The Latest

Contribute. We love to hear your thoughts, your musings and your latest work. Please share with us!
Write a post

Dancing with Complexity: Reflections on a Week of Learning

Posted by Liz Weaver on January 15, 2020

There was a time, just before I was to leave for a week of learning at Roffey Park in the UK, where I could make the case not to go.  I was too busy.  The holidays were coming up.  I was just back from travelling and now was packing my bag again.  The tree was not decorated.  The dog needed attention and on and on the excuses went. 

Read More

Repairing Trust

Posted by Liz Weaver on December 17, 2019

In his ground-breaking book The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey describes five waves of trust. The first two he tackles are self trust and relational trust.  He notes that foundationally, we must trust ourselves, living with integrity and fulfilling our commitments.  The second relational wave of trust is based on the principle of consistent behaviour and investing in and generating trust with others. Throughout the book Covey describes the reciprocal nature of trust, that it is about giving and receiving. 

Read More

Emergence and Movement Building

Posted by Liz Weaver on July 4, 2019

One of the first phrases I encountered at Tamarack was ‘act like an organization, think like a movement’ which is attributed to Al Etmanski and Vicki Cammack.  Like so many other things, I have had to consider this phrase and make it real to my experience of community change. 

Read More

Adaptable Leadership and Changemaking

Posted by Liz Weaver on April 29, 2019

There are times when I am flipping through Twitter and I find a nugget of information that leads me to pause, reflect and then consider what is being shared and how this impacts my thinking about community change. With one tweet, Systems Innovation (@Sys_innovation) both asked and answered the question “what does it take to liberate the capacity of an organization?”

Read More

Transformational Leadership: The Next Big Thing

Posted by Sarah Precious on August 2, 2018

Today, everyone seems to be looking for the next big thing, the quick fix, or the new solution. But sometimes, the answer isn’t found in a formula but in a relationship, an exchange of words, and a way of being.

Leadership is a hot topic. I have watched countless TedTalks, videos, read articles, written school papers and taken courses on the subject of leadership. Each holds its own view of what leadership means, what it can do for you, your business and the future. But taking the time to understand and develop your leadership style can transform the way you work, interact with others and ultimately your ability to impact and influence the world around you. I have learned from my own experience in working on tough community issues that leadership styles which encourage collaboration and relationship building are essential and that in most collaborative efforts, the nature of leadership required will change over time.

Read More

Lean into Adaptive Leadership

Posted by Liz Weaver on June 14, 2018

Many of us shy away from using the power that we have, often to our own and our community’s detriment. This was one of the nuggets of wisdom shared with the participants attending Tamarack's Adaptive Leadership Masterclass series that took us to five cities across Canada and wrapped up just last week. Liz Skelton, Co-Founder of Collaboration for Impact shared a story about working with Indigenous leaders in Australia. It was there that she discovered that leaning into her formal and informal power could be used to help the collaborative group drive change forward.

Read More