1. Developing Soft Skills:
Putting
POSSIBILITY
back into
PRACTICE
PAMELA SWEET • FCIP, RPP STEVE FRITH • MCIP, RPP
VANCOUVER 2013
PLANNING INSTITUTE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNERS
JULY 8, 2013
2. PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
Outline of Workshop
1. Introduction
2. Adopting a Positive Attitude
3. Collaboration and Vulnerability
4. Sharing Positive Possibility
5. Wrap up and Continuing the Conversation
4. • Don‟t “Curb your
enthusiasm”
• Renew your
enthusiasm for
planning
• Put the zip into
planning
• How to stay
optimistic
• Asked some fellow
Fellows…..
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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I always found that work was
MORE FUN than fun
Noel Coward
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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A planner has to be
VISIONARY and
BELIEVE that one‟s
contributions will
make a difference
N.Tunnacliffe
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Seek and seize NEW
OPPORTUNITIES even
when we are out of our
comfort zone. Travel, hang
out with young people, think
about city building through
the eyes of non-planners
Marni Cappe
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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When I feel pessimistic, with further searching
optimism will return. It always does.
Ray Spaxman
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Life is full of misery,
loneliness and
suffering- and it‟s all
over much too soon
Woody Allen
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Optimism? It makes
us look naive and ill-
informed. I like
realism
Joe Berridge
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Thinking that I am
doing the right thing
and helping make
things better, even in a
modest way
John Steil
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Stay connected with
students. Their
ENERGY and
OPTIMISM is
contagious
Gerry Couture
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Students seek advice and in turn impart
their enthusiasm for their career ahead
Ann McAfee
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Welcome women into
planning. They bring a
CONSTRUCTIVE &
COLLABORATIVE
approach to the business
which helps society move
forward
N. Tunnacliffe (a man)
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Have a sense of
HUMOUR and don‟t
be afraid to share it
Mary Bishop
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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“If you‟re not fired
with enthusiasm,
you‟ll be fired, with
enthusiasm.”
Vince Lombardi, NFL coach
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Planners get to place a small mark on the canvas
of those who came before us. Lucky us.
F .Lewinberg
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
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Planning is based on faith:
You must BELIEVE in a future;
That this future could be better;
That this possibly better future can be achieved through human efforts;
That the human efforts involved include planning.
Hok-Lin Leung
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
21. EXERCISE #1 – Adopting a Positive Attitude
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
1. Reflection- How do you
stay optimistic? (on
post-it notes write one
strategy per note)
2. Share with your group
3. Stick similar strategies
together
22. PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
Nothing great was ever achieved
WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM•
R. W. Emerson
30. EXERCISE #2 – Inviting Collaboration Through Invitation
IN PAIRINGS OF TWO:
1. Share a problem (use „I feel‟ statements).
2. The responder identifies and expresses empathy
for the person sharing the problem.
3. The responder then asks a question to embark
upon collaboration and possibility.
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
31. The last of human freedoms
is the ability to CHOOSE ONE’S
ATTITUDE in any given set of
circumstances•
Viktor Frankl
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
32. Is this FEAR
just here to destroy me
or to tell me
to do SOMETHING
about it?
Immaculée Ilibagiza
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
33. From these stories, and our own
professional experience, no one can
ever take our ATTITUDE or
DIGNITY away from us•
These are ours,
AND OURS ALONE•
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
35. Why is this IMPORTANT?
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
36. It is important because
our work MATTERS•
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
37. We can affect a
GREATER GOOD
when we ENVISION
a positive future with positive
investments toward positive change•
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
38. EXERCISE #3 – Sharing Positive Possibility
IN PAIRINGS OF TWO (WITH A DIFFERENT STRANGER):
1. Convey something about your work that you are looking
forward to and why.
2. The respondent acknowledges the person‟s enthusiasm
(echoes this) and shows an understanding of what it is
about.
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PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
39. Continuing the conversation:
CIP new web site blog- Andrew Sacret,
Director, Policy & Public Affairs, CIP
Other ideas?
PUTTING POSSIBILITY BACK INTO PRACTICE
Notes de l'éditeur
Present anecdote/joke about losing enthusiasm for the altruistic reasons we pursued this profession in the first placeHence the thinking behind this seminar – can we renew our enthusiasm for our profession and put some zip back into planning? Well, we’re going to try and would like to ask you to join us on a little journey in the next 90 minutesIntroduce Pamela
Is collaboration the doorway to access the human potential of all the people around us to help understand and solve the most difficult problems?
During wrap up, some recommended reading could be given (e.g. Dan Pink, Daniel Goleman, M. Scott Peck)
From both stories, and from our professional experience, we have to plumb the depths of difficulty to derive real meaning, insight and hope.
Positive energy attracts positive energy, spirit, possibility and affirmation. A negative spiral is the opposite.Informed by adopting a posture of gratitude, appreciation and generosity.This adoption of a positive attitude is foremost directed toward people – our colleagues, our clients and our citizens.Why is this important? It is important because our work matters. We can affect the greater good of community development when we can envision a positive future with positive investments and positive change.We believe that our profession may be well served to tap into the fields of behavioural psychology, emotional intelligence, philosophy and literature, to better understand our human story and how we may be part of writing our story in the future…
Ask participants about their feelings after the exercise.