Snowy Mountains of Australia when I was a kid, and by the time I was 19 I was working in the bush 120 km east of Darwin in the Northern Territory. I visited the country again a couple years later to see what I missed the first time.

At Axiom News, I’ve been given license to dream big again, as is the case with all of us who envision a better world created, in part, through the questions we ask and the stories we write.

We’re currently in a mad process of organic creation where we’re reshaping how stakeholder news is created and shared, and how we can best leverage the power of storytelling by threading meaning along themes in the 70-plus articles we publish a week.

We dreamt up new products, based on our core storytelling service, in a collaborative Axiom summit at the end of August. And now, three weeks later, here I sit with the first completed prototype on my desk.

That was one dream, but we’ve got many more to bring to fruition and the more dreams we have, the better.

We encourage you to comment below, and if you have any questions about generative journalism, feel free to drop me a line at kristian(at)axiomnews.ca.

Women Working to Make a Better World

2011-09-09T16:14:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

I’m becoming deeply engaged in discovering and sharing stories from the network of people working to enhance opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

And perhaps part of what makes it so exciting is that it came to me by surprise.

Around the middle of July, Donna Morton, an inspiring entrepreneur and CEO in B.C., pitched Axiom News a story idea coming out of her experience as a fellow at this year’s Unreasonable Institute. She was excited about the number of women represented at the mentor-accelerator program that convened 26 people to live and work together for six months.

While interviewing Donna for that story, she mentioned a stat around the number of women who are receiving impact investments. She wasn’t positive where she heard the stat and directed me towards a couple organizations to check in with, so I started a search.

Thanks to that search I talked to Morgan Simon at Toniic, a network of 29 impact investors looking to place $100 million into global social enterprise. Morgan gave me some great information and introduced me to the work of Jackie VanderBrug at Criterion Ventures.

Jackie’s at the forefront of Women Effect Investments, an initiative shaping the social-capital markets to maximize their impact on women and girls. In addition to sharing about the exciting initiative she provided context around what is a gender lens and where the case for gender lens investing has been made.

Jackie connected me to Pamela Chaloult, managing director at Renewal, who is passionate about women entrepreneurship. Watch for a story on that next week.

What’s most exciting is the response I’m getting when talking with these leaders. After each interview, I’m inspired by the work happening, and thrilled to be introduced to more people in the space who are working to create positive change.

I have to admit, I hadn’t taken much time before to consider the different strengths of men and women.

Donna’s speaking at TEDx Winnipeg Sept. 15. Her presentation is called The Gatherer’s Economy: Women Re-Shaping the World. She told me about some of the biological differences in the way men and women’s brains work, with men having more gray matter and are good at chasing things down and having a single focus, which she calls “the hunter’s brain.”

Women tend to have more white matter activity, the connectivity parts of the brain, which lend towards problem solving, long-term thinking, complexity, and gathering information, which Donna calls the make-up of a gatherer.

The question is; how can we leverage these differences to create the best impact on people, organizations and the world?

Road Trip to See What the Sharks are Circling

2011-09-02T14:30:00.002-04:00

By Kristian Partington

In my mind, the idea of an advisory team inspires images of a group of suited sharks circling corporate takeover bids, or lawyers defending the unscrupulous deeds of media barons and oil tycoons — too much television, perhaps.

For more than three months now, I’ve been writing a steady stream of strengths-based stories from within Schlegel Villages — an organization that, from my perspective, serves and cares for an aging population with integrity, compassion and distinction.

From my first story on, I’ve been continually impressed with the organization’s commitment to the important role it plays within one of society’s most important sectors.

An advisory team has a part to play in all this.

The 11 “villages” aren’t nursing homes; they’re communities, and the Schlegel family that provides homes within the villages is continually looking to change the culture of aging for the better.

I was invited to travel to London, Ontario, to visit the Village of Glendale Crossing to observe a major component of the driving force behind the culture change in action. Yesterday I completed the 700-kilometre round trip and spent the day with the advisory team.

It was totally worth the trip.

This group is made up of a cross-section of stakeholders. Residents sat with directors of operations; family members spoke freely with managers, and front-line personal support workers and nutrition care aides had as much say in the group’s advice as anyone.

The group was created a year ago to inform the direction of an Appreciative Inquiry summit designed to help the entire organization discover its strengths and determine what needed to happen to build on them as it moved towards an ideal vision for the future of elder care.

A year later, the ideas the group helped foster have led to tangible progress in the culture change movement, leading to a truly progressive view of what resident-centred care means, and the momentum is really only just beginning to catch steam.

I was struck by one gentleman who spoke at the beginning of the meeting. He joined the team because his mother lived in one of the villages and he wanted to help make her life better.

She passed away rather suddenly at the beginning of August, yet there he was not a month later, reaffirming his passion and commitment to making the world better for anyone who finds themselves in need of long-term or retirement care as age progresses.

The advisory team is working, he told the group, and that momentum will continue to grow. But culture change doesn’t happen over night, and the way the movement grows is to define it for more and more people, he said, and the group agreed.

To sit with an advisory team emboldened by such passion was a humbling experience. It’s a much nicer group of sharks, circling the idea of institutional seniors care and defending a new approach to the culture of aging.

Democracy in the Workplace: Now I Understand

2011-08-26T14:28:00.001-04:00

By Kristian Partington

Democracy in the workplace is a cool notion, but it could be viewed as a little obscure if you’ve never been in the middle of it.

Work has a sort of hierarchy, at least as I used to know it. Bosses, presidents and directors make decisions on direction, and those in the lower tiers implement those ideas and make them happen, whether they agree with them or not. Otherwise, they find new jobs.

But in the past six months, I’ve been finding myself immersed in a democratic environment where the opinions I hold are as valued as anyone’s. Over the past two days, I sat in a room with my colleagues — writers and visionaries who imagine a better world where sustainability, social justice and equality reign.

During this summit of ideas, Peter Pula, the CEO of Axiom News, asked us to discover our own strengths and acknowledge those of our teammates while considering when we felt most alive and energized in our work. He then asked us to imagine what needed to happen to replicate that feeling.

He dared us to design what our future in the company looked like, and gave us license to create our ideal job.

The result was a collaborative approach to business and product development unlike anything I’d seen in personal practice. The result is a realistic and tangible direction that will at once grow our collective opportunities and honour our personal vision.

Where the summit ended was exactly where it was meant to because really, what can go wrong when you put a group of intelligent, principled and committed people in a room together and dare them to dream of the possible.

My friend Jen has written a fair bit about workplace democracy.

Earlier this year, she attended the WorldBlu Live conference in San Francisco on behalf of Axiom News, where she accepted an award recognizing our company as one that celebrates freedom and democracy in the workplace — the fifth such consecutive award we’ve received.

It was still an obscure concept for me in a way.

After feeling the rush of empowerment that came to me through that two-day summit, the concept is now as real as anything.

Feel free to relate how empowerment happens in your workplace. Comment below or contact 800-294-0051, ext. 24.

The Changing Nature of News 2

2011-08-19T16:56:00.011-04:00

By Camille Jensen

Next week, I will be boarding a plane to join my colleagues for a two-day open space summit on the future of news.

The subject matter is ambitious, inspiring and complex — a perfect challenge for the Axiom News team.

To give you some context as to how this is reflective of our culture, Axiom’s founder Peter Pula has a habit of ending conversations with “big things indeed.” That’s because conversations with Peter are expansive, futuristic and never end with one answer. Bleeding-edge stuff.

Our news coverage and services bear the marks of these conversations by continually exploring new solutions that can shape our world with a focus on strengths, social mission and democratic principles. Building our newsroom of the future will undoubtedly be these three axioms, and more.

Some of the ideas we’re exploring are how to build new and better pathways for participation. Our role may be to ask the right questions, convene many to answer, and help shape the meaning that comes from it. Multiple mediums will play a larger role as younger generations don’t exclusively relate to print journalism.

It was the Economist’s special report on the news industry that points to the transformation of the news from owning the story to participating in a larger conversation. This was most evident during the Arab Spring, where traditional news lagged behind social media leading the Economist to suggest a newspaper’s role may be to select, filter, analyze facts, and provide editorial direction.

While the Internet has run roughshod over news tradition, most people — and we can now add most journalists to this group — agree the change is creating innovation and a diversity that can only be valuable.

For me, a mosaic of newsmakers and news models is a beautiful thing, and one we all can encourage through our media consumption. It fascinates me that many media outlets continue to claim anything not critical or a calamity isn't news. It was the news not making headlines that drove me to explore Canada's concentration of media ownership for my final subject in university. Analyzing our media oligopoly from three perspectives, I was able to explore media’s power, its purpose and the need for new funding models. It was there I first learned of Marshall McLuhan, a man whose ideas about the importance of medium are making a comeback for good reason.

It's for these reasons, and more, that I’m looking forward to boarding that plane and joining my teammates in a rich conversation with many perspectives (one of our journalists, Lisa, started her career on a manual typewriter).

While newsroom functions are shifting at a historic rate, the empowerment that can come from engaging many people in shaping the story of the day holds great potential. A potential that makes even difficult change rewarding.

Big things, indeed.

Related Blog:
The Changing Nature of News

Sharing Powerful Learning Experience Stories

2011-08-12T09:49:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

While most of the writing I do for Axiom News is about businesses and workplaces, I’ve recently started to dig into a new topic — transformational learning.

Education is a huge part of our lives and society. As adults, our school days can feel like a long time ago. But just as adults spend the majority of our waking hours in the workplace, during our childhood and youth years that time is spent in schools and classrooms.

But sometimes the most powerful learning experiences happen outside the walls of a school.

While attending WorldBlu LIVE in May, I sat in on Sam Chaltain’s breakout session, called Bring on the Learning Revolution! Sam is a writer and education activist, and a member of the WorldBlu team working to help them create healthy, high-functioning, democratically-designed learning environments.

Participants paired up and shared with one another our answer to the question: What was your most powerful personal experience in a learning community — regardless of whether that experience took place inside or outside of school?

Take a minute and reflect on the question. What pops to mind when you think of your most powerful learning experience?

With only a matter of minutes to think this over, I was surprised at my own answer being about a major journalism assignment at university. It was for an analytical reporting class, and I chose to dig into autism support services for children. At the time, I knew very little about autism, and getting informed on the services and issues seemed daunting.

The powerful learning part came when I visited a couple homes and interacted with families. During the first visit, I spent hours interviewing and talking with the parents, and met their son, who has autism. At another home, a teen who has autism spent an afternoon sharing his hobbies with me.

Through Sam’s work, he’s discovered there are five common attributes to powerful learning experiences. They are: challenging, engaging, relevant (the learning is relevant to the learner), supportive and experiential.

While most of these attributes were present in my story, the one that stands out is experiential — it was outside of the classroom, interactive and real.

In a recent interview, Sam told me the beauty of knowing these five attributes is that knowledge surfaces the best question anyone can start asking in their own community: In what ways are we already creating learning environments that are challenging, engaging, relevant supportive and experiential?

Sam has started a campaign where people can share their learning stories at facesoflearning.net. Each story is assigned one or more characteristics that were present to make that learning so powerful. Check it out or comment below to share your most powerful learning experiences!

The Changing Nature of News

2011-08-05T16:05:00.001-04:00

Finding a place in the evolution of journalism

By Kristian Partington

The nature of news is evolving, just as nature around us is in a constant state of transformation. As a Generative Journalist, I think I may have figured out what these changes mean, at least for me.

I’ve asked myself numerous times since I first stepped into a class to formally study the profession — especially after our lead professor told 90 budding journalists that we should pick different career if we wanted to make any money — where does a writer/storyteller/journalist fit into the new nature of things?

Shortly after I began working at a newspaper, I knew I didn’t fit there. Chasing family members of murder victims for a story was not the kind of story I wanted to tell.

The next step was government communications, but spun stories about the slow-moving wheels of progress weren’t the kind of stories I wanted to tell either.

I like stories of strength, and success — the stories that are all too often buried in the pages of blood-rag dailies that sensationalize the faults of society.

As a freelance writer, I wrote about passion and art in the world of music, but not often enough, so I wrote about anything and everything for whomever would pay, feeling at times like a prostitute journalist.

My professor may have been right, I told myself in periods of bank account darkness, though I had faith that my optimism would pay off and I would find a place in the changing world of journalism that was watching the decline of North American newspapers with feelings of scorn and blame.

Blogs and Twitter were diminishing the role of “real journalists,” bemoaned the masses, while the Internet was destroying the cash cow of advertising-funded news services.

As these conversations and cries carried on, I stumbled across a job posting from Axiom News seeking a generative journalist. The posting asked me to describe how storytelling changed me, and what some of the most significant things were that I learned from a source. It asked me to consider what it would mean to use my skill to make a difference in the world.

I fought for the job and today my role at Axiom News is to affect positive change within the sectors we serve through the stories we tell.

Striking balance between resource development and environmental sustainability; building a society that looks past disability to recognize the value of everyone; caring for the elders who gave of themselves for our future, and allowing them to live and die with dignity in their final years; finding out what’s right in the world of health care and helping share best practices with like-minded souls; encouraging new thinking in the education of our youth; I dig into these all, and more.

This is the new nature of news, I think. These stories of strength serve a purpose and find their way to the people who can build upon those strengths.

I help to shape this news, instead of simply reporting it, for I encourage those in a given field to define their strength and imagine how that can be built upon for the betterment of their sector.

Yes, the nature of news is evolving, but those very things that many say contribute to the decline of journalism — the Internet, blogs, social networking — these are the tools that will help fuel the drive for strengths-based change.

Feel free to comment below and if you’d like more information on Generative Journalism, visit www.axiomnews.ca.

Making the World Smaller for a Storyteller

2011-07-29T08:24:00.011-04:00

Feeding a lust of travel from a desk in Peterborough

By Kristian Partington

I’ll begin with a cliché; sometimes they’re the most appropriate phrase to describe a feeling.

It’s a small world.

See, aside from telling stories, I’m a person who lusts for travel and the experiences that come with meeting new faces and seeing new places. The best stories can be found along the road.

At the age of 17, I thumbed my way along the breadth of the King’s Highway that crosses Canada, and upon retrieving a white stone from the shores of the Pacific I turned around and made my way back home.

I climbed volcanoes in Indonesia, dived deep along the Great Barrier Reef, felt sorrow at the sight of receding glaciers in New Zealand , and nearly drowned when the tide came in on the north shore of Oahu.

I don’t get to travel as much these days, but as a generative journalist with Axiom News, I touch many corners of the globe regularly, and I’m certain that one day, my work will steer me into more than a few travelling adventures.

Today I connected with Australia again in my dealing with the business development director of a company we serve. Through e-mail, we’ve been discussing the growth of the company in Australasia, and I thought back to the orange and red earth of Australian deserts, and the dense jungles of Sumatra.

I have a vision of travelling to see the work that same company is doing in the Canadian Arctic as it explores the idea of developing a deep-sea port just south of the Northwest Passage from which iron ore can travel across the globe.

I yearn to see the Arctic landscape, and perhaps one day they’ll invite me.

Not long ago, I spoke with George Rotor, the founder of Engineers without Borders for a story. He spoke about the hope he saw in the eyes of a coffee farmer in the mountains of Malawi who saw Fair Trade certification as a means to educate his daughters.

I felt that hope as well, just as I could envision the lush hills of the east African countryside and smell the fresh coffee beans springing from the earth of the plantations there.

One day, I’ll go in person, but until then, I’ll keep making the world smaller through the stories I generate from my desk in Peterborough, and I’ll always be making plans.

Visit www.axiomnews.ca to learn more about the work we do and the clients we serve.

Being a Generative Journalist

2011-07-22T14:11:00.005-04:00

By Kristian Partington

My business card says I’m a generative journalist.

Before the cards went to print, I discussed with my colleagues whether or not we should constrain ourselves with titles, for our roles at Axiom News can vary. At times, I’m a copy editor and then I’ll shift to writer.

Sometimes I do layout of e-newsletters that go out to people around the world who find interest in the strengths of the clients we serve.

All of us — whether we’re a writer, graphic designer, news lead or CEO — consider business development and together, we envision the ideal organizations we could serve.

But ultimately, I’m a storyteller that strives to generate new thought and shine a bit of light on the visionaries who’re trying to make a better world through the work they do, be it in long-term care, developmental services, engineering, or education.

I strive to provoke thought in the people I speak with, drawing out the best they have to offer the world with the questions I ask. I hope to generate a vision for the future they might not have considered, or I help them define the one they already have.

In the process, I generate new ways of thinking in my own scattered brain. See, everyone has a story to tell and I have the luxury of hearing new ones every day, considering them carefully before I translate them upon a computer screen.

These stories generate a number of wonderful words on a regular basis: compassion; inspiration; hope; beauty; discovery; gratitude and respect come to mind right away.

I never tire of writing them, and hearing them flow from the thoughts of people, most of whom I’ve never met.

In a short time, I become connected to their past, present and future, and when I write the story, I hope the reader feels the same way.

So my card says I’m a generative journalist and when I give one out, it usually generates an interesting conversation.

And the title has kind of a nice ring to it.

Feel free to comment here, or contact me at kristian(at)axiomnews.ca. For more information on Axiom News and the clients we serve, visit www.axiomnews.ca.

Idealistic Hope Alive in This Storyteller

2011-07-15T08:42:00.004-04:00

How a story helped a reader pave a new career path

By Kristian Partington

I’d say in most writers there resides a sort of idealistic hope that the stories they write will have a positive impact on the lives of others.

In journalism school, for example, I pictured myself reporting from the deserts of Afghanistan, describing for the world how evil people controlled others and hoping my words would remove shackles from the oppressed.

I discovered last week that the power of a story needn’t be so dramatic to have an effect on a person, for all it takes is the right information at the right time to help, and that power can mean a lot.

Back in early May, I wrote an article for the Schlegel Villages news service about a new program for personal support workers (PSWs) who want to upgrade their skills to become registered practical nurses (RPNs).

It’s an innovative idea that addresses the demand for more nurses in the long-term care sector, and because PSWs can take the program without having to go back to school full-time, it makes the transition easier.

I think it was the second article we posted for the fledgling news service and not long after, I heard from a PSW who works at the Village of Winston Park, one of the villages partnered with Conestoga College for the program. She was researching options for a new career path, came across my article and contacted me right away asking for information.

I pointed her to the director of the program at the college and heard nothing more until she e-mailed two weeks ago, ecstatic to inform me she’s been accepted to the program.

Turns out, she contacted the director and had three days to submit her application and shortly after, she was one of the last people accepted into the program, starting in September.

I spoke with her last week.

“I’m pretty pumped, I tell you, thanks to your help,” she said when she picked up the phone and realized it was me. “Without that information, I wouldn’t be going in the direction I am.”

She explained that she wants to be a RPN because she believes she’d have more power in that position to act as an advocate for greater enhancements to seniors living. She says the sector is moving in the right direction, but there’s still much to be done. An RPN, she says, has that much more influence, so that’s what she needs to be.

I can tell she has passion. She’s excited to work towards her goal and she seems like the type of person who’ll make her feelings known. She’ll make a good advocate and who knows what influence she may eventually have.

So while it may not be as dramatic as describing the fall of an oppressive regime for the world, those words I wrote may yet be the seen as the flap of a butterfly wing that helps carry the momentum of culture change in elder care forward through a powerful advocate’s words.

And idealistic hope carries forward in at least one writer . . .

For more information on Axiom News and the organizations it serves, visit www.axiomnews.ca and subscribe to our regular e-news to discover strengths-based news.

The World We Want to See

2011-07-08T16:45:00.005-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

A democratically-elected and endorsed team here at Axiom News recently published some work it spent about 10 months mulling over, and for good reason as the team called itself The Big Picture.

Coming out of our Strategy Summit last August, a high priority was defining our (social) mission, vision and values, as well as our service.

Five of us took on this task, meeting every other week for sometimes lengthy and philosophical discussions around all sorts of ideas, ideals and possibilities.

The work was recently posted on our revamped website, including this vision statement;

The World We Want to See

We envision a world of good health and personal well-being: A place where people are connected and interdependent, where each person has a place to belong. A world in which diversity is honoured and beauty arises from it. All are safe in their surroundings whatever they may be.

There is abundance. All are able to experience more than mere survival.

There is honour. Each person is honoured and honourable. Each is appreciated, encouraged and loved.

There is power. It is shared, distributed and democratic.

There is differentiation, competition, innovation. This generates creativity, energy and resilience.

We are good stewards of our gifts and blessings. Each person makes the most of their strengths in response to what one sees and must do. We are attentive and cultivate the strengths we see in others. We count on them.

It is a world in which responsibility, self-expression and awe are together a way of life that brings meaning to our time. It causes us to be ever-evolving.

These things hold us in creative tension. We learn. We innovate. We act. We grow.

We were greatly inspired by the work of one of our partners, Urban Systems, who developed a brilliant document sharing their higher calling, mission and values.

What vision statements inspire you and give you hope? Comment below!

The Evolution of Elder Care through a Storyteller’s Eyes

2011-06-24T14:42:00.011-04:00

Looking at aging through a devoted caregiver’s legacy
By Kristian Partington

I’m a storyteller, by nature. I always have been.

My connection to the world of long-term care goes back almost as long as I can remember. My mother had the heart of an angel whose natural leanings were to care for people, young and old.

When I was a child, she would take me along as she volunteered to provide home-care in small homes along the dusty streets of the tiny Alberta town we called home.

Shortly after we moved to the small town of Norwood, Ontario in 1986, word hit that a long-term care home was opening in town. My mother joined a horde of local women — caring for the elderly wasn’t men’s work in the mid-80s — in getting diplomas as health-care aides or personal support workers, and she became one of the first hires at OMNI Health Care’s Pleasant Meadow Manor.

She was a natural because she wanted the best for the people she supported. Throughout her career, she believed people “lived” in a long-term care home; they didn’t just stay there to be cared for until they reached the end of their life.

She grew attached to everyone — loved them even — and often wept alongside their families when the last light of life burned out in a loved one.

In a way, I grew up in that home. At the age of nine, I learned to play chess with a man whose thick Scottish brogue would regale me with war stories. Mom would bring my brothers, sister and I to evening entertainment nights; on many visits I’d humour old women in their belief that I was their grandson or great-grandson, for how do I tell a sweet old woman otherwise.

As I grew, I grew detached from that world. My own life took over — parties and sports; women and travel; college, marriage and family — but I eventually found my way back.

I live in that same town with my young family and many of the people my mother worked with remain in the sector, many in the same home. In my capacity with Axiom News, I write about the world of long-term care, among other subjects.

At times I interview those individuals who my mother knew best, many of whom still see me as a scrawny, bespectacled child. I’m struck by how my mother’s vision of care is becoming a reality today as organizations, such as Ontario’s Schlegel Villages, are leading a shift in the culture of aging from an institutional model of care to a social model of living.

My mother retired from Pleasant Meadow Manor when her body began to break down. Her knees and back weakened with age, but her compassion never did, and she regularly ran programs at the home or simply sat with residents to chat until she suddenly passed away in October 2009.

I spoke the other day with her close friend Susan Towns, now the nursing administrative services manager at Pleasant Meadow Manor. We were discussing the evolution of care, which has produced a plethora of new approaches in Susan’s 22 years in the sector. One thing remains constant, she says: compassion.

Those who care for an aging population have compassion in droves, and there are leaders in the sector who are changing the way we think about aging. They know our society is all the better when our elders, and their greatest of life experiences are honoured by the way they live in their golden years.

I’m a storyteller, by nature. I always have been.

In writing about the leaders in the sector I work with, and discovering the strength their compassion creates, I honour my mother’s legacy, and with each new story told, her vision for a better world of care for young and old alike ventures ever closer to reality.

If you have any comments or feedback, share them below! You can also reach Kristian at 800-294-0051, ext. 24, or e-mail kristian(at)axiomnews.ca.

The Power of the Movement Towards Inclusion

2011-06-14T12:51:00.005-04:00

Community Living Ontario hosts dedicated supporters from across the province
By Kristian Partington

Last week I ventured to the edge of one of nature’s most majestic displays of power in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

I was there as a guest of Community Living Ontario, an organization that for 60 years has been at the centre of the quest for a society where all individuals, regardless of ability, are fully included and able to reach their highest potential. The event I was there to document was the 58th annual Conference and Annual General Meeting.

From the moment I arrived, I sensed power on two fronts: the mists and sounds of momentum from the surging force of the falls, and the collective purpose of a dedicated mass of individuals seeking to create a better world.

I was an unknown among 500 long-time friends and colleagues, and welcomed as one in the same. I spoke with two gentlemen from Atikokan in the Boreal forests of northern Ontario who’d travelled more than 1,000 kilometres to learn and have their voices heard.

The younger man knew a soldier friend of mine from that same small town who’s battled in the deserts of Afghanistan.

It’s a small world, and even smaller when you’re involved with the battle for inclusion for people who have an intellectual disability.

I couldn’t help but draw parallels, for as my friend believes his fight in a far away land is about human rights, civil liberties and equality for all, so do the people I gathered with from Community Living.

I heard first-hand the stories of abuse and neglect that haunt so many who were institutionalized because of a disability — locked away from family, scared and not knowing what they’d done to deserve such an existence. I heard of the healing that people struggle to find since the closing of the last institutions a mere two years ago, and from those who’ve begun to discover it through sharing their story.

It’s a battle that continues, and just as Canadians mourn soldiers who fought and died for liberty, so too should we mourn those who’ve passed away with the pain and hurt caused by institutionalization buried deep within.

There was much talk of strength as well. I heard from people pushing towards implementation of the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and from educators speaking about the respectful use of language in the media.

New and creative residential opportunities are springing up across the province and providing hope that a life of independence can be realized for all who want to reach for it.

Over a glass of scotch, I heard tales from a long-time veteran of the movement, “Queen” Anne Stafford, who in the decades since arriving in Canada from Scotland has championed the rights of people who have a disability. Numerous bursaries in her name were awarded during the conference's opening ceremonies.

As Community Living Ontario and its dedicated members look to the future, they see challenges, to be sure, but I also sense a resolve and acknowledgment that the movement towards inclusion is headed in the right direction.

Stories from within this quest, you see, are being heard, and with each new one told and shared, the power of the movement grows ever stronger like the water over the falls.

Momentum is indeed a powerful force.

If you have comments or a story to share about the push for a more inclusive society, feel free to comment below, or contact kristian(at)axiomnews.ca, 800-294-0051, ext. 24.

The Journey of Transformation through Appreciative Inquiry

2011-05-31T14:10:00.006-04:00

A writer’s look at a pure model of organizational change
By Kristian Partington

Every so often an opportunity comes along to reaffirm that a given path we‘ve chosen in life is indeed taking us in the right direction.

I spent a day last week as a fly on the wall, watching a group of passionate individuals connected with Schlegel Villages, an organization meeting the needs of an aging population in a truly progressive manner, as they continued a transformational process of organizational change.

Axiom News was brought in to the organization a little more than a month ago to complement the final Destiny phase of its Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process. As Schlegel Villages strives to achieve its goals, we are there to write about each success.

Afterwards, when I arrived at home to consider what I’d seen, I realized my chosen path is indeed taking me in the right direction.

As a generative journalist with Axiom News, my continual quest is to seek stories of strength from within the organizations I serve, and honour them through my writing.

The principles of AI guide me; the questions I ask generate answers that flush out success as opposed to those focused on deficit, and as I watched Schlegel team members, residents and family members take control of their destiny, I realized what is possible when people are engaged from a position of strength.

Last fall, the Schlegel Villages team held an Appreciative Inquiry Summit where representatives from management, the front lines, families and residents dared to discover their collective strength, dream about what is possible when that is built upon, and design a process by which their chosen aspirations can be realized.

Last week’s event was an opportunity for each of the 11 villages to describe for the others what early successes they’ve had in creating a new culture through the aspirations of last fall’s summit.

There was an energy in the room; a palpable sense of excitement.

I’ve been to other conferences and workshops and watched attendees go through the motions.

This was different, for people were engaged in ways I’d never seen before. They were empowered to lend their voice to the movement, and they truly believed their example could move not just their villages but the entire sector from an institutional model of care to a social model of living.

I heard of the initial skepticism that floated above the original AI summit.

A family member said, “I was more than a little skeptical about the AI process. However, as time passes, I am becoming more and more convinced that we are definitely onto something because I have also never been involved with a ‘process’ where I have been able to maintain, and possibly increase, my enthusiasm and excitement.”

The AI summit required all involved to take a leap of faith, recalls Jennifer Carson, the consultant who helped organize it.

It also “massages my sense of faith in tomorrow,” she adds, for the process is helping to define what is possible in seniors care.

Culture change of this manner is a never-ending journey, she says; a true path of evolution and with each story of success and strength, another step forward is taken.

I hope my path keeps alongside that journey.

Share your thoughts through commenting below, or e-mail kristian(at)axiomnews.ca.

WorldBlu LIVE Emits Extraordinary Energy

2011-05-27T13:32:00.005-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Tribe-finding. Hope renewing. Mission starting. Actionably relevant. These were just some of the sentiments expressed by WorldBlu LIVE 2011 participants during the final question posed by the event’s hosts: What has it meant to you to spend two days in this community?

Many participants said this conference was the best they’d ever been to, with a culture outside the norm, as people openly and authentically shared their perspectives and thoughts on organizational democracy.

I have to give kudos to WorldBlu organizers Traci and Miranda, and hosts from Future Considerations (a WorldBlu-certified democratic workplace) Cari, James and Mark for fostering this environment.

High-energy music welcomed each speaker to the front of the room. WorldBlu founder and CEO Traci Fenton was appropriately greeted each time with Katy Perry’s song Fireworks. (During the wrap-up gala event founder Traci said the WorldBlu winners are fireworks in the world, and encouraged them to “let your light shine” and help build the movement.)

Traci started WorldBlu in 1997 and went around the world talking to people about organizational democracy, but was often met with a skeptical eye. But after awhile, she wasn’t the only one telling the story.

“And I thought wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get all these people and all these stories together and build a community around it. And, so, that’s what we started to do,” she said.

WorldBlu LIVE was a way for both those already practising workplace democracy and those interested in it (in fact, two-thirds of the participants were not certified WorldBlu members) to share their stories of successes, hopes, challenges and fears.

The hosts set up fabulous networking opportunities, including leading a world café and giving participants time to discuss with one another future-focused questions such as visioning out what your organization looks like five years in the future.

Delegates were encouraged to self-organize into affinity groups, many of which focused on what to do once the event was complete.

The May 19-20 event was fast-paced, with more than 30 speakers exploring the 10 principles of organizational democracy, as outlined by WorldBlu. In the afternoons, participants had the opportunity to choose two breakout sessions to attend.

On the last night, awards were handed out to winners present from the 52 organizations on this year’s WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces.

I was proud to represent Axiom News (we’ve been on the WorldBlu List for five years) in accepting the award. As a Gen Y’er, it’s hard to imagine working in a closed, command-and-control organization. For people still in this style of organization, WorldBlu is a light they can turn to for ideas, inspiration, resources and a community of people showing it can be done and even make your business more successful (check out a recent story on WorldBlu winner American Support here).

I’m not the only one who walked away from the event with inspiration. Check out the blog entries below from Will McInnes of NixonMcInnes, and Sam Chaltain, to learn more.

NixonMcInnes: Notes from WorldBlu LIVE, San Francisco

Sam Chaltain: Do Great Conferences Have a “Special Sauce”?

(Photo Credit: Hollister Thomas)

How Stories Can Build Democracy Within An Organization

2011-05-13T15:41:00.001-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

With WorldBlu LIVE fast approaching next week in San Francisco, I’ve been thinking a lot about organizational democracy and how it relates to organizational storytelling.

Axiom News is commissioned by organizations to write and publish strengths-based stories on their behalf, a model that in itself is highly transparent. Transparency is also one of WorldBlu’s 10 democratic design principles.

Our partner organizations allow us to go into the belly of their company, interview a variety of stakeholders, write stories and then post it on their websites for the world to see, without editorial clearance.

The result is timely, authentic, grassroots-driven stories that recognize the initiatives and successes from all levels within a company.

This is quite different than “command-and-control” communications, or the traditional corporate communications approach, where items may be carefully crafted and go through a variety of clearances.

And a more open communications system aligns well with what’s being seen in society at large; where everyone who has an Internet connection has access to multiple content-sharing platforms to share their own opinions. It’s no longer one-way communications, but a co-created, fluid, dynamic and interactive conversation.

Another democratic principle identified by WorldBlu is dialogue and listening, which storytelling does well.

The dialogue starts in the interview process, where the journalist asks the source questions and listens intently to the answers. Those answers form a story, which then sparks further dialogue upon publishing through the many ways the article can be shared.

Dialogue can start before a story is published as well. Our newsroom receives many story ideas from stakeholders who are engaged in their organization’s story service and wants to recognize a co-worker, share a win or promote an event.

Many organizations are using new social media tools like blogs, Twitter and Facebook to build relationships with their stakeholders, share knowledge and communicate with their community.

It’s an exciting time for communications, engagement and democracy.

Watch for more stories featuring WorldBlu winners at www.AxiomNews.ca, and share your thoughts on how tools like storytelling can enhance organizational democracy.

Stories of Strength Spreading like Wildfire

2011-05-06T16:14:00.002-04:00

By Kristian Partington
This blog is reposted from Axiom News’ Stories At Work section. To read it in its original form, click here.

Not long ago, Axiom News president Fraser Wilson likened the individuals who prompt change within their organizations to fire starters, for the passion they possess and the ideals they envision can spread like fire and ignite organizational shifts based upon strength.

The stories these people inspire spread like fire as well. They carry themes and messages along an invisible wave that works its way to like-minded people and organizations.

Two school principals with independent schools under the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools (OACS) umbrella, an organization that actively pursues stories of strength through Axiom News’ generative news program, recently commented on this phenomenon.

Bob Moore, of Guelph Community Christian School in Guelph, Ontario, spoke of the OACS stories weaving together the vast organization and connecting ideas of innovation.

Laurentian Hills Christian School principal Ian Timmerman says he sees the stories connecting his school to the community it serves in Kitchener, Ontario. They spread through the magic of social networking and find their way to interested parties.

In other sectors, such as long-term care, one also sees the spread of these stories. Just recently innovative ideas from a long-term care home in Ontario’s cottage country reached a like-minded individual committed to senior’s care outside Edmonton, Alberta.

Dan Bisson, recreation manager of Edmonton’s Shepherd’s Care Kensington Village, says he often receives stories about Axiom News clients in the Ontario long term care sector, and looks to them as a possible source of innovative ideas in his department.

The reach of the stories is vast and technology allows them to spread even further.

An article that ran in this column on April 13 about storytelling as a tool to re-recruit talent within organizations is still spreading thanks to social networking.

It found its way to one individual in the Appreciative Inquiry world and she in turn passed it through her network via LinkedIn.

The discussion it prompted has been ongoing, and Axiom News is watching as people from New York to California to India weigh in on the benefits of storytelling as a tool to harvest the intellectual capital within existing talent pools, and keep people engaged.

Each story written from the perspective of strength can potentially be a spark like this.

Sparks become infernos in no time, and the flames of a movement can spread like wildfire.

If you have examples of stories that have made an impact in your life or organization, share your thoughts below!

Why Democracy in the Workplace? 52 Organizations Have Insights

2011-04-15T16:29:00.007-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

The word democracy often conjures up images of elections and poll booths. But what about democracy in other areas of society like the organizations in which people work and access goods and services through?

For some, workplace democracy may be a new idea, while for others, it could be something your organization is inherently practising without knowing there’s a name for it.

WorldBlu announced its 2011 List of Most Democratic Workplaces April 12 as part of Democracy in the Workplace Day, a thrilling announcement for the Axiom News team as we were honoured with the award for the fifth consecutive year.

Fifty-two organizations won a spot on this year’s list, including Zappos.com, WD-40, New Belgium Brewery and HCL Technologies. As an organization specializing in workplace democracy, WorldBlu is convening the movement, and organizations can annually apply for its List of Most Democratic Workplaces.

Applicants choose to have either 70 per cent of employees, or 100 per cent of a random sample group, take a survey on 10 democratic principles such as transparency, choice and decentralization on a leadership, individual, systems and processes level.

As part of our contribution to the workplace democracy movement Axiom News has engaged many of the winners to learn how they operate democratically. This has resulted in stories that not only emphasize the diversity of practices available but the real value workplace democracy creates for employees and the organization. Click here to view stories from the 2010 winners.

When it comes to our story, Axiom News has been honing in on our democratic practices this past year. In August, 2010, we had an open space strategy summit. All team members participated in a two-day off-site event that that resulted in various teams and an operating team being formed to move forward the company’s strategic directions as decided by a group vote.

Since the summit, we used a very democratic process to elect our newsroom chair (check out a previous blog entry on this process here).

Axiom News is delighted to be a media partner for WorldBlu this year. We’ll be attending the WorldBlu LIVE conference next month in San Francisco, and look forward to hearing insights, best practices and ideas generated from the many presenters there.

Watch for more updates on this blog and follow us on Twitter. We also encourage anyone interested in the WorldBlu movement, on an individual or organizational level, to check out the WorldBlu site to learn more and get involved. Like any movement, the more people involved the stronger it becomes.

How to Harness Social Media for Maximum Impact: A Vancouver Event

2011-04-05T18:28:00.036-04:00

By Camille Jensen

The story of Chrispine, a Kenyan boy who dreams to become a lawyer resonated deeply with Rebecca Peel and with the click of a button she was able to provide him the financial assistance for a full one-year scholarship.

Dave Macdonald, a certified management accountant, leveraged his presence on Second Life to gain an invite as the only Canadian accountant sitting on an international panel of sector experts.

Then there was social media’s role in Egypt, allowing for efficient organizing of protests and the sharing of grassroots stories that couldn't be squashed by government contributing to the country’s revolution.

These were some of the powerful social media experiences shared during a conversation last night about how to use social media for maximum impact.

The chat at Vancouver’s London Pub convened a diverse group of people I’ve met from two recent events, Vancouver's Greeenest City Unconference and Power Plant Vancouver, who were interested in answering a set of strengths-based questions exploring how we can use social media effectively to create social change.

Social entrepreneurs learning about the tools included Karli and Dick Gillespie, who will soon be breaking ground on the ultra sustainable residential housing project Union Street EcoHeritage and Volcker Schneider, co-founder and business development vice-president for the online platform Tiramizoo, which is aiming to be the world's largest clean urban logistics and delivery booking system.

We were stoked to have two social media experts join us, Dave, who is the co-founder of Avid Tetra, a company that teaches professionals about the value of social media and Rebecca, a digital strategist with Jive Communications, who brings design thinking to a company's social media channels, and works with a host of socially conscious organizations like Fair Trade Vancouver, Education Generation and the Projecting Change Film Festival.

The discussion was lively, passionate and ranged from the role of Twitter in creating new valuable relationships to best practices when engaging others.

Rebecca shared how new Twitter users can follow a simple rule to make their tweets more effective: Spend 75 per cent of your time responding and engaging in conversations. Find, create and use hashtags effectively. (If you don’t know what a hashtag is, try calling Dave!)

We discussed how the greater uptake of Twitter, combined with its ability to provide short information blasts about a common cause is fantastic for connecting, even resulting in people feeling like they are participating in conferences miles away. (For a good example of this, login to Twitter and insert the hashtag #skollwf.)

Does social media create change that is sustained, or is the tool better used for short bursts of organization and action? The jury is still out on this one and as the tools change and the people using them continue to experiment, this answer will continue to evolve.

When the night ended, three hours later, it's fair to say we all left with a sense of inspiration for the power of connection provided through online tools.

At Axiom News, we see a great deal of value from this type of in-person connection, as well. Creating these types of meetups that bring people together with different backgrounds and experience, combined with a little structure and lots of discussion has enormous potential to surface new ideas and creative approaches to local and global questions.

While this event was geared to social media, finding ways to tap into networks that each has their own strengths and resources offers us vast potential and the ability to exponentially increase our impact.

As we continue to look for ways to collaborate and contribute with others, will share our stories. We’d also love to hear how others are coming together to co-create a better future!

Power of Social Media to Create Change

2011-04-01T16:44:00.012-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Yesterday a colleague and I took in a webinar on “harnessing social media to drive social change,” presented by The Dragonfly Effect author Jennifer Aaker.

The book title references the dragonfly because it is the only insect that can move in any direction when its four wings are in sync.

Jennifer uses this concept to break social media into four essential skills needed for fast transformation. We’ve got the book ordered, and in the meantime there’s tons of information on the website about the concepts, check it out here.

The four “wings” to harness social media are:

- Focus Your Goal
- Grab Attention
- Engage Others
- Take Action

As part of the Engage Others skill, telling a story is one of the design principles. In her slide deck, Jennifer quotes cognitive scientist Roger C. Schank, “Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are set up to understand stories.”

This is what we love to do at Axiom News; tell people’s stories to catalyze change. And while these four wings are talking about harnessing social media, I can see each role in crafting a generative story to create change as well.

Click here to view a video of Jennifer presenting on Creating Infectious Action. How are you using social media to create change? Share your thoughts through commenting below.

Stories Sharing Disability Advocacy Broadens

2011-03-25T15:35:00.003-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

This month the BC Centre for Ability (BCCFA) launched a news program with Axiom News called Abilities Express.

BCCFA executive director Angela Kwok notes stories chronicling the strengths and contributions of people who have disabilities can be particularly beneficial to individuals and families dealing with a new diagnosis of disability.

This January we welcomed two B.C.-based organizations, posAbilities, a community service organization that supports individuals of all ages who have developmental disabilities, and the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, which provides innovative services to children, youth and adults with developmental disabilities and their families.

Axiom News is proud to have been reporting for Community Living Ontario's online news source, Community Living Leaders, for close to 10 years, and excited to expand storytelling on behalf of more organizations that make a difference in the lives of people who have a disability.

We look forward to contributing to positive change in these organizations, the communities they represent and broader society.

Celebrating Stories on World Storytelling Day

2011-03-18T16:34:00.003-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Thanks to Twitter (#WSD11) I just learned this Sunday is World Storytelling Day. This is the first I’ve heard of the event, which dates back to the early 90’s.

World Storytelling Day is a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling, and has forged links between storytellers across distances.

Started in Sweden, over the years the event has spread to more countries, coming to Canada in 2003.

The day is held on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the first day of autumn equinox in the southern, convening people to tell and listen to stories in many places. People share their stories and inspiration to learn from one another and make new contacts.

Our friends at Get Storied are embarking on a website experiment for this year’s celebration, with the belief that everyone is a storyteller and the stories told make the world.

The web experiment is a crowd sourced storytelling project, inviting people to virtually participate through submitting a three minute video story around the theme of water.

Are you taking part in a World Storytelling Day event? Share how you're involved through commenting below.

To learn about the power of storytelling, download Axiom News' free e-book called How To Change Your World By Sharing Stakeholder Stories.

What We’re Learning About Open Space

2011-03-11T17:31:00.015-05:00

By Camille Jensen

After attending several Open Space conferences and writing about others, I’d like to share some of the best practices we’re learning to maximize the approach. Feel free to pick and choose from the below tips and let us know how they worked!

If you’re asking “what’s Open Space?,” click here to learn more about an approach known for creating inspired meetings and events. Then check back to see how these tips can boost your outcomes.

1) Add Appreciative Questions
Appreciative Inquiry has a ton to teach us about how questions can move people and organizations towards their best future. Once an Open Space session has convened, try asking session participants some generative questions to build enthusiasm and advance the conversation. Questions like: What excites you most about this subject/action? If you are successful, what will happen? What are the actions to be taken? What’s the path to success? Jot down multiple answers to each question.

There are a lot of great resources on the power of questions. A favourite of ours and one we’d recommend to anyone looking to facilitate conversations that catalyze change is The Encyclopedia of Positive Questions, which can be found on our Resources page.

2) Expand the Circle
OK, so you think just because you’re not controlling the agenda, that’s enough? It's a great start, but what about opening up the session to other stakeholders? An organization hosting a strategy summit may want to invite its customers, supply-chain partners along with its employees. In systems thinking we are told a problem is not likely to be solved by the "department" that identified it. Finance is unlikely to sort out a revenue problem. It might take marketing to answer that challenge. This is how a broad variety of stakeholders can make things exciting. One will have strengths to offer another’s challenge.

3) Make it Truly Democratic
Often in Open Space events, especially ones conducted in small workplaces like here at Axiom News, there are too many great ideas or sessions to actualize and priorities must be made. Try having participants post all of the sessions and their intended road maps on a wall where they can be viewed by everyone. Have someone from each session present their topic to the entire group by way of a short two minute overview. After the presentations, each person is armed with sticky notes and votes on their Top 5 — or however many priorities the group has decided to accommodate — by adding their sticky notes to the posters they want to move forward. The posters with the most votes are approved. As for the others, they can either be acted on at a later date or perhaps host another Open Space, as new priorities and ideas are likely to be created during this time.

4) Provide Forums for Follow Through
While many ideas are generated in lively conversations during Open Space there needs to be adequate measures to ensure follow-up and action after the event. One approach is to write each session name on a brown paper bag and ask people who are interested in the topic to drop their business card in. Another approach is to ask at the end of the session who is best person to follow through on this idea? This question is followed by: Who else would like to participate, and are there other people we should invite to be involved? Use these names of volunteers and identified leaders to be responsible for follow through and next steps.

These are some tips, we’d love to hear what other people have found helpful during Open Space meetings.

Apps Creating Change

2011-03-04T16:31:00.003-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Change-making technology is cropping up in conversations we’re having with people through Axiom News stories.

It’s exciting to learn about developments like Robyn Stratton-Berkessel’s new iPad app called Embracing Change. Based on the strengths-based approach to organizational development called Appreciative Inquiry (AI), the app is a personal development tool that guides users through a personal change process using AI.

Robyn, principal of Positive Matrix, says the app is an engaging and immersive way to get involved with content.

The feedback she is hearing includes how accessible the app is, for example, compared to the price of having a personal change coach (the app is $4.99). It also puts the user in the driver’s seat, prompting them to write down answers to the questions which can then be emailed and referenced.

Another innovative technology is the use of emark barcodes on bags of Ethical Bean Coffee.

CEO Lloyd Bernhardt says they were the first coffee company in the world to use the barcodes, which can be scanned using an iPhone, BlackBerry or android device to reveal information including that particular bag of coffee’s cupping scores, certifications like Fair Trade and organic, roast profiles (with the drop temperature, a “closely guarded secret” in roasting), and the Google map co-ordinates of where the beans were grown.

We also recently featured KarmaKorn’s Facebook app, which looks to empower people to spread good actions socially. Referred to as Farmville for the real world, the app allows people to create a do-good action they’d like others to try, from signing a petition to visiting a local animal shelter.

When someone does an action they are paid the virtual currency KarmaKorn kernels from the participant who created the change action. Everyone receives $100 kernels to start, so users have to complete other actions to keep launching their own change initiatives.

With technology continuously evolving and new products created, there is a lot of hope for how these types of tools can make a positive impact on people and the world.

Robyn expresses her desire to reach more people with the strengths-based, AI way of viewing themselves and the world. With the emark information, Ethical Bean is setting a bar for transparency in the industry. And KarmaKorn seeks to help people release “the vast reservoirs of goodwill deep within all of us and transform the world.”

What technology tools are you seeing that give you hope for the future? Share your comments below.

Preventing Species Extinction One Island at a Time

2011-02-25T17:10:00.018-05:00

By Camille Jensen

Last night I was able to attend a presentation by Gregg Howald on the impressive work his organization Island Conservation is doing to prevent species extinction.

According to Gregg, the Santa Cruz-based organization focuses on restoring island ecosystems as they are some of the world’s most ecologically rich places supporting 20 per cent of our bird, reptile and plant species. Islands are also seeing the highest rates of animal extinction, with almost half of all endangered animals living on islands.

Gregg says it’s the introduction of invasive species — non-native plants and animals — that wreak havoc on an island’s ecosystem. By removing the introduced predator you can return the ecosystem back to its previous state, sometimes at an alarmingly rapid pace.

One such example Gregg shared was Anacapa Island of the coast of Ventura, California where rats were introduced by a shipwreck in the 1950s.

The rats quickly found a food source: eggs and the young chicks of the sea bird Murrelet. When researchers began to study the problem they found that 90 to 100 per cent of all eggs laid by Murrelets were being destroyed by rats.

While it’s complex to remove one species without affecting others, in this example it was deer mice, Island Conservation is able to study the environment and often partner with local organizations to develop creative ways to remove invasive species in a sustainable manner.

In doing so on Anacapa Island the number of Murrelets grew by 80 per cent in three years. Gregg says within four months of the rat removal researchers also documented a new species of sea bird inhabiting the island, Auks, of which there are now three sub species living and breeding on Anacapa.

Gregg’s talk was part of a new series from Tides Canada that aims to present the best thinking and approaches to tough social and environmental problems to the public and interested organizations.

Providing administrative, financial and human support to 39 innovative projects like
Island Conservation, Tides is hoping to deepen people’s understanding of issues while encouraging dialogue with some of North America’s leading change makers.

In addition to great subject material, attendees were able to network with a diverse, intelligent group over wine and delicious appetizers making the event a definite hit!

Words Create Worlds at Board of Change Event

2011-02-18T17:13:00.016-05:00

By Camille Jensen

Is sustainability a challenge or a problem? Perhaps a vexing puzzle your organization is still coming to terms with?

What if, instead, sustainability is a future your organization can help create?

This is the reframing Rob Abbott says needs to happen in order for an organization to fully embrace and embark on their sustainability journey.

Rob shared his 20 years experience working as a consultant for organizations looking to integrate sustainability into their operations during last night’s Board of Change event at ING Direct in Vancouver.

The long-time strategist who’s worked with big brands like Nike and Wal-Mart says the first step is for an organization to know its story.

A story formed by asking questions like: what is our core purpose, where do we see exciting opportunity, what scares us, and where do we want to be in the future?

According to Rob this narrative can help catalyze the momentum needed for an organization to move from strategic intent to tangible activity, actually shifting the trajectory of the organization towards sustainable operations, products and services.

It’s this sweetspot, where rubber hits the road, that continues to fascinate Rob in his own work.

How people are using authentic stories to inspire, motivate and propel people and organizations forward fascinates me so I was happy to also meet self-described “merchant of stories” Saul Brown later at the event.

Saul is infusing those oft disregarded company gift baskets with meaning as the chief story officer and founder of Saul Good Gift Company.

Memorable gift baskets are crafted by understanding the story of the organization and who will be receiving it, no standard cheese and crackers here!

In addition to scrupulous attention to message and detail, the gift baskets contain local products often sourced from social enterprises, how cool is that? Simply buying one of these gift baskets can tell a story about the ingenuity of social business.

We are always looking to learn about how others are using story and media in meaningful ways. Some of my favourites include KarmaTube, Games for Change, Duane Elgin and Images and Voice of Hope. What about you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

On Business as an Agent of World Benefit

2011-02-11T16:28:00.004-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Axiom News has been following and engaged in the Business as an Agent of World Benefit (BAWB) movement, and this week shared exciting news on our website about its next evolution.

A bit of background; BAWB is a worldwide action-research project that invites participants from all cultures to discover organizational innovations at the intersection of business and society.

The first BAWB Global Forum took place in 2006, with the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio partnering with the United Nations Global Compact and its 4,000 corporations, and the Academy of Management, with more than 19,000 business school professors from 90 countries.

Its aim was to advance sustainability as the business opportunity in the 21st century. Thousands of innovations were proposed through academic papers and management-application workshops. Participants articulated the desired future for 2020 that envisions a world with sustainable design and an inclusive economy.

In 2009, hundreds of people convened at another BAWB Global Forum, exploring “Manage by Designing in an Era of Massive Innovation.”

David Cooperrider is the BAWB founder and chairman and co-creator Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a strengths-based large-group change method.

This week, Axiom News published a story David shared with us that the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value, under his leadership, is proposing the development of a Nobel-like prize for businesses that act as an agent of world benefit.

“Without good business, innovating and profitable, we will never achieve protection of Earth’s ecosystems, oceans and atmospheres, as well as the spread of social and economic opportunities for all people,” the centre’s proposal states.

This is an exciting idea, as the centre points to a recent McKinsey research report which concludes that “global awards are increasingly powerful tools for advancing a better world.”

Read the full article: A New Prize for Business?

The centre proposes the award’s prototype could be unveiled as early as October, 2012, at the third BAWB Global Forum.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Outcome

2011-02-04T11:58:00.005-05:00

By Michelle Strutzenberger

I have a cool story to share that I heard Appreciative Inquiry (AI) pioneer and guru David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University tell during a recent AI course I had the privilege of attending.

In his characteristic down-to-earth fashion, David recounted how he had been asked to facilitate a ground-breaking discussion between the world senior leaders of diverse faiths some years back.

His foremost task was designing a set of questions to drive the discussions, something he ended up having to do mostly alone given the timeliness of the event.

Feeling the magnitude of responsibility, David said he knew the whole success of the dialogue depended on the questions and he grappled with the approach to take.

While he briefly considered other approaches, including the diagnostic theory of change, in the end he decided to return to the methodology he is renowned for, and through which he has seen incredible success, Appreciative Inquiry.

Even so, even as the expert in the field, he spent two weeks crafting five questions, questions that were on target with the group and would, as he said, sing.

To read more about that experience, visit this link.

I share this story here to underscore the point David was trying to make — which is to take the time to craft our questions for whatever situation we’re in, business, family or personal life.

While we probably don’t need two weeks to design every question we ask, the point is to pause and think about what we’re actually hoping to get from our questions.

As David also said in the course, questions do more than just help us find things. In some sense they are fateful, he says. They reverberate, they have an impact on everything that happens, they affect the thinking process, the imagination process, the heart.

The importance of the questions we ask becomes clearer when considering different types of questions. For instance, we can ask questions of any situation like: What are your greatest fears? What are the barriers/challenges to this situation? Who’s to blame?

Contrast those with: What are the strengths you bring to this? What’s your vision for this? Where are the opportunities?

One set constrains and reinforces fears and focuses on the barriers. The other stirs energy and opens up the thought process and imagination to what’s working and new possibilities.

In closing, we could ask ourselves why we’ve been rushing through our questions, and/or asking constraining and fear-reinforcing questions.

But that would be doubly constraining and fear-reinforcing.

Instead what if we ask ourselves how we begin reframing our questions to be more life-giving, to lead to new energy, new possibility, new hope?

For more on creating generative questions, I highly recommend the Encyclopedia of Positive Questions, Vol. 1: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Bring Out the Best in Your Organization authored by AI experts Diana Whitney, David Cooperrider, Amanda Trosten-Bloom and Brian S. Kaplin. You can find a link to more information about it on our resources page.

Would love to hear about a question you’ve tried that “sang” and was “on target” and the experience you had as a result.

The Power of Peer-to-Peer Storytelling

2011-01-26T16:18:00.005-05:00

By Camille Jensen

If I was asked to name my favourite subjects to write about for Axiom News, the power of storytelling would certainly top the list.

That’s because as a generative journalist using stories to inspire and generate change, I am always interested to hear how other people are doing similar things.

This validates a theory on the power of peer-to-peer storytelling recently shared to me by Raf Stevens.

The consultant who is writing a book on the power of storytelling, says people truly connect to stories of their peers — people they view of equal standing — and the more people telling their stories will allow for greater inspiration and change.

According to Raf, everyone needs to build a community around their personal authentic story, and success comes automatically when one connects their story to that of their peers.

This is also a helpful explanation as to why our service is a powerful tool for organizations and associations. It’s in these places that most people often find their peers.

If an organization has a Stakeholder News program, stories about staff members and their work and achievements are posted on their websites or Intranet sites every day for them to read and share.

People tell us they often receive feedback and kudos on their work as result of these stories. Often, this further motivates and inspires people to pursue their goals, as well as helps connect them to people for new collaborative work or partnerships.

As Raf says, “it’s all about people connecting with other people by sharing their stories for everyone to repeat hoping to inspire the world and ultimately make it a better place.”

We couldn't agree more, and find this concept incredibly inspiring for our work.

To learn more about how storytelling is making a positive difference, from both our clients and our peers in the storytelling field, visit our Stories At Work section.

To learn more about Raf and his book, visit corporatestoryteller.be.

Spreading Strengths-Based Storytelling

2011-01-21T18:59:00.003-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

It’s been inspiring to see Axiom News headlines highlight more organizations embracing strengths-based storytelling.

For example, a story recently featured the work of Jenita McGowan who is championing strengths-based storytelling as an approach to help move the City of Cleveland towards its sustainability vision.

Jenita, sustainability manager for the mayor’s office of sustainability, attended an Appreciative Inquiry gathering and heard a presentation by Axiom News about strengths-based storytelling to advance positive change.

She was inspired to use strengths-based storytelling in her work with groups of volunteers involved with projects geared to creating a sustainable Cleveland, and hopes these stories will generate energy and share best practices amongst the groups.

At Axiom News, we have seen strengths-based storytelling expand as we welcomed two new clients this week, both based in B.C. – posAbilities and the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI).

PosAbilities is a community service organization that supports individuals of all ages who have developmental disabilities. Its story program will be highlighting the power of relationships, as well as engage a broad range of stakeholders and forge new connections.

BACI provides innovative services to children, youth and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. The organization’s strengths-based approach to inclusion is reinforced through the stories, which will raise awareness and effect change through focusing on BACI’s collective assets.

As more organizations like these commit to sharing strengths-based stories there is more meaning made, knowledge shared, innovations sparked, culture built.

Learn more by reading Stories At Work and subscribe to Axiom News’ free e-news.

California Dreamin’

2011-01-14T16:24:00.002-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

This week one of the Axiom News stories featured The Institute for the Future’s (IFTF) California Dreams contest.

The contest is a call for people to submit entries envisioning what they see for the future of California. People submit entries by telling a story about a single day in their own life, that is three to 10 years in the future.

When I asked Alexandra Carmichael, IFTF research affiliate, why stories were the chosen format, she said:

“We chose first-person narratives because they are very personal and plunge people right into the future, imagining what it would be like to live in the future they dream of. Stories are also a compelling way to communicate ideas to other people who will be voting on the dreams.”

Dreaming of the future reminds me of one of the phases of Appreciative Inquiry, however for this contest it isn’t necessarily an ideal future that may be imagined. IFTF has mapped out four potential future categories that include growth, constraint, transformation and collapse.

You can view, submit and vote on the entries at http://www.californiadreams.org. Entries will be accepted until Jan. 31, 2011.

Convening Collective Intelligence

2011-01-05T10:59:00.011-05:00

By Camille Jensen

Prior to the holiday break I was able to have a brief chat with George Por, founder of CommunityIntelligence, who shared insight into his work in the field of collective intelligence.

George has been researching and consulting on collective intelligence for almost 30 years and his firm has worked with large clients that include Ford Motor Company, Greenpeace and departments of the European Commission.

Collective intelligence is defined as the group wisdom that comes from collaboration and competition of many individuals and is much easier to tap into with the rise of social networks, Internet and other facilitative technologies.

Speaking over Skype from London, George explained the importance of humankind developing and augmenting its collective intelligence in order to meet the complex crises we are facing, which are too large for any one group or nation to solve.

While evolution has helped us develop to our current stage, George says in order for us to continue to grow we need to enter intentional or conscious evolution.

George helps facilitate such transformations by inspiring and enabling organizations to navigate the shift to a more participatory culture that produces better results by engaging the full creative capacity of its members and stakeholders.

He creates social intranets and networks for dialogue, communities of practice and group facilitative tools to help organizations amplify their collective intelligence.

This work is very much in line with our own, and resonates deeply. We also believe that by engaging an organization’s stakeholders, asking catalytic questions and then publishing this information in the form of strengths-based stories, we are contributing to group wisdom that results in innovation and change.

We applaud the work of George and CommunityIntelligence in helping organizations understand and develop shared meaning and future visions, and will continue following this important work.

To learn more about George and CommunityIntelligence, visit www.community-intelligence.com.

Wishes for a Generative New Year

2010-12-24T10:26:00.006-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

With the arrival of the holiday season, there is often time to reflect on the past year and look forward to what's to come in 2011.

Axiom News had its Christmas Party a week ago, and during the evening festivities team members were asked to:

Share your fondest memory or high point of 2010.
Imagine yourself this time next year. What would you want to say is your fondest memory of 2011?

Depending on the person, these questions may be answered on a personal, professional, individual, team or organizational level.

We invite you to consider these questions and ask others to, as well.

We wish you a happy holiday season and generative new year. Look for the next blog post in 2011.

Affirmative Leadership

2010-12-21T12:26:00.003-05:00

By Michelle Strutzenberger

During the recent Foundations and Frontiers in Appreciative Inquiry course in Longboat Key, Florida professor David Cooperrider spoke about the affirmative basis of leadership and asked whether leadership could be all about affirmation, seeing the good, the true, the possible. He qualified that affirmative leadership includes, among other characteristics, providing feedback on specific moments of progress, as opposed to just handing out “empty praise.”

Cooperrider, who hails from Case Western Reserve University, mentioned the work of University of Michigan professor Wayne Baker who was inspired by the positive psychology research of Barbara Fredrickson to reframe a leadership study he conducted.

While former studies sought to predict great leadership based on an analysis of who people identified as their key source of information, Baker changed the analysis to ask “to what extent does this person elevate your energy?”

He found that even more than the information network analysis, the energy network analysis was a significant predictor of great leadership.

Leaders can ask themselves -- and Cooperrider identified a leader as anyone who wants to make a difference -- to what extent do we create a resonating capacity within a group? He referred to University of Michigan professor Jane Dutton’s work on high-quality connections. Where are relationships life-giving?

Cooperrider ended the course with reference to three facts about all people to keep in mind. I’ll include them because I think they help make the case for the importance of affirmative leadership.

Fact No. 1: Exceptionality. We’re all exceptions to the rule, we each bring a configuration of strengths that is unique to us.

Fact No. 2: Essentiality. No matter what group we’re in, we don’t necessarily need to be central, but we do need to be seen as essential. It’s important that our meaningful contributions are seen and noticed and built upon.

Cooperrider noted that great leaders tell all the good news stories they can about people. He said he believes one of the most powerful things a leader can do is notice and spread the news about meaningful contributions to everybody until those stories come back to those who were celebrated.

Fact No. 3: Equality of voice and vision. The ideal is that whatever human group we’re in, we feel like not only do we have the right to share our vision of a better world, but that we have the responsibility to do so. Cooperrider made the point that we’re aiming to create organizations that are in full voice, not half voice.

Imagine everyone of us who wants to make a difference constantly adjusting our connections with those around us to amplify their exceptionality and essentiality and provide for the greatest equality of voice and vision.

How exactly do we do that? And what would be the result? How would things be different? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Triggering Awe to Generate Change

2010-12-17T14:40:00.005-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

This week’s Axiom News editorial was inspired by the experience our news chair, Michelle Strutzenberger, had attending an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) gathering in Florida last week led by co-originator David Cooperrider.

David spoke of the role of awe in being transformative in people’s lives and moving things forward. The question he’s wrestled with is how to generate awe in other settings, such as business.

He points to the power of questions to propel people into a state of wonder, surprise and amazement.

As the editorial notes, the potential of questions to open up positive change in organizations is something Axiom News is continually focusing on. We use the power of positive questions and Appreciative Inquiry in the news services we provide on behalf of organizations.

Called Foundations and Frontiers in Appreciative Inquiry, Michelle says she came away with incredible stories, powerful questions, nuggets of insights, conversations and exciting visions that are still resonating. She expects these takeaways to have a profound and long-term impact on a personal and team level, and beyond.

The same course will be run again by AI co-creator Ronald Fry, Feb. 21-24, 2011, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Michelle is planning to share more of her experience through this blog, so check back for entries about leadership and the importance of questions.

Successes from Sharing Stories in Organizations

2010-12-10T19:21:00.004-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

This week I was happily surprised to see some comments I made in a LinkedIn Reinvention Summit group quoted in Kathy Hansen's A Storied Career Blog.

In her entry entitled How Effective Is Storytelling in Organizations? Here's Evidence, Kathy outlines the work and research of those involved in story work and shares some great insights.

For example, Lori Silverman’s research from 72 companies that use storytelling within the organization resulted in some interesting stats. Among her findings are 36 per cent experienced positive financial impact to the bottom line, 18 per cent furthered movement towards organizational goals, and 17 per cent had increased levels of engagement between people and the organization.

Kathy shared the notes I had made about Axiom News’ story work within organizations, and how we apply Appreciative Inquiry in the news articles we write on behalf of organizations.

Earlier this year, we wanted to discover how our clients and their stakeholders are benefiting from their stories and how we can improve our services. We turned our process in on ourselves, running three stories a week on our site featuring stories based on interviews with stakeholders about the product. And are we ever glad we did!

Now called Stories At Work, this column is providing immense feedback and also showing what we’ve inherently known for a long time — that sharing stories within organizations is a way to catalyze positive change and make a difference in organizations and the lives of people working there.

Learning from one another’s best practices, boosting recruitment and retention, fostering team engagement, building relationships with other organizations, heightening culture, increasing morale — these are just some of the benefits we’re hearing from the people we serve.

And we’re pleased to know we’re not the only ones seeing results from stories in the workplace.

Kathy also shared a link to the recent article in FORTUNE by Vickie Elmer. Vickie features head of international lodging for Marriott International Ed Fuller who is the author of an upcoming book on workplace stories. Ed is quoted as saying, "Storytelling has made me more effective in doing my job."

Wouldn't we all like to be more effective in our jobs?

We’d love to hear and share more stories about stories that work. Comment below to share your thoughts.

Connecting With Storytellers

2010-12-03T18:09:00.002-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

It’s been a couple weeks since the first virtual Reinvention Summit, exploring the power of narrative, and there continues to be lots of activity among the new tribe of storytellers who are connecting and sharing next steps since the experience.

With more than 30 hours of experts presenting on different areas of stories, I’m thankful the sessions are archived online and available for future viewing.

On Twitter, the hashtags #reinvention and #story10 continue to be populated with tweets from tribe members sharing their reflections, takeaways and new actions arising out of the event.

Through the LinkedIn Reinvention Summit group, we’ve connected with Shelly Alcorn of Alcorn Associates Management Consulting, who shares our passion for Appreciative Inquiry, storytelling and democratic governance. As part of her take away from the summit she’s started a new blog – check out her entry titled What Associations Can Learn from the Reinvention Summit 2010.

The LinkedIn group has been discussing different aspects of the event, with such topics as: what are your first steps to putting your reinvention into action, what is your definition of storytelling and sharing examples of an organization effectively using storytelling (which is right up Axiom News’ alley!).

With our passion for organizational storytelling, we’re thrilled to be sharing the stories of how our partners are using and benefiting from sharing their stories. This week we’ve launched a new e-news that will be sent out every two weeks focusing on these stories. We encourage you to check out our first edition and sign up by clicking here.

Celebrating Findings in Social Finance

2010-11-26T22:14:00.002-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Next week is a big one for social finance in Canada, as the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance launches its report and recommendations Nov. 30.

The task force — which includes such members as Vancity Credit Union CEO Tamara Vrooman, Canada’s former Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Social Capital Partners president Bill Young — is looking to alter the way we think about investing and philanthropy and expected to lay out a roadmap for developing an impact investing marketplace in the country.

Social Innovation Generation, in partnership with MaRS Discovery District, is hosting the launch reception and celebration, which features task force members outlining opportunities for financial institutions, foundations and government to build Canada’s impact investing market. As outlined on SocialFinance.ca, attendees will learn about examples of social finance at work.

The free event is currently adding people to a waitlist, an indication of the interest in the social finance movement.

Findings from the task force report will also be featured at the Dec. 1 2010 Canadian Social Finance Symposium at MaRS.

The symposium has two components; from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. impact investing will be explored, and at 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. new thinking about charitable funding models in Canada.

Watch http://www.socialfinance.ca/ and stay tuned to Axiom News’s website and tweets for more information.

Electing Our News Chair

2010-11-19T17:43:00.002-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

We’ve been honing in on our democratic practices, and moved the needle again last week with our first election process for the position of news chair.

Since Axiom’s Strategy Summit in August, which used an open spaces format and ended with organizational priorities being created and voted on by all team members, we’ve developed a number of committees and an Operating Board (check out previous blog entries to learn more).

This is creating a high level of engagement, as many team members are finding themselves involved in one or more committees, and each committee has a chair that sits on the Operating Board.

With the newsroom being one of the committees, when the position of chair opened up this month we embarked on a formal election process to fill the position. Anyone working in the newsroom was invited to nominate someone for the position (and each nomination had to be seconded).

The Operating Board approved the nominations, and nominees (or in this case, nominee) accepted their nomination.

We then had a voting day, where the nominee shared a few words about her ambitions in the new role. All members of the news team voted by secret ballot.

The result? Our new news chair, Michelle Strutzenberger, was unanimously elected to the position (congratulations, Michelle!).

We’ve designed the position as a year-long post, meaning this was the first of many elections to come.

As a winner of the WorldBlu Award, which recognizes the world’s most democratic organizations, we’re continuing our journey towards open, democratic decision-making processes.

We’ll continue sharing our lessons, and invite you to comment below and do the same.

Join the Virtual Reinvention Summit, Find a Storytelling Tribe

2010-11-12T16:23:00.003-05:00

By Jennifer Neutel

We’re excited to be a media partner for the Reinvention Summit, taking place online Nov. 11 – 22. With 32 hours of content specifically on storytelling strategies for reinventing the world, there’s a ton of resources and wisdom to be shared.

Our friend Angela Smith, one of the event’s co-creators, let us know about the Reinvention Summit and invited us to take part.

We talked with organizer and president of Get Storied Michael Margolis, who shared the intention of the event is to gather a new tribe of storytellers.

When asked what he was most excited about, Michael said the “stone soup” folk tale aspect of the event. He shares the story as people wanting to make a soup but having nothing but a stone in the village — a magical stone that imports flavours. They asked around for others to put their own ingredients into the soup. In the end, the soup had incredible flavour from all the ingredients.

He compares this to the co-creative collaboration that is taking place to make the event happen. There are six co-creators, 19 partners, 37 speakers, 56 producers and hundreds of participants coming together around the summit.

With the idea being hatched 90 days ago, Michael shared with us that the summit has been built by having a bold, impossible dream and — without giving yourself enough time — making it happen.

Organizers have been quickly getting ready for the event that is a “bold and audacious attempt to break out of the old silos,” and explore the expanding role of narrative in the context of personal, business, and social reinvention.

We’re excited to tune in and learn with others about the power of narrative. Share your comments below if you have favourite insights to share, and follow the event on twitter through the hashtags #story10 and #reinvention.

Also, to learn how we use the power of narrative through sharing people’s stories, check out our e-book entitled How to Change Your World By Sharing Stakeholder Stories.

Connecting the Social Enterprise Movement

2010-11-05T11:31:00.004-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

There's an exciting event happening today in Rhode Island: the second annual SERI (Social Enterprise Rhode Island) Summit, that is convening and connecting social enterprises from across the state and beyond.

Hosted by Social Venture Partners Rhode Island, this week I had the opportunity to talk with board members Tony Silbert and Jen Hetzel Silbert (who we also know through Innovation Partners International, an Appreciative Inquiry consulting firm where they are both principals). Check out the story here.

Jen mentioned to me that though Rhode Island is small, that means it is connected and able to be an incubator for radical experiments that can make a big different globally. The state has 100 social enterprises and counting.

From the tweets I've seen so far, it looks like it has been a fabulous time of sharing innovation and inspiration.

To learn more, check out www.socialenterpriseri.org.

If you were at the SERI Summit, or know of a similar event featuring innovation and social business, share your thoughts by commenting below.

Reflections from ‘Leading with a Servant’s Heart’

2010-11-01T18:49:00.004-04:00

By Fraser Wilson

I had the opportunity to attend the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Health Care conference titled “Leading with a Servant’s Heart” last week.

I left with a full heart, emotionally charged and once again reminded of the power and necessity of serving others.

Health care and servant leadership are such a natural fit. The settings themselves capture the essence of people serving those in need – extending knowledge, love, support and understanding.

There were several insights and reminders, many of which are common sense and intuitive and yet harder to practice than to preach.

Most caregivers are naturally inclined to show empathy and kindness to patients, yet time and again those same courtesies and respect are not shown to each other.

Servant leadership is about being humble, serving others, finding their strengths and promoting them. It is enabling those around you with the resources and skills so they can grow personally and professionally.

Joe Patrnchak from the Cleveland Clinic told us of how they took the time to develop their culture. How they engaged their people in such a way that they were curious to find out more about servant leadership and how it might change their workplace.

Ken Jennings from ThirdRiver Partners reminded us that as leaders we must make our people our number one priority, not our patients. It’s our people that make their patients number one.

Olivia McIvor, author of The Business of Kindness, shared the importance of connection, compassion and community, of showing kindness and empathy to those around us.

Michael Holmes formally from Express Scripts gave us the characteristics of a strong culture. This culture is one where people don’t have to ask to take action, where there is less risk avoidance, decisions are made quicker, teamwork is stronger and outcomes are better.

David Fish from St. Joseph’s Hospital spoke with passion and conviction about people going to serve, not going to work. About how everyone is equal and that we value people for who they are, not what they do. And that the real measurement of servant leadership was not in the data but in our hearts, the way we feel and those we touch.

And Jack Cochran from Kaiser Permanente encouraged everyone to take responsibility to lead, serve, and partner to effect the greatest change and to have the most meaningful impact in health care.

Health care is not without its challenges. Creating a patient, kind and trusting environment isn’t easy, especially with the size of organizations range from hundreds to thousands people. That’s a lot of people to get on the same page.

As Olivia McIvor says, “we are born to care, somehow we lose our way.” I’d say servant leadership is the fuel we need to revitalize our spirits and demonstrate what is possible when we first serve.

The Movement to Be Blu

2010-10-29T18:18:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

This week I had the pleasure of connecting with our friends at WorldBlu, CEO and founder Traci Fenton and global director Miranda Ash.

It’s always exciting to hear what the WorldBlu team is up to in their efforts to convene and build a global movement of organizations practising workplace democracy.

At Axiom News, we’ve applied for and been recognized for the past four years as one of WorldBlu’s List of Most Democratic Workplaces. As part of our commitment to the organizational democracy movement we’ve written many stories with fellow awardees, highlighting their best practices when it comes to being a freedom-centred workplace.

And for the 2011 WorldBlu List there are tons of new features being rolled out, including a new individual membership option geared for consultants, students, professors, HR professionals, start-up entrepreneurs, journalists, and anyone who is generally a fan of WorldBlu.

So now, more than ever, people and organizations of all types can join the workplace democracy movement.

WorldBlu launched a new vision this year; to see 1 billion people employed in a democratic workplace during Traci’s lifetime.

With some big players on the 2010 WorldBlu List, like Zappos with 1,800 employees and HCL Technologies with 60,000 employees, there is momentum gathering and proof that all organizations — large and small — can successfully be democratic.

Traci and her team are calling on everyone to encourage other companies to join the WorldBlu movement to realize its vision and ultimately lead to a better world.

Learn more by checking out Axiom’s news coverage on workplace democracy by clicking here and visit http://www.worldblu.com/.

If you know of a democratic organization that has a story to tell, send us a comment or contact our newsroom.

Spotlight on Social Finance

2010-10-22T20:43:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

Sometimes it seems we have a knack for being just ahead of the curve when it comes to reporting innovative or emerging movements at Axiom News, and once again this week we were pleasantly surprised by the attention and conversations happening around an area we’ve been interested in for awhile – social finance.

With our president, Fraser Wilson, recently back from the Social Capital Markets Conference (SOCAP10) conference in San Francisco our editorial team has been discussing further coverage of impact investing and fusing profit with purpose.

And the timing is right, with momentum gathering around the social finance movement, demonstrated this week by the official launch of the Canadian Independent Task Force on Social Finance (TFSF).

Social Innovation Generation (SiG), a project partnered with the Toronto-based innovation centre MaRS Discovery District, launched the task force that is modeled after the U.K.’s Social Investment Task Force.

Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of the MaRS Discovery District, is chair of the task force, and notes in a blog entry that social finance or impact investing has been gaining momentum globally.

Other task force members include Vancity Credit Union CEO Tamara Vrooman, Canada’s former Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Social Capital Partners president Bill Young.

Task force members will be providing updates about issues the group is exploring on SocialFinance.ca.

The task force’s mandate is “to deliver recommendations that will ignite the development of an investment marketplace dedicated to addressing Canada’s social and environmental challenges.”

Recommendations will look to benefit non-profits, charities, co-operatives and for-profits that use business methods to achieve their social or environmental mission. The findings of the task force will be released in a report by the end of the year.

We’re excited to continue following the social finance movement and the interesting conversations unfolding.

Open Spaces Moving Forward Democratic Practices

2010-10-15T17:30:00.003-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

At the end of August, Axiom had a two-day Strategy Summit, an exciting exercise that’s moving forward our commitment to being a democratic organization.

The first day of the summit we went through a visioning exercise, imagining 10 years from now what the accomplishments, impact and influence would be of the organization. We also talked about how our services would have evolved and our own roles and contributions.

The second day we went through an open spaces meeting exercise, a way for people to self-organize and form an agenda around issues that are important to them.

The rules of open spaces are:
• It starts when it starts, and it’s over when it’s over
• Whoever was there were the right people
• Whatever happened was the only thing that could have happened
• When it’s over, it’s over

We were encouraged to leave any conversation where we felt we weren’t either contributing or learning, which brings in the rule of bees and butterflies — bees are people who move from one conversation to another and cross-pollinate learning, and butterflies are people who leave a conversation and perhaps start a conversation with another butterfly.

The day started with a big pad of paper in the middle of our circle, and everyone was invited to write down any items they see of importance on a piece of paper and then post it on the wall, with their name on it. That person then becomes the convener of that open-space meeting.

Each convener had their group discuss the following questions related to the subject matter:
• What excites you most about this subject/action?
• If you are successful, what will happen?
• What are the actions to be taken? What’s the path to success?
• Who is best to do this, would like to do this, and why? Who else should be involved?

At the end of the day, the whole team came together and the convener of each open-space meeting had two minutes to present their group’s topic.

After the presentations, each person received five sticky notes which were our votes, and wandered around the room to cast their votes anonymously on the papers on the wall. The votes were tallied, showing what people within the organization see as its priorities.

Since our Strategy Summit, we’ve created teams, each with a leader that are part of a formal operating board. It has been an organic, democratic and empowering process.

We wonder, what would happen if all organizations took on this approach? How might this affect the rate of change, innovation and engagement?

Media as an Agent of World Benefit

2010-10-08T15:00:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

A couple weeks ago we blogged about one of our team members, Camille Jensen, embarking on a trip to the Catskills in New York to attend this year’s Images and Voices of Hope (IVOH) annual summit.

Reflections from the IVOH event and thoughts on what’s next in the media environment is published in this week’s Making Meaning entry — click here to read. We welcome your comments to this call for media to adopt a new content design and construct something new in its storytelling.

‘A Rebellion of Optimism’

2010-10-04T13:24:00.001-04:00

By Michelle Strutzenberger

The recent Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Storython in Washington, D.C. was a two-day feast of celebrating, through storytelling, how AI has had a powerful, generative influence around the globe.

Here's a random sampling of where it's making a difference:

• Inspiring people who have multiple sclerosis to find joy, despite their circumstances, thanks in huge part to the work of Jackie Kelm, author of Appreciative Living

• Supporting people who are dying, grieving and the bereaved to experience richness and find strength, kudos to Sarah Steck of Steck Associates LLP

• Boosting and strengthening the culture of Toronto General Hospital, with patient satisfaction increased, staff engagement increased, staff turnover down to about 4 per cent rate, thanks to the initiative of executive vice-president Marnie Escaf, director of nursing Petrina McGrath and consultant Danny Nashman

• Fostering a "rebellion of optimism" at the CIA, through the former leadership of Carmen Medina

And the list goes on and on. In fact, Axiom News is planning to share many AI stories over the coming weeks and months, so keep checking back.

The event closed with a brief visioning exercise. Small groups imagined how AI would have had an impact an every level of society in 10 years.

A profound expressed hope is that by 2020 we will have had a global mind shift to an AI perspective.

Just before departure, every person committed to one action, big or small, to helping move us closer to this vision.

Celebration, visioning, commitment. What a fabulous start to propelling us into a flourishing future.

Storython attendees, what was one of your high points of the two days? Please share your comments below.

Sharing Inspiring, Strength-based Stories

2010-10-01T16:42:00.002-04:00

By Jennifer Neutel

One of our team members, Michelle Strutzenberger, presented today at the Appreciative Inquiry Storython, a two-day forum in Washington, D.C. The event is a marathon of stories from storytellers who are sharing how using Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a strengths-based approach to organizational change, has impacted their organizations.

We’re looking forward to hearing about Michelle’s experience. AI thought leader and Fairmount Minerals professor of entrepreneurship at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, David Cooperrider presented on what he is calling the latest IPOD — innovation-inspired positive organizational development.
Among the storytellers were also Innovation Partners International partner and co-founder Jen Hetzel Silbert, Corporation for Positive Change president Diana Whitney, and Communication Architectures Group owner Judy Rodgers.

Before she left, Michelle shared her 15-minute presentation with the team. It is always inspiring and exciting to reflect on some of the outcomes we’ve had from utilizing a strength-based, appreciative approach to the Stakeholder News programs we provide for organizations.

Michelle is sharing about the model and power of using strength-based news in organizations – especially strength-based organizations. She is also sharing a couple examples of the changes catalyzed through the AI news process.

One of the stories she is sharing is about a front-line staff person working at a long-term care home. The staff member, we heard, was unhappy and uninspired. One of our generative journalists heard about work she had done especially well, and interviewed her and her manager about it, who praised her for her efforts. The resulting story was published to the client site.

We later heard that for six months afterwards the woman was like a different person, and a very happy person to work with. She was inspired in her work through the strengths-finding story process and receiving recognition.

Through this story and others, Michelle is sharing how the AI interview process and stories inspire people to recognize the value of their work, the value and contribution they and others make.

If you attended the AI Storython, or have a story to share about how a strengths-based approach has impacted your work, we’d love to hear from you. Comment below or e-mail jennifer@axiomnews.ca to share your story!

Off To IVOH

2010-09-24T15:43:00.000-04:00

Today one of our team members, Camille Jensen, is at the Images & Voices of Hope (IVOH) annual summit.

Having just perused blog entries from last year’s summit, I’m pretty stoked to hear about Camille’s experience and takeaways from the event.

When we came across IVOH we were immediately thrilled. They have the tagline “media as an agent of world benefit,” and teach Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to journalists.
Here at Axiom News we have been following and committed to the Business as an Agent of World Benefit movement and also use the AI approach in our journalism.

To learn more about how we think strengths-based journalism mixed with organizations read our editorial: A Recipe for Massive Transformation.

Stay tuned for more from this event!

Looking for Our Next Generative Journalist

2010-09-17T18:03:00.001-04:00

We’re hiring at Axiom News, and excited to soon be welcoming a new Generative Journalist to our newsroom.

The way we go about hiring is true to our democratic work environment. Everyone is invited to take part in the hiring team. The deal is that once you commit to being on the team, you are in it until the end. This means reading every resume, ranking candidates, asking questions at interviews and ultimately making the choice of who will be our next colleague.

There’s a ton of benefits from this process, including that everyone involved is then accountable to helping the new hire succeed in the workplace.

You never know what conversations may arise during the process. Every candidate brings his or her own strengths, which can trigger thinking about current configuration, what our needs are and where we are going.

All in all, it is an empowering and inspiring process. Many of us have commented that the process is a reminder of how thankful we are to have found Axiom and its unique model of organization- and strength-based journalism.

We’ve also folded in our Appreciative Inquiry-style questioning into our search for a new team member. On our job ad we’re asking applicants to answer the following:

• When have you felt like your work was making a positive difference in the world or in someone’s life, when you felt an alignment among your principles, purpose, and practices? Share the story of what you were doing.
• What about Axiom News makes you most curious?
• What do you hope would happen if you joined our team?
• What’s the most transformative thing you’ve learned from a source? How did that insight come to you?

Know of someone who might be interested in joining our team? Click here to access our job ad. If you have a story about a democratic process, share it by commenting below!

Exciting Events On Tap This Fall

2010-09-10T16:25:00.001-04:00

With fall in the air and students back to school there are some exciting conferences coming up in the movements we’re following.

This weekend (Sept. 10-12) is the Fair Trade Futures conference in Boston, known as the largest Fair Trade conference in North American history. Check out the website for a list of things to do before, after and if you can’t make it to the conference.

Images & Voices of Hope (IVOH) describes itself as “a global dialogue dedicated to strengthening the role of media as agents of world benefit.” IVOH is hosting its annual summit Sept. 23-26 with a focus on the possibilities for media in an open-source world. The event is taking place in the Catskills Mountains outside of New York City.

Another event will be celebrating the past 10 years of AI Consulting, a global consultancy dedicated to using appreciative, strength-based approaches to organizational change. Called the Appreciative Inquiry Storython, the two-day forum takes place Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Washington, D.C. AI thought leader David Cooperrider will be a keynote storyteller.

And Oct. 5-6 GreenLink 2010, an international conference on sustainable development, will be held in Vancouver. The conference will host roundtable sessions on world-class sustainable development, ideas to create smarter communities and how to attract investment capital. Environmentalist David Suzuki will be presenting the closing keynote session.

Among others, these events are providing opportunities for like-minded people and organizations to get together, share stories and inspire action in movements that are making a difference. If you’re attending one of these events, or have another to share, we invite you to comment below.

Envisioning the Future World We Want to See

2010-09-02T20:10:00.001-04:00

In this week’s Making Meaning editorial we pondered what’s next for social innovation, focusing on some of our recent findings in the areas of social mission and Holacracy.
As we consider what’s next, we wrote that we have yet to encounter, in our reporting, a clearly expressed picture of the future.

With opportune timing, a new Twitter follower called Seeducation caused us to stop and take note of its vision statement, which provides a vision of the world it sees in the future.

They write:

"Looking at the current world trend we see an unstoppable movement towards a new era filled with inspired leaders. They are selected through transparent democratic processes, open source sharing of information, resources and decision making. A social enterprise led economy in which organizations engage with the public to stimulate social, cultural and intellectual growth. Sustainability has become a way of life.”

This is a pretty exciting vision, filled with many of the big ideas we’ve been digging into like democratic workplaces, social enterprises and sustainable development. The vision statement also takes an appreciative view of the future, looking at what is already best and what the organization wants to see succeed as a way of life.

Last week, Axiom held a two-day strategy summit using an open-space format. At the end, the topic that the group voted as the most important priority is to redefine our mission, vision and values. We’re excited to share the results of this work soon.

What vision inspires you? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts.

The Age of Meaningful Work

2010-08-05T16:24:00.001-04:00

We talk a lot about meaningful work at Axiom News. It’s a driver for what we do and part of our mission statement: “To publish news, on behalf of organizations, that catalyzes meaningful contribution.”

What do we mean by meaningful work?

An organization has two purposes: to fill a human or social need, and to provide opportunities for people to do meaningful work. If the first is well-defined, it seems natural the second will follow. (For more musings on this, read this archived editorial.)

Making a difference in society and the lives of others can come in many different forms, and more and more people today want to be in a workplace that’s creating positive change and results.

FLOW CEO and author Michael Strong points to entering “the age of meaning” where there will be an increasing demand for meaningful work. Young people are looking to be entrepreneurial and have meaning and purpose.

He notes meaning comes from engagement in positive work that challenges personal capacity and knowledge that the positive work is making a contribution to the well-being of humanity and life.

A series of stories now being published by the OMNIway Stakeholder News program is demonstrating how long-term care provides opportunities for meaningful work.

This series is profiling personal support workers, and in a recent story PSW Lisa Blackburn shares how going the extra mile to make a resident feel good shows the value those working in long-term care can bring people. She remembers taking a resident on a surprise outing to a pancake breakfast being hosted at the museum where he used to work, and says “his facial expression was worth a million dollars."

The questions for the PSW series are ones all of us could ask ourselves once in awhile:

• What do you most enjoy about your work?
• When have you most felt your work was making a difference, when it was in alignment among your principles, purpose and practices?
• What are some challenges you face and how do you overcome them?
• What would you most like to be remembered for?

If you have a story to share or thoughts on meaningful work, leave a comment or drop a line to jennifer@axiomnews.ca.

Sensing a Strong Social Business Community

2010-08-03T15:56:00.001-04:00

As we continue our series digging into the definition of social business it has been exciting to participate in the movement and its strong community on Twitter.

Having set up a stream to monitor social business Tweets, as well as mentions of Axiom News, we’re seeing our stories being shared by people and organizations that are new to us, but clearly committed to spreading social business and social enterprise news.

For example, after Tweeting this morning’s story within an hour there were a dozen retweets of the article. It is wonderful to have people sharing the stories to their networks.

We have a couple different inquiry or question sets we are using to engage people in conversation for this series. The questions include: can you tell me about the history of the definition of social business and why some people define it as a non-dividend distributing company, how do you define social business, are you witnessing the growth of social business, and what is most exciting about this trend.

If you are interested to share your thoughts, or have a resource to share, we invite you to comment below. We look forward to continuing to engage with the movement and building the momentum as more businesses look to incorporate commercial and social objectives and make a positive difference in the world.

Digging into Social Business

2010-07-29T11:20:00.002-04:00

We’re starting a new series on our website digging into the social business movement. Having been following and talking about social business within the newsroom for years, we’re thrilled to be engaging thought leaders and practitioners in sharing their stories and insights.

There are differing definitions of social business. We like the one that ClearlySo uses, that a social business is one that integrates commercial and social objectives. In a recent editorial we explore expanding the definition of social business, beyond Muhammed Yunus’ model to include profit-maximizing businesses with a social mission.

As we look for people to connect with for the series, we’ve stumbled across some interesting projects.

Two people named Romain and Christian have started a social business called MakeSense. Through a web application and social innovation meet-ups they are challenging people to link with social entrepreneurs.

They ask the important question; how to engage more people around the world into this Social Business Revolution?

Their website reports the founders have returned from travels in Asia to meet with social entrepreneurs and are working to launch the web application this fall. It will be interesting to see how this start-up develops.

We’ve also discovered in Ontario Social Venture Exchange is embarking on a Social Finance Census to address the gap of data on social finance in the province. It is an “initiative to gather vital data on non-profits, charities, social enterprises, and social purpose businesses in order to build a strong profile of the sector.” Click here to learn more.

And if you are near London, England, this October ClearlySo is hosting its fifth annual Social Business Conference. Geared towards social business and enterprise CEOs and managers, as well as social investors, the conference will share know-how and be a networking opportunity.

Do you know of a social business or resource worth sharing? We’d love to hear it. Comment below, send an e-mail to jennifer@axiomnews.ca, connect with us on Twitter or call into our newsroom.

Building on Strengths Resonates with Nurse

2010-07-23T11:54:00.001-04:00

A recent OMNI Health Care story features registered nurse Kathy Feldcamp commending a managers' training program for its strengths-based focus.

She says the idea of always looking for people doing the right thing and acknowledging their good work is something that stands out from the course, as building on people's confidences is going to make them feel good and be a better team member.

Feldcamp is right. When we talked with Gallup’s principal leadership consultant Barry Conchie he told us the strengths-based approach is one of the key factors to feeding self-confidence, making it a long-term investment in everything people do.

Conchie says not only does a person’s self-confidence increase when they are aware of their strengths but there are benefits in success and well-being standards. These include over an individual’s life having less illness, earning more money and being more productive and happier. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

To discover what your top five strengths are, a great resource is Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0, an online quiz with 177 questions that determines a person’s strengths from 34 of the most common talents. A couple of summers ago all of us at Axiom News took the quiz and have enjoyed learning more about one another’s particular talents, which also tends itself to ideas about team configuration.

When it comes to organizations adopting a strength-based approach we look to the field of Appreciative Inquiry, a participative methodology that looks for the best in people and their organizations. We’ve got some suggestions on our resources page if you’re interested to learn more.

How are you bringing strengths to the forefront in your life or workplace? Share a comment below or connect with jennifer@axiomnews.ca.

New Column Providing Invaluable Feedback

2010-07-21T13:53:00.001-04:00

We’re pretty excited about the feedback coming in from client stakeholders who have been involved in their organization’s news program through our new Discovering Stakeholder News column.

In this space we’re talking with people about their experiences with the interview process and outcomes from having a news program. You could say we’re turning our service in on ourselves, and seeing tangible benefits from engaging stakeholders in dialogue.

For example, OMNI long-term care home administrator Maureen King credits a question posed by journalist Deron Hamel as sparking a new hand-washing campaign for residents that was rolled out to two homes. That’s an impressive change.

LiveWorkPlay CEO Keenan Wellar says Axiom and Community Living Ontario need to work continuously to engage people and points to the “million-dollar question” of how to reach out to new people. Distribution has always been a huge question, and continues to be as social media tools have even more networking power to make content spread virally.

One of the questions we are asking in this series is what would you like to see more of from the service, or, how can the news help further your goals?

Some of the answers to this question we can implement right away. For example, the suggestion to reach out more to frontline staff was quickly acted on as we developed a new story series geared towards those positions.

We’re loving the feedback and are looking to expand these interviews beyond the groups we’ve reached already to engage all our clients in conversation about how to best leverage the power of Stakeholder News.

New Appreciative Leadership Resource

2010-07-14T11:14:00.001-04:00

We’re excited to hear from Amanda Trosten-Bloom, principal at Corporation for Positive Change, about the publishing of her new co-authored book, Appreciative Leadership: Focus on What Works to Drive Winning Performance and Build a Thriving Organization.

While we haven’t read it yet, we are looking forward to getting our hands on a copy and are sure it will provide a great resource for organizational leaders looking to embrace a strengths-based, collaborative approach.

We previously connected with Amanda about her work in the organization development methodology Appreciative Inquiry (AI). She shared in a great conversation with us, discussing how AI could transform the field of journalism.

Since then, our newsroom has greatly benefited from a book she co-authored, the Encyclopedia of Positive Questions. With a copy now sitting on the desk of each of our journalists, the book is constantly referred to as we develop Topic of Inquiries for our Stakeholder News programs.

If you’ve benefited from Amanda’s work, or have read the new book, share your comments below.

Blogging Engaging Movements

2010-07-12T11:11:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Axiom’s new Advocacy blog! This blog is our way to share insights on what we are seeing, both in the movements we are committed to and what’s going on in our newsroom.

The movements we’ve been covering — such as democratic workplaces, holacracy, strength-based organizations and Appreciative Inquiry — are gaining ground as organizations embrace new ways to do business while making a meaningful contribution to society.

As we share daily stories on our website and participate in social media conversations this blog will be a connection point for our findings and the important work being done to build a better world.

We’re hoping to connect and further engage with like-minded people through this blog, so please share your comments, suggest what you’d like to see more of and let us know where to learn more about you.

Enjoy!

P.S. – To learn more about the movements we are following, sign-up for our Axiom E-news here.