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Fuel For Discovering Sustainable Innovation

Enter A Better, More Responsible Way To “Fuel” Discovery and Innovation in Your Organization

Responsibility Revolution

Become a next generation business by combining evolved forms of collaboration, leadership, and sustainability to build a more innovative company.

Is your organization ready for the ‘responsibility revolution’? Are you in need of a sustainability consultant, executive coach, or team facilitator who can help to green up your company? Consider DiscoveryFuel – a knowledge leader in technical, organizational, and social design.

<-Click on pics to watch short videos->

Ray Anderson, Interface CEO, Sustainability White Knight

Who’s it for?

DISCOVERY FUEL IS FOR ORGANIZATIONS READY TO MAKE THE SHIFT TOWARD SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION. We improve design collaboration and strategic outcomes for complex team processes. We’ll accelerate your team’s development process and facilitate your strategic planning toward sustainability by running incredible collaborative design sessions and team retreats. Plus we offer top-notch executive coaching, conflict mediation, and very unique forms of leadership development. We’re a great choice to help you make the shift to green and sustainable. All of our facilitation processes are guided by the principles of sustainability and sustainable design. For more insights on this subject, watch the video at right on corporate sustainability. Then take a look at our YouTube Discovery Fuel Videos and our OUR BLOG for other related subjects.

“Fuel” your group’s discovery and innovation through collaborative design processes

Our discovery services are for those of you in need of group facilitation, but are looking for a departure from the same old, hum-drum, “this is the way it’s always been done”, static, isolated, not at all fun, and slow way of so called innovation. We will guide your team through a fun, inspiring, get-’er-done, guided, collaborative process that leads to both individual and group satisfying results. We know exactly how to unleash your great ideas and direct your team down the path of enduring sustainable innovation.

‘Collaborative design’ through group facilitation is the best way to bring great ideas into the world.

Ahhhhh, the rush and excitement of creating something new. Sometimes however, that excitement can dwindle as you attempt to use various means of group facilitation to bring that idea into reality. Once your team begins to lose that energy and momentum it can lead to mediocre results or worse; a broken dream that never comes to fruition.

If You Can’t See Beyond the Forest …”

Sometimes we get so immersed, attached, and involved in the details of a problem to look at it objectively, and finding an appropriate solution can be tedious or wearisome. What’s needed is a fresh vantage point, and a skilled facilitator or guide to show you the way out of the woods. As group facilitators, we know how to access and leverage individual talent and knowledge so that true innovation can take place.

If You’re Tired of Labeling, Blame, and Low Productivity

Humans have a tendency to segregate, place everything in a box and label them. True, this type of assessment and judgment is necessary in order to help us make sense of the world, but at the same time it can limit our view and blind us to the solutions we seek. Discovery Fuel group facilitation will help you realize that nothing in your organization is truly isolated. It’s a concept we refer to as an “Ecology of Design”. By working with the system as it truly is (interdependent and interconnected) creates a meaningful, stimulating, and fun co-design process. It’s a much more interesting and fascinating way of group facilitation, problem solving, and innovating.

When It’s Gotta Be Meaningful, Loaded with Purpose, and Overflowing with Good Intentions

To be truly innovative, the problem solving or discovery process as well as the end result must have meaning for both the unique individuals involved as well as the group as a whole. We’ve found that creating meaningful innovation is not a solo endeavor. It can only come through group participation and collaborative interactive design. Does that work for you? If so, contact us, for a free, no-charge assessment. We promise to be informative and not pushy.

How does it work?

Discovery Fuel uses a device of our own creation called a Colab.TM A Colab is a unique group facilitation technique that creates a highly productive atmosphere where your participants feel valued and free to contribute their ideas. Our success-dudefacilitators guide your team, classroom, or company to develop creative solutions to complex, technical, or organizational problems. All the while leveraging your existing group talent to maximize innovation throughout your entire company. We have a variety to choose from:

  • Collaborative Design Techniques
  • Meetings & Retreats Facilitation
  • Workshop Design Planning and Oversight
  • Team Work & Authentic Leadership
  • Company (or Group) Project Facilitation
  • Green or Sustainable Business Planning
  • Executive and Management Coaching
  • Sustainable Innovation Expertise
  • Values Assessments and Meaningful Work
  • Advanced Decision-making Processes

And more. Check out our full list of services under ‘What’s a Colab?‘.

Where does this group facilitation stuff get done?

Here, there, or anywhere … No really, we’re serious!

  • OFFSITE: Are you more inclined to get you and your team away from the usual environment to collaborate?
  • ONSITE: Or, do you require a facilitator to come to you?
  • ONLINE: Or, is your group spread out across the globe?
  • No matter! Discovery Fuel can accommodate. So contact us for free no-pressure conversation.

    Green & Sustainability are important to us … How about you?

    Primarily, we work with organizations that want to make the shift toward sustainability or green business practices. We feel that, in our current world climate, the ability for an organization to adapt quickly and responsibly is no longer an option but is now a critical requirement for success. Now when we speak of “sustainability”, we aren’t simply talking about “green”. We are talking about sustainability in an all encompassing way with a eye toward the big picture. We call it Whole System Innovation – otherwise known as Sustainable Innovation. There’s other related phrases like “People Planet Profit” and “Ecology Economy Equity”, etc. If you really want to know more, click on the links above.

    So, what’s our bottom line?

    (Actually, we use a ‘triple’ bottom line…) Effective group facilitation leads to better decision-making, happier people, faster innovation, and a “greener” more sustainable organization; resulting in more profits with a distinct advantage over your competition. The proof is in the experience. Need a good jolt into the right direction? Try this …

    Get on the fast track to sustainable innovation through group facilitation and leadership team building now!

    Give us a few warm bodies and within 8 hours you’ll see more and get more done than you normally would using those “same old”, “hum-drum” group facilitation methods. With Discovery Fuel 8-Hour Kick start Program you’ll turn months into mere hours. What are you waiting for? Check out our 8 Hour Kick Start Group Facilitation.

    Contact us today for an open, soft-sell, no charge discussion to see if our kind of group facilitation might be right for your project. Your team will love you for it.

    PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… CY: wait… I: wait… L: wait… YCat: wait… I: wait… Top: wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait… SD: wait…
    This Week on The Blog
    Posted on June 30, 2010 - by Vic Desotelle

    Our Truths Are Based On Internal Beliefs That Are Too Often Wrong

    Articles By Vic Leadership Ecology Learning Evolution

    Here’ an important message to our leaders and decision makers:

    Assume that your truths and beliefs are an Illusion.

    .

    Consider how our brain works …
    Watch what happens to your belief system as you stare at this image.

    1-Follow the moving pink dot: What do you see?
    2-Look at the middle black cross. Now what do you see?
    3-Now star for a few seconds at the black cross. What happens?

    This should be proof enough that we don’t always see what we think we see.


    If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, the dots will remain only one color, pink. However if you stare at the black ” +” in the centre, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black ” + ” in the centre of the picture. After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see only a single green dot rotating. It’s amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot , and the pink ones really don’t disappear.


    .

    Posted on May 28, 2010 - by Vic Desotelle

    A Practical Theory On Leadership – ‘The Shirtless Dancing Guy’

    Articles By Vic Collaborative Design Leadership Ecology Learning Communities Learning Evolution

    I got this video off of Charles Lemos’ site and was referred to it by Ben Roberts’ Facebook conversation. Derek Sivers gave this presentation at the TED Conference this week and got a standing ovation. It’s pretty brilliant in its takeaway. The video below is a healthy perspective on the collective’s role in leadership, especially the ‘first follower’.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

    Here’s the transcript, with bold notes made by Charles. Thanks to Charles and Derik.

    If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

    A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

    Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.

    The 2nd follower is a turning point: it’s proof the first has done well. Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.

    A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.

    Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we’ve got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we’ve got a movement!

    As more people jump in, it’s no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there’s no reason not to join now. They won’t be ridiculed, they won’t stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you’ll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they’d be ridiculed for not joining.

    And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let’s recap what we learned:

    If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.

    Be public. Be easy to follow!

    But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?

    Leadership is over-glorified.

    Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:

    It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.

    There is no movement without the first follower.

    We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.

    The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

    When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

    Be a follower, join a movement. That’s how change happens.

    Articles By Vic Leadership Ecology Learning Evolution Sustainable Innovation Uncategorized

    Is There an Ecological Unconscious?

    I find that this subject is one of the more revealing issues of our time. A place that requires us to reshape our understanding and meaning of ‘environment’. Read this great article on the link between our human psyche and the Earth.

    +++

    By DANIEL B. SMITH
    Published: January 27, 2010

    The terms in which ecopsychology pursues this admittedly ambitious goal are steeped in the field’s countercultural beginnings. Ecopsychology emerged in the early 1960s, just as the modern environmental movement was gathering strength, when a group of Boston-area graduate students gathered to discuss what they saw as the isolation and malaise infecting modern life. It had another brief period of efflorescence, particularly on the West Coast and among practitioners of alternative therapies, in the early ’90s, when Theodore Roszak, a professor of history (he coined the word “counterculture”) published a manifesto, “The Voice of the Earth,” in which he criticized modern psychology for neglecting the primal bond between man and nature. “Mainstream Western psychology has limited the definition of mental health to the interpersonal context of an urban-industrial society,” he later wrote. “All that lies beyond the citified psyche has seemed of no human relevance — or perhaps too frightening to think about.” Ecopsychology’s eclectic following, which includes therapists, researchers, ecologists and activists, still reflects these earlier foundations. So does its rhetoric. Practitioners are as apt, if not more apt, to cite Native American folk tales as they are empirical data to make their points.

    Yet even as it remains committed to its origins, ecopsychology has begun in recent years to enter mainstream academic circles. more …

    Articles By Vic Learning Communities Sustainable Innovation Uncategorized

    Unsustainable Everything

    I love it when somebody is able to synthesize the incoming data into a meaningful message. Watch this video and understand how the world economy works … I mean is ‘not’ working. Sustainability should go to another level of understanding for you after you watch this 4 minute clip.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Fzm1hEiDQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
    Articles By Vic Collaborative Design Leadership Ecology Uncategorized

    The Notion of Right and Wrong … is Wrong

    The primary principle of innovation is this. It is being able to consider and change our ‘notions’; our so-called facts of our experiences; our factual claims; into something new that goes beyond our own individual reality. The statement of this work is at the foundation of collaboration and discovery. He speaks of science and the evolution of values. Excellent.

    Watch this video …

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9oB4zpHww&feature=related[/youtube]
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