Claiming Mindfulness For Yourself

In essence, the roots of mindfulness can be traced back centuries to Buddhist teachings, and even back millennia to traditions within Hinduism.  Over the last couple of decades there has been a surge in hype around mindfulness; it’s become the darling of self and organizational health circles.  This trendiness has made it profitable, and all … Continue reading Claiming Mindfulness For Yourself →

Hitting a Mindfulness-Resource Jackpot

About 10 years ago I slowed down my work life and took a few months to explore some lingering interests that never seemed to get any attention.  One of these activities was baking.  I'm not an expert and will never be, still, it was fun to dig into different recipes and techniques.  One thing I … Continue reading Hitting a Mindfulness-Resource Jackpot →

Two Techniques to Introduce the Mindfulness of Yoga Into Your Work Life

The human mind is a noisy place.  If the volume cranks up into uncomfortable decibels or the noise is coming from too many sources it's easy to go from feeling fine to overwhelmed to stuck to shutting down.  Mindfulness is, in essence, the practice of quieting that noise and filling it with simple awareness.  Doing … Continue reading Two Techniques to Introduce the Mindfulness of Yoga Into Your Work Life →

What “Yes, and…” Can Do For Collaborations

"Yes, and..." By nature all collaborations are creative - they describe the act of people coming together to produce something that doesn't already exist.  A collaboration will result in greater success if everyone participating in it feels comfortable contributing their ideas (however wild or off the established path) and there is willingness from everyone to … Continue reading What “Yes, and…” Can Do For Collaborations →

Collaborating to Shape Team Culture

I'm always curious about how teams create their own culture and how they can affect change to it from within.  While drumming up ideas surrounding collaboration for this month's article series, I couldn't help but recall one particular exercise from last year that illuminated a fun way to get teams to take a look at … Continue reading Collaborating to Shape Team Culture →

2 Quick Quotes About Collaboration

Keeping it simple this week.   2 Quick Quotes About Collaboration: One more Cloud quote on collaboration (from his 2012 TED Talk at U of M): "DIY is so 20th century, I think that the future is Do-It-Together." Want to know who Chris Cloud is?  Check out his website. Want to learn more about Creative … Continue reading 2 Quick Quotes About Collaboration →

Why Collaboration?

Collaboration is a big deal around Vestalia, we're going to give it some attention this month. I want to kick things off by recognizing that within our organization there has been some confusion about when to be in collaboration, and even some pushback against being in it.  Ever find yourself wondering if collaboration is the … Continue reading Why Collaboration? →

Vestalia’s Empowerment 101 – How the Heck Does it Happen?

All this talk over the past month about empowerment - what we believe it does for our organization and the people in it, how we embrace it or push it away - and not a peep about how it might be done.  There are probably hundreds of ways to go about empowerment, we pulled one … Continue reading Vestalia’s Empowerment 101 – How the Heck Does it Happen? →

How My Inner Fixer Thwarts Empowerment (and what I’m doing about it)

Tomorrow, on our official "Wednesday Leadership Article" day, I'll be sending out a piece that has a more nuts and bolts, immediately applicable approach to understanding how to empower someone or get empowered.  Please stay tuned for that! Today, I'm adding to the collection of stories we've been sharing that highlight different perspectives on empowerment from … Continue reading How My Inner Fixer Thwarts Empowerment (and what I’m doing about it) →