Posts by Valerie Patrick
Secret Ingredients for Creating Organizational Value
There are profound ways in which life has changed over the past fifty-something years that I have been alive that got me thinking about the role that learning needs to play in creating organizational value. For example, some of the things that I have had to learn about that have greatly impacted my life include…
Read MoreThree Ways to Save Time with Collaboration
There is an unbelievably huge quantity of information about the ways that online collaboration saves you time – just Google ‘ways online collaboration saves time’ to see what I am talking about here. My original idea for this blog was to compare and contrast online versus offline collaboration with the bias that offline collaboration is…
Read MoreFive Collaboration Principles from Epistemology
After reading my last blog on critical thinking to pump up the value of collaboration (see https://fulcrumconnection.com/blog/critical-thinking-pump-value-collaboration/), my Pastor, the Reverend Dr. Donn Ed, asked if scientists learn the principles of epistemology. This is a simple, yet profound, question. Since I am a trained chemical engineer and had to look up what epistemology even is,…
Read MoreCritical Thinking to Pump Up the Value of Collaboration
Critical thinking is something that comes naturally to me as a trained chemical engineer who has made a career out of facilitating collaboration. My background in science has provided me with a valuable perspective for collaboration. The demand for this perspective has grown over time. I wondered why. I think it is because it is…
Read MoreCollaboration via Commitment to Make Perfect Harmony
I have had first-hand experience of the focus and commitment required to make perfect harmony which is the music world’s version of workplace collaboration. I recently joined a Sweet Adeline’s quartet called Magic Moments. I have only sung with them three times now: the first time to audition, the second time at the tail-end of…
Read MoreFacilitating like Caddying is More than Meets the Eye
This post is about me – facilitating me to get out of the office and onto the golf course with or without the aid of caddying. The sad truth is that it is currently the height of the golfing season in the Northeast and I have not been to the driving range, let alone the…
Read MoreGive Voice through Proactive Facilitation
This week I attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and I wondered what religion could teach me about collaboration. I realized that religion teaches us to give voice to those with dire needs who don’t have a voice in order to experience fulfillment. Similarly, collaboration teaches us to give…
Read More5 Ways to Quartets and Collaboration Performing Best
This week I wondered what singing quartets could teach about collaboration. Last week I attended my first rehearsal with the Greater Harmony Chorus, a chapter of Sweet Adelines International which is dedicated to advancing the musical art of barbershop quartet for women. Not only was the experience tremendously fun, but I was struck by how…
Read MoreWhat Summer Vacation Taught Me About Collaboration
This week I wondered what sea shells could teach me about collaboration. My husband, Todd Przybycien, and I just got back from a week’s vacation at the Outer Banks. We stayed at the Cypress House Inn in Kill Devil Hills run by Bill and Veda Peters, the consummate inn-keppers who know the area very well.…
Read MoreGood Questions are Key to Good Collaboration
Ever wonder why you couldn’t come up with the great question you heard someone else ask at a big conference or in a collaborative meeting? In addition, what made it such a great question? This post explores what makes a good question and the purpose of questions. David Stork provides characteristics of good questions in…
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