House of Cards left a legacy in our house, #metoo movement aside. A few episodes into the series, my beloved watched Frank Underwood rowing in the basement of his DC townhouse and said, “I want one of those.” (He wasn’t alone.) The object of his desire was a wooden water rower made in RhodeContinue reading “Habits and House of Cards: How to bring thinking about habits into a New Year”
Category Archives: Nonprofits
Learning • Technology • Design Conference Session – February 1, 2018
I’m absolutely thrilled to be presenting a session in the Learning • Technology • Design™ (LTD) virtual conference from February 1-23, 2018. The Washington Nonprofits learning team took away some great ideas last year from this conference. I hope you’ll consider joining it this year. Here’s information about my session: CHUNK FLIP GUIDE LAUGH: CREATING LEARNINGContinue reading “Learning • Technology • Design Conference Session – February 1, 2018”
Ask Nancy: Audience Engagement
I got an email this week that asked for my thoughts on audience engagement. I’m sharing a version of the exchange with you because engaged people are important when it comes to successful learning events. It’s no fun teaching unengaged participants. It’s no fun being an unengaged participant. Let’s see if we can turn thisContinue reading “Ask Nancy: Audience Engagement”
Emotions in Learning: Ok, but how do I do that?
A few months ago, I presented to nonprofit colleagues about learning and the power of emotions. One said, “Okay, I get it. Emotions are important in learning. But how do we do that? It seems weird to overly emote in the middle of a training?” True. Don’t start howling in the middle of a training.Continue reading “Emotions in Learning: Ok, but how do I do that?”
How to move people to action
A well designed conference is awesome, in the original sense of the word. It inspires an overwhelming feeling of reverence. I spent last Tuesday at the Closing the Hunger Gap conference in Tacoma, Washington. I found it exhilarating to be among so many people from across the country working with such focus on addressing institutional racism inContinue reading “How to move people to action”
Strategic Learning: Don’t leave action to chance
We offer learning events to provide opportunities for people to get what they need to be more effective. Sometimes this goal is achieved, but often the transfer of learning into action is left to chance. A learning strategy connects the change that we are trying to make in the world — our larger organizational strategy — with activities mostContinue reading “Strategic Learning: Don’t leave action to chance”
3 Ways to Break the Nonprofit Scarcity Trap (Part 2)
It is not hard to slip into a scarcity mindset this time of year. The world can seem flat when we get tired. (Luckily Memorial Day Weekend is right around the corner!) Which brings us to Part 2 of our conversation about the scarcity trap. I wrote last week about the research on how poorContinue reading “3 Ways to Break the Nonprofit Scarcity Trap (Part 2)”
Scarcity and What We Can Do About It (Part 1)
We talk a lot about the scarcity mindset in nonprofits. It is that belief that nonprofits let limitations define them. They don’t have money, time, energy, knowledge, you name it. It is a wonder that they get anything done. We try to administer the antidote to the scarcity mindset: a mindset centered on abundance andContinue reading “Scarcity and What We Can Do About It (Part 1)”
A Nonprofiters View of the World
I’ve been spending a lot of time with nonprofits in Central Washington. I was recently asked what is most on their minds… and then The New Yorker arrived. Thinking about their view of the world is helping me think about what kind of programs would connect those isolated fields and reduce the height of thoseContinue reading “A Nonprofiters View of the World”