“Do you want to come out and play?” I have childhood memories of knocking on my neighbour’s door and issuing that invitation. Today I am more likely to be texting a friend to set up a “play date.” But play remains an important part of my life.
When I begin a new coaching engagement, I ask clients to rank their satisfaction in eight areas of their lives using a tool called the “Wheel of Life.” One of these categories is “fun and recreation.” As nonprofit professionals, we often focus on other areas of the wheel such as career, family, money or personal growth. And sometimes play gets lost.
So I was excited to get some insights by reading Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of The National Institute for Play. Also reading is one of my favourite activities. [Read more…]
Financial literacy is: “The ability to understand financial choices, plan for the future, spend wisely, and manage the challenges that come with life events such as job loss, saving for retirement, or a child’s education.” [source: US Government Accounting Office]
Gossip–The practice of sharing information about people who are not present in a “casual or unconstrained conversation [that] typically involves details not confirmed as being true.”
This scenario plays out frequently at many nonprofit organizations: top-performing professionals gets promoted to lead a team but has never been trained to lead or manage. This is often a disaster—results suffer, people head for the door, and the new manager flames out (and may even get fired).
