I’ve just returned to Edmonton from a two-week holiday on Saltspring Island. Our traveling threesome-my partner Barb and our English cocker spaniel pup Zak and I - had a great time enjoying the many attributes of Saltspring.
Being a spaniel, Zak is nose-driven, and he was overwhelmed with a whole new array of scents, as well as the croaking ravens and the miniature Island deer. As his primary walker, I experienced his excitement at this new place, and I learned something new about my personal community values.
Community cleanliness is very important to me. I don’t like litter. Those of you who have experience walking a pup know how attractive street trash is to dogs. That attraction means that we clearly see the litter on sidewalks and streets.
There is a huge difference between walking Zak in Edmonton and on Saltspring. Why? There was almost no street or road litter on Saltspring. One sees pinecones, earthworms- even banana slugs-, but none of the coffee cups or empty cigarette packages or takeout food wrappers or flyaway advertising inserts that too often blight the streets and sidewalks of Edmonton.
Why does this difference exist? I have a hunch that it has a lot to do with community values. There is a very powerful community desire and determination to have a clean environment. Students clean the area around their schools, which develops a strong sense of civic responsibility. Service clubs and individuals regularly pick up the small amounts of discarded refuse. As a result, individuals in the Saltspring community feel personally responsible for the cleanliness of their community.
Some of these initiatives are not unique to Saltspring Island. There are communities in Alberta- Alix, which is just east of Red Deer comes to mind- with the same kind of community ethic. Yet I suspect that there are also communities in Alberta where community cleanliness is not a respected value.
Communities can take simple steps to decrease public litter. A municipality can work with advertisers and publishers to stop distribution of advertising and newspapers to households without a secure mailbox. Community associations can work with fast-food outlets to develop outlet-based anti-litter campaigns. School boards can develop anti-litter programs directly involving and empowering students. Dog owners not cleaning up after their pets can be fined.
We’re back home, and Zak and I will continue to navigate the littered springtime streets of southwest Edmonton, picking up trash as we go. We’re certainly open to a change of scenery, so if your community shares our values regarding clean streets, we’d love to visit!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
How Environment Shapes Community Values
I spent a good chunk of my life living in the shade of the Cypress Hills in Southeastern Alberta before moving to the bright lights of Edmonton. It’s been an interesting transition, and it’s taught me how our environment shapes the way in which we apply community values.
Let’s consider the value of neighbourliness. Most Albertans place a high value on being good neighbours. Yet that value gets expressed much differently in the Cypress Hills than it is in Edmonton.
In the Cypress Hills country, there’s a lot more miles than there are folks to occupy the landscape. There aren’t people around us to bail us out of trouble.
Edmonton is a big city, with all the people, traffic, and congestion that goes with urban life. People surround me on the street, and every conceivable business and service is at my fingertips.
Yet a person in trouble may get help quicker in the Cypress Hills than in Edmonton. It sounds contradictory, doesn’t it– like starving in a supermarket, but that’s the reality of life today. It’s also an excellent example of how our physical environment can shape our values.
Let’s consider a scenario where you’re a gent driving home late on a bitterly cold winter night in Edmonton. You see a female driver stopped at the side of the road struggling to change a tire. Do you stop to lend a hand? Chances are that you won’t. It’s late, she wasn’t really signaling for help, she can use her cell phone to call for help– you know this script. You focus on the road ahead and boogie on home.
Now let’s shift the locale to the Graburn Road that winds its’ way from the TransCanada Highway to the Cypress Hills. You’re a Cypress Hills rancher, it’s late at night, and as you come around a bend you see a truck up ahead in the snowy ditch. As you get closer, you see it is Fred Stumpkopf. Your family and the Stumpkopfs have been feuding for three generations. Surely you too would focus on the road ahead and boogie on home?
Not on your life. You would stop, grab your snow shovel, and help Fred get his truck back on the road. Between the two of you, there wouldn’t be ten words spoken, including his parting; “Thanks for the help” before you each continued on your way.
That’s because one of the cardinal sins in the Cypress Hills country is leaving someone stuck. It’s right up there with starving your livestock and having a portrait of Pierre Trudeau hanging in your living room.
In the Cypress Hills, the isolation has created a powerful need for mutual support, and that need has driven a dominant community value that demands personal responsibility for others.
Here in Edmonton, the complexity of urban life has eroded our desire to help our fellow man. Again, our environment shapes our values. There’s no “right” or “wrong’ value sets here; just the reality of living in communities with different environments.
Where does that leave me? Which values have I adopted? The Cypress Hills has shaped my values, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
Let’s consider the value of neighbourliness. Most Albertans place a high value on being good neighbours. Yet that value gets expressed much differently in the Cypress Hills than it is in Edmonton.
In the Cypress Hills country, there’s a lot more miles than there are folks to occupy the landscape. There aren’t people around us to bail us out of trouble.
Edmonton is a big city, with all the people, traffic, and congestion that goes with urban life. People surround me on the street, and every conceivable business and service is at my fingertips.
Yet a person in trouble may get help quicker in the Cypress Hills than in Edmonton. It sounds contradictory, doesn’t it– like starving in a supermarket, but that’s the reality of life today. It’s also an excellent example of how our physical environment can shape our values.
Let’s consider a scenario where you’re a gent driving home late on a bitterly cold winter night in Edmonton. You see a female driver stopped at the side of the road struggling to change a tire. Do you stop to lend a hand? Chances are that you won’t. It’s late, she wasn’t really signaling for help, she can use her cell phone to call for help– you know this script. You focus on the road ahead and boogie on home.
Now let’s shift the locale to the Graburn Road that winds its’ way from the TransCanada Highway to the Cypress Hills. You’re a Cypress Hills rancher, it’s late at night, and as you come around a bend you see a truck up ahead in the snowy ditch. As you get closer, you see it is Fred Stumpkopf. Your family and the Stumpkopfs have been feuding for three generations. Surely you too would focus on the road ahead and boogie on home?
Not on your life. You would stop, grab your snow shovel, and help Fred get his truck back on the road. Between the two of you, there wouldn’t be ten words spoken, including his parting; “Thanks for the help” before you each continued on your way.
That’s because one of the cardinal sins in the Cypress Hills country is leaving someone stuck. It’s right up there with starving your livestock and having a portrait of Pierre Trudeau hanging in your living room.
In the Cypress Hills, the isolation has created a powerful need for mutual support, and that need has driven a dominant community value that demands personal responsibility for others.
Here in Edmonton, the complexity of urban life has eroded our desire to help our fellow man. Again, our environment shapes our values. There’s no “right” or “wrong’ value sets here; just the reality of living in communities with different environments.
Where does that leave me? Which values have I adopted? The Cypress Hills has shaped my values, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
Friday, February 12, 2010
High–Speed Roulette
There’s an essential component of the concept of “engaged communities” that is badly- and sadly– lacking in most of rural Alberta. That shortfall is the alarming lack of high-speed Internet access. It goes to the very heart of “engagement” and threatens the future of the communities most at risk in post-boom Alberta.
Internet access drives global economic and social engagement. Without high-speed digital access, you’re not going to attract new residents and you won’t retain your young people. If you’re not wired, you can’t tell your story, and if you can’t tell your story, you’re hooped long-term. That’s today’s reality, and it will only become more pervasive as technology evolves. Yet rural Albertans- normally a progressive lot- are adopting a less-than- flattering posture with their rears in the air and their heads in the sand when it comes to their uptake on digital access.
Alberta’s Supernet strategy; rolled out with much fanfare and huge investment has failed to achieve its goals. The failure occurred not because of an inherent flaw in the Supernet concept. It failed because there was a lack of a “first mile strategy”- a strategy to entice rural residents to make the necessary investment in Internet access.
I use the verb “entice” very deliberately. Government assistance has created a dependency in rural Alberta that gets in the way of progress. If the economics don’t yet justify private sector investment, and if the province doesn’t foot the bill, the very best of new initiatives will become a very, very tough sell in today’s Wild Rose Country.
That’s how it has been in Alberta, with the result that many third world countries have a higher rate of Internet uptake than rural Alberta. That spells doom for many communities that are on the cusp.
What makes it sadly ironic is that it doesn’t have to be that way. A historic model exists that could be reconfigured to lead the way to a digitized, energized and invigorated rural Alberta.
That model is the old Alberta Government Telephones. AGT had a mandate to bring telephone service to all Albertans, even those residing in its’ remote corners. It used the profits from urban operations to expand service to remote parts of the province. At completion of the province-wide rollout of phone service, AGT was privatized.
A similar crown corporation could spur Internet uptake in rural Alberta. Without that uptake, community outreach will only extend about a hundred kilometers down the road. In today’s wired world, that’s a one-way road to extinction.
Internet access drives global economic and social engagement. Without high-speed digital access, you’re not going to attract new residents and you won’t retain your young people. If you’re not wired, you can’t tell your story, and if you can’t tell your story, you’re hooped long-term. That’s today’s reality, and it will only become more pervasive as technology evolves. Yet rural Albertans- normally a progressive lot- are adopting a less-than- flattering posture with their rears in the air and their heads in the sand when it comes to their uptake on digital access.
Alberta’s Supernet strategy; rolled out with much fanfare and huge investment has failed to achieve its goals. The failure occurred not because of an inherent flaw in the Supernet concept. It failed because there was a lack of a “first mile strategy”- a strategy to entice rural residents to make the necessary investment in Internet access.
I use the verb “entice” very deliberately. Government assistance has created a dependency in rural Alberta that gets in the way of progress. If the economics don’t yet justify private sector investment, and if the province doesn’t foot the bill, the very best of new initiatives will become a very, very tough sell in today’s Wild Rose Country.
That’s how it has been in Alberta, with the result that many third world countries have a higher rate of Internet uptake than rural Alberta. That spells doom for many communities that are on the cusp.
What makes it sadly ironic is that it doesn’t have to be that way. A historic model exists that could be reconfigured to lead the way to a digitized, energized and invigorated rural Alberta.
That model is the old Alberta Government Telephones. AGT had a mandate to bring telephone service to all Albertans, even those residing in its’ remote corners. It used the profits from urban operations to expand service to remote parts of the province. At completion of the province-wide rollout of phone service, AGT was privatized.
A similar crown corporation could spur Internet uptake in rural Alberta. Without that uptake, community outreach will only extend about a hundred kilometers down the road. In today’s wired world, that’s a one-way road to extinction.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Change Challenge
Today, around the world, a battle is raging between two powerful and competing themes. While global in nature, the conflict has profound implications for local communities like yours and mine.
The first theme is that change is inevitable and powerful, and that humankind must adapt to new realities. It believes that we will adapt through education and training and by constantly revisiting, reviewing and revising old norms. The desired outcome is an optimistic and egalitarian society in which social and cultural values and norms morph into a more global sense of community citizenship.
The competing theme sees change as a negative force requiring powerful resistance. Change is a threat to traditional social and cultural values, and is an inherently destabilizing force in communities. This view sees comprehensive public education as an agent of that threat, undermining the anointed or appointed community leadership. “Educated elites” are mistrusted and gender separation is encouraged.
That’s the general nature of the opposing forces in this global battle- and it is truly a global conflict. French lawmakers are debating legislation forbidding women from covering their faces in public. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, girls attending school are the targets of acid attacks. Israeli political debate swirls over whether or no there should be forced gender segregation on public transit. The legal code of Saudi Arabia mandates caning for women observed talking to men other than their husbands. In the U.S., recent federal government initiatives to reduce the public health threat posed by the over consumption of salt is being strongly resisted by groups raging about “Elites” trying to regulate and change “the American way of life.”
That’s a snapshot of the nature of this very nasty battle. It’s a war without rules and without boundaries. Canadians– including Albertans– are seeing the opening tussles in our communities. In Quebec and British Columbia’s lower mainland, we have already seen community pushback against the changing face and values brought about by change.
Where does your community stand on the preservation of its’ historic nature? Does it see change as inevitable, manageable and desirable, or is it as seen as a threat to the community value structure? Is the community focus on planning for the evolution of the community, or is it on protecting and preserving tradition and heritage?
Active, committed and engaged communities should thoughtfully prepare their response in this battle for the future direction of their communities. How they respond could well determine their long-term community survival.
The first theme is that change is inevitable and powerful, and that humankind must adapt to new realities. It believes that we will adapt through education and training and by constantly revisiting, reviewing and revising old norms. The desired outcome is an optimistic and egalitarian society in which social and cultural values and norms morph into a more global sense of community citizenship.
The competing theme sees change as a negative force requiring powerful resistance. Change is a threat to traditional social and cultural values, and is an inherently destabilizing force in communities. This view sees comprehensive public education as an agent of that threat, undermining the anointed or appointed community leadership. “Educated elites” are mistrusted and gender separation is encouraged.
That’s the general nature of the opposing forces in this global battle- and it is truly a global conflict. French lawmakers are debating legislation forbidding women from covering their faces in public. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, girls attending school are the targets of acid attacks. Israeli political debate swirls over whether or no there should be forced gender segregation on public transit. The legal code of Saudi Arabia mandates caning for women observed talking to men other than their husbands. In the U.S., recent federal government initiatives to reduce the public health threat posed by the over consumption of salt is being strongly resisted by groups raging about “Elites” trying to regulate and change “the American way of life.”
That’s a snapshot of the nature of this very nasty battle. It’s a war without rules and without boundaries. Canadians– including Albertans– are seeing the opening tussles in our communities. In Quebec and British Columbia’s lower mainland, we have already seen community pushback against the changing face and values brought about by change.
Where does your community stand on the preservation of its’ historic nature? Does it see change as inevitable, manageable and desirable, or is it as seen as a threat to the community value structure? Is the community focus on planning for the evolution of the community, or is it on protecting and preserving tradition and heritage?
Active, committed and engaged communities should thoughtfully prepare their response in this battle for the future direction of their communities. How they respond could well determine their long-term community survival.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Open For Business
In a world of internet-driven “instant fame”, we sometimes forget that enduring success doesn’t happen quickly or easily. That’s true in our personal and professional lives, and it’s true in community-building. Active, committed, and engaged communities don’t happen by accident, and they don’t happen overnight. They are the result of hard work by all community sectors working together.
One of the key elements in progressive communities is a strong nucleus of support from their business sector. Yet there is very little public discussion about the role and responsibility of business in the evolution of the communities in which they operate.
Why is that? I suspect that it is at least partly due to the powerful influence of key “anti-tax”, “pro-business” lobbies like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. These organizations reflexively resist taxation- the source of capital for public investment- as an impediment to business growth. Their media sidekicks portray tax increases as a flagrant attack on the interests of those patriotic Canadian (and multi-national) businesses who bring jobs to Canadian communities. Such groups give short shrift to the significant business interests in community social investment or community environmental protection.
Does business really have an interest in community self-investment? Do successful, sustainable businesses require good roads in the community to serve their customers, suppliers and workers? Does a school educating current employee’s children and tomorrow’s workers benefit a sustainable business? Does a company operating in a community for the long haul benefit when its’ host community has a sustainable physical and social environment?
There are many businesses in Alberta that answer with a resounding “yes”, and they back their words with their resources. They contribute their taxed and donated dollars, and provide the volunteer contributions of their staff to the community. It’s worthwhile noting that these community-minded businesses include businesses with local, Canadian, and/or multi-national ownership.
There are also companies that drive hard bargains with host communities for free land, tax holidays and other perks paid for by the community. Yet, as the people of Edmonton recently learned, companies like Dell Computers quickly hightail it out of town when the going gets a wee bit rough.
Sustainable businesses are an integral part of holistic, sustainable communities. Community leaders are right in working hard to attract business that generates employment. However, it’s a two-way street, and it’s two-way bargaining. The community needs to sell itself to the business and the business needs to sell itself to the community.
That’s why active, committed and engaged communities will continue to seek businesses that are in business for the long haul and the common community good. They will quickly weed out those who are looking only for the “least-cost site”. After all, who needs a business that’s here today and gone tomorrow?
One of the key elements in progressive communities is a strong nucleus of support from their business sector. Yet there is very little public discussion about the role and responsibility of business in the evolution of the communities in which they operate.
Why is that? I suspect that it is at least partly due to the powerful influence of key “anti-tax”, “pro-business” lobbies like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. These organizations reflexively resist taxation- the source of capital for public investment- as an impediment to business growth. Their media sidekicks portray tax increases as a flagrant attack on the interests of those patriotic Canadian (and multi-national) businesses who bring jobs to Canadian communities. Such groups give short shrift to the significant business interests in community social investment or community environmental protection.
Does business really have an interest in community self-investment? Do successful, sustainable businesses require good roads in the community to serve their customers, suppliers and workers? Does a school educating current employee’s children and tomorrow’s workers benefit a sustainable business? Does a company operating in a community for the long haul benefit when its’ host community has a sustainable physical and social environment?
There are many businesses in Alberta that answer with a resounding “yes”, and they back their words with their resources. They contribute their taxed and donated dollars, and provide the volunteer contributions of their staff to the community. It’s worthwhile noting that these community-minded businesses include businesses with local, Canadian, and/or multi-national ownership.
There are also companies that drive hard bargains with host communities for free land, tax holidays and other perks paid for by the community. Yet, as the people of Edmonton recently learned, companies like Dell Computers quickly hightail it out of town when the going gets a wee bit rough.
Sustainable businesses are an integral part of holistic, sustainable communities. Community leaders are right in working hard to attract business that generates employment. However, it’s a two-way street, and it’s two-way bargaining. The community needs to sell itself to the business and the business needs to sell itself to the community.
That’s why active, committed and engaged communities will continue to seek businesses that are in business for the long haul and the common community good. They will quickly weed out those who are looking only for the “least-cost site”. After all, who needs a business that’s here today and gone tomorrow?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
2009- The Year The Boom Died
The year 2009 is in our rear-view mirror, and most Albertans won’t be sorry to see its’ headlights disappear around History Bend. It was the Year The Boom Died II, and it was a mean, cranky, son-of-a -gun who left the lives and dreams of a lot of Albertans upside-down in life’s ditch.
Deepening its’ nasty impact is the quietly-smoldering realization that a lot of the damage was self-inflicted. We Albertans were victims of our addiction to boom-time culture.
What is boom-time culture? It’s a culture that believes that the laws of economic gravity are suspended in Alberta- that what goes up will never come down. Boom-time mean that we can change jobs more often than we change underpants. Boomtime means that if something appears to be to good to be true; just suspend disbelief and get richer.
Now, the party is over, and 2010 in Alberta promises to be the Year of the Hangover. Alberta’s small businesses- those that have survived- will struggle to find their footing. Alberta government spending is again in free-fall, creating a whiplash effect for those organizations and communities dependent on government funding.
I use the word “dependent” deliberately. Many Alberta communities- particularly in rural Alberta- have become addicted to provincial government funding. In these communities, very little happens if the provincial or federal government doesn’t fund it.
This lack of local self-financing takes two forms. The first is the reluctance of local governments to exercise their power to raise money for community investment through their power to tax. Their reluctance hobbles their communities, placing them at a disadvantage.
The second factor is the absence of local private-sector investment in these communities. Even though many have a personal wealth base dwarfing metropolitan communities on a per-capita basis, folks with bucks in smaller communities don’t often invest at home. Rather than invest in that which they understand and can observe on a daily basis, they choose to place their money in investments far away from home. They choose the bullwhiz patter of promoters promising them a 20% per annum return on something that they know sweet-diddly about.
Will Alberta communities consistently choosing not to self-invest survive the Year of the Hangover and the years of government spending cuts to follow? Will they find the political will and investment smarts to stand on their own feet, or will they expect provincial and federal taxpayers to bail them out? Should federal and provincial governments continue to prop up communities that choose not to be active, creative and engaged in determining their own destiny?
These are questions that will surface in the Year of the Hangover. How communities respond could- and should- determine their futures.
As 2009 departs, it might be fun to sing a song in its’ memory. How about a rousing rendition of, “Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone”? Before we start, however, could someone please pass the Aspirin?
Deepening its’ nasty impact is the quietly-smoldering realization that a lot of the damage was self-inflicted. We Albertans were victims of our addiction to boom-time culture.
What is boom-time culture? It’s a culture that believes that the laws of economic gravity are suspended in Alberta- that what goes up will never come down. Boom-time mean that we can change jobs more often than we change underpants. Boomtime means that if something appears to be to good to be true; just suspend disbelief and get richer.
Now, the party is over, and 2010 in Alberta promises to be the Year of the Hangover. Alberta’s small businesses- those that have survived- will struggle to find their footing. Alberta government spending is again in free-fall, creating a whiplash effect for those organizations and communities dependent on government funding.
I use the word “dependent” deliberately. Many Alberta communities- particularly in rural Alberta- have become addicted to provincial government funding. In these communities, very little happens if the provincial or federal government doesn’t fund it.
This lack of local self-financing takes two forms. The first is the reluctance of local governments to exercise their power to raise money for community investment through their power to tax. Their reluctance hobbles their communities, placing them at a disadvantage.
The second factor is the absence of local private-sector investment in these communities. Even though many have a personal wealth base dwarfing metropolitan communities on a per-capita basis, folks with bucks in smaller communities don’t often invest at home. Rather than invest in that which they understand and can observe on a daily basis, they choose to place their money in investments far away from home. They choose the bullwhiz patter of promoters promising them a 20% per annum return on something that they know sweet-diddly about.
Will Alberta communities consistently choosing not to self-invest survive the Year of the Hangover and the years of government spending cuts to follow? Will they find the political will and investment smarts to stand on their own feet, or will they expect provincial and federal taxpayers to bail them out? Should federal and provincial governments continue to prop up communities that choose not to be active, creative and engaged in determining their own destiny?
These are questions that will surface in the Year of the Hangover. How communities respond could- and should- determine their futures.
As 2009 departs, it might be fun to sing a song in its’ memory. How about a rousing rendition of, “Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone”? Before we start, however, could someone please pass the Aspirin?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Our Christmas Gift
At our house, Christmas arrived at the end of August. That’s when we gave ourselves a wonderful gift that has changed our lives. Since it arrived, life has been exciting, frustrating, fun-filled, challenging, and satisfying. We have learned lessons that are enriching our personal and business lives.
What was this amazing gift that we gave ourselves? Did we zoom off to a luxurious tropical retreat in Regina? Have we acquired a new computer or video gizmo or some other form of techno- whizzery?
Our gift certainly doesn’t have a hard drive and it doesn’t assess its’ environment with computerized sensors. It’s powered by a big heart and four furry paws, and surveys its’ world with a powerful nose and two floppy ears. The gift is an English Cocker Spaniel pup, and his name is Zak.
Both Barb- the wonderful woman who shares my life- and I owned dogs earlier in life. Interestingly, both of us spent a lot of time as “semi-only” children, and our first dogs and constant companions were both English Cockers. We learned to appreciate the Spaniel’s loving nature.
Later in life, as I lived the ranching life, my neighbors said I spent more time with my dog than I did with my family, which may or may not have been true. However, the ranch dogs were Australian Heelers- one-man dogs for whom the burning question seemed to be, “Which cow should I bite next, Boss?”
Prior to our first meeting, Barb and I had each gone through major life transitions, and our new lives involved a great deal of traveling. As we began our life together, we agreed that the life of “road warriors” is not fair to a dog, and we made the hard decision to live dog-less lives.
Today, as our lives change once again, we have the time and energy to share with a dog. Barb’s diligent research paid off in Zak, a handsome, happy red lad with eyes that could melt the heart of a Revenue Canada tax auditor.
Zak is not perfect. As is the case with most of us, his greatest strengths are his greatest challenges. His unquenchable spirit kicks in when he gets tired, and he will churn himself into a frenzy before collapsing from exhaustion. That powerful nose leads him into exercises in coffee table and pantry-shelf “surfing” that get him in trouble.
Zak has very one special attribute, and that is his uber-sensitive “radar” for human emotion. Being with Zak is like looking into a mirror reflecting your own emotional state. Give Zak rowdy, and you get rowdy back. Give him cranky, and Zak the Cranky Spaniel is at your service. Be a calm and loving person and you see the very, very best of Zak.
I’ve learned Zak’s Lessons, and now apply them in my personal and professional life. Spending thirty seconds doing a self-assessment of my emotional state can save hours of relationship repair down the road.
Folks active in community evolution might also benefit from spending time with Zak. Community activity often brings us head to head with others possessing different values and interests. An increased level of self-awareness followed by enhanced self-management will pay off big-time when dealing with difficult people and issues.
That’s why I’ve thought of using Zak in my customer service / conflict management workshops. Besides adding “bite” and glamour to the program, including Zak opens the door to deducting his dog food as a business expense. And if that Revenue Canada auditor wants to disallow the expense, she can discuss it with the merry little Spaniel at the front of the room!
Speaking of merry- Merry Christmas to all of the special people living and working in Alberta’s Ace Communities. I admire your courage and commitment as you build a better Alberta. From our outfit to yours, Merry Christmas!
What was this amazing gift that we gave ourselves? Did we zoom off to a luxurious tropical retreat in Regina? Have we acquired a new computer or video gizmo or some other form of techno- whizzery?
Our gift certainly doesn’t have a hard drive and it doesn’t assess its’ environment with computerized sensors. It’s powered by a big heart and four furry paws, and surveys its’ world with a powerful nose and two floppy ears. The gift is an English Cocker Spaniel pup, and his name is Zak.
Both Barb- the wonderful woman who shares my life- and I owned dogs earlier in life. Interestingly, both of us spent a lot of time as “semi-only” children, and our first dogs and constant companions were both English Cockers. We learned to appreciate the Spaniel’s loving nature.
Later in life, as I lived the ranching life, my neighbors said I spent more time with my dog than I did with my family, which may or may not have been true. However, the ranch dogs were Australian Heelers- one-man dogs for whom the burning question seemed to be, “Which cow should I bite next, Boss?”
Prior to our first meeting, Barb and I had each gone through major life transitions, and our new lives involved a great deal of traveling. As we began our life together, we agreed that the life of “road warriors” is not fair to a dog, and we made the hard decision to live dog-less lives.
Today, as our lives change once again, we have the time and energy to share with a dog. Barb’s diligent research paid off in Zak, a handsome, happy red lad with eyes that could melt the heart of a Revenue Canada tax auditor.
Zak is not perfect. As is the case with most of us, his greatest strengths are his greatest challenges. His unquenchable spirit kicks in when he gets tired, and he will churn himself into a frenzy before collapsing from exhaustion. That powerful nose leads him into exercises in coffee table and pantry-shelf “surfing” that get him in trouble.
Zak has very one special attribute, and that is his uber-sensitive “radar” for human emotion. Being with Zak is like looking into a mirror reflecting your own emotional state. Give Zak rowdy, and you get rowdy back. Give him cranky, and Zak the Cranky Spaniel is at your service. Be a calm and loving person and you see the very, very best of Zak.
I’ve learned Zak’s Lessons, and now apply them in my personal and professional life. Spending thirty seconds doing a self-assessment of my emotional state can save hours of relationship repair down the road.
Folks active in community evolution might also benefit from spending time with Zak. Community activity often brings us head to head with others possessing different values and interests. An increased level of self-awareness followed by enhanced self-management will pay off big-time when dealing with difficult people and issues.
That’s why I’ve thought of using Zak in my customer service / conflict management workshops. Besides adding “bite” and glamour to the program, including Zak opens the door to deducting his dog food as a business expense. And if that Revenue Canada auditor wants to disallow the expense, she can discuss it with the merry little Spaniel at the front of the room!
Speaking of merry- Merry Christmas to all of the special people living and working in Alberta’s Ace Communities. I admire your courage and commitment as you build a better Alberta. From our outfit to yours, Merry Christmas!
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