Blog
Take this free 10 minute assessment of your strategic plan
You want to create or update your strategic plan so that it is actually helpful. In the past, has your completed plan languished on a shelf? Just a collection of paper that was wordsmithed to death, the memory of which is too fresh for staff to want to start a...
How to engage introverts in a video meeting
When the stay at home orders started, I forwarded my father this meme: A little dark humor that we both got a laugh out of since my dad is an introverted engineer from central casting. He’s married to an extreme extrovert and I seem to be trying to prove that the...
#49 Making the Choice to Slow Down and Prioritize Health
Before all non-essential workers were pushed to slow down and isolate, Deidre had already taken a big step away from the frenetic work life of a K-12 school administrator. In this episode we talk about her career choice and about what she is learning from staying home...
3 powerful questions to ask right now
For creative thinkers and problem solvers, a powerful question has always been the key to opening up exciting possibilities. During a crisis, our minds have a tendency to narrow. We think in terms of survival. We look at options as helpful or hurtful. Our beautiful,...
How can your strategic plan help you during this crisis?
If you created a Strategic Plan a year ago, two years ago, or more, you may be wondering…is that worth looking at right now? During a time when so much is changing so fast and a lot of the things that you had been planning to do are no longer possible, it may feel...
#48 When COVID-19 Shut Down Nepal’s Borders
In March, Dan Maurer was supposed to be in Nepal organizing a medical clinic with Elevate Nepal. The pandemic grounded everything and over the matter of a few weeks it changed his plans for the entire year. We check in about how he and his team are doing and what has...
Are your zoom meetings a waste of time? This will help.
Working from home? Have all of your work meetings moved onto Zoom, Skype, etc? I’m just going to make a wild guess that you are frustrated. I’ve got a few things I want you to try for your next meeting. If you try that and want more, just let me know. The three...
Getting to Know New Colleagues in the time of social distancing
My best friend called me up recently. Good news: she just started a new job and she isn’t being laid off right now. Bad news: she just started a new job and has no idea when she will ever get a chance to meet her coworkers in person. She’s not the only one. There are...
#47 A Message from Sharon During this Crisis
In this direct message to listeners, Sharon checks in about the current crisis and shares her thoughts on how we can approach our work during this time as we navigate such rapid and unpredictable change. 00:00 Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom: Greetings. I'm your host, Sharon...
#46 Empty Nesting After Fostering Four Kids
In 2017, Gina Marie Byars shared her story of taking emergency custody of her brother's four children and how this affected her life and her relatively new marriage. Now, the kids have moved back in with their mother and we are talking about the next chapter - how she...
#2 (Rebroadcast) And Then There Were Four
This is a rebroadcast from October 2017 in preparation for an update next week. Today's guest is Gina Marie Byars, Station Manager of Sun Sounds of Arizona. I have known Gina for years through her community service work in Flagstaff. On the show she shares a personal...
#45 Coming Home to Build Homes for Others
Eric Wolverton is back on the show and back at Habitat for Humanity. We discuss why he left a good job with benefits in the public sector to return to the busier, more stressful job as Director of the local Habitat for Humanity organization. We also discuss his choice...
#3 (Rebroadcast) If your job was easy I would find a volunteer to do it
In preparation for a new episode with Eric Wolverton, we are rebroadcasting Episode 3, from October 2017 with a couple of updates. In this episode I speak with Eric Wolverton. I met Eric when he worked at the local food bank and then we partnered on projects when he...
#44 Running for City Council with a 360 view of the community
Becky Daggett has been a volunteer leader in the Flagstaff community since she was an eleven year old organizing fundraisers for the Humane Society. After a career that spans the sectors of art, economic development, environment, education, and politics, Becky is now...
#43 Learning From Discomfort On Stage and In the Classroom
Michael Rulon is a professor at Northern Arizona University and a passionate thespian, volunteering in many roles at Theatrikos Theater Company in Flagstaff Arizona. In this episode we talk about his tendency to over commit, how he has learned to embrace discomfort in...
How to avoid this huge trap in strategic planning
Many of my clients enter the strategic planning process cautiously, dubiously even; many of them are leaders with decades of experience, which means they have been here before. They have gotten their hopes up, felt the great energy in the room as people shared new...
#42 Two 2-Time Bone Marrow Donors Talk
Amanda Lieb and Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom are unique in having both donated bone marrow to cancer patients twice. Amanda donated to a stranger who she was matched with through the national registry. Sharon donated to her sister and then the second time to a stranger...
This is what I hope to accomplish and why I do what I do
When people hear my business name Do Good, Be Good for the first time, they often think that I only work with nonprofits. That is not true. I work across all sectors. However, I believe strongly in working for positive change. I want my business to be a force for...
Does language matter?
Feedback. Does the word send a chill down your spine? In a recent workshop I delivered, a participant shared that “feedback” has gotten such a bad rep that she has changed to using the term “feedforward.” Feedforward reminds her and the person she is talking to...
Delegate at the meeting, for their benefit, not yours
Imagine you are leading a meeting. Someone gave you the reins, so you have to do it all, right? Absolutely not. Leading is not the same as dominating. Facilitation is not a monologue. Being in front of the room does not mean that everything that happens is your...