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Our Thinking

Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Solvable? Sellable? Who knows?

This article discusses how groups can work under ambiguity to make decisions collectively. We discuss the role, limitations and potential downside of input from experts.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Uncomfortable Questions #2

A discussion on the promise of new Board members to assist our collaboration by helping us revisit important areas that help with both efficiency and effectiveness in delivering impact.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Uncomfortable Questions #1

A nuanced discussion on the role that questions play in collaboration between Boards and Executive Leaders in the not-for-profit area.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Discussing and Addressing Complexity (using ERs)

Using the context of the recent discussion on the ER crisis in Ontario, this post explores the challenges of discussing complexity and some ways to help broad engagement toward improving poor situations.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Clarity, Comfort and Complexity

If you sit on the Board or are leading a not-for-profit organization, you and your colleagues face complex issues that likely have wide reaching impact. We can be reluctant to fully engage in these collaborative discussions because of politeness or other concerns.

Groups that engage well with complexity can counter this by engaging in deliberate and shared behaviours.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

The Semantics of Leadership

This starts a discussion about the need for a new approach to leadership for situations that involve complexity and cannot rely on such previous aspects as expertise, authority and trust.

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Chris Irwin Chris Irwin

Believing is seeing (and hearing)

Collaborating with others requires navigating the shortcuts we take in constructing the reality we see and the truth we believe. Here are some ways that we can make it more effective to engage with others and find where our interests align.

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