xBlog
In 1999, XPLANE created one of the first business blogs. We have been adding great insights ever since. Check out our latest posts, filled with ideas for designing, facilitating, and creating lasting change for people and organizations.
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Talking About Performance Management with Tamra Chandler
Talking About Performance Management with Tamra Chandler
You know the zombie-like feeling you get at the end of a long conference?...
Five Ways to Improve Client Relationships
Five Ways to Improve Client Relationships
Last week I participated in an Improv Level 1 class, and aside from having a great time and earning a healthy ...
How to Successfully Manage Globally Dispersed Teams While Wearing Slippers
How to Successfully Manage Globally Dispersed Teams While Wearing Slippers
WFH. The first time I read those three letters, I had no idea what they meant. Despite my vast knowledge base ...
Facilitator’s Guide to When the Group Says “Hell No”
Facilitator’s Guide to When the Group Says “Hell No”
It was 3:30pm. We were seven hours into the first day of a two-day leadership team offsite and the afternoon c...
Stop Advising. Start Leading.
Stop Advising. Start Leading.
In many organizations, the role of Human Resources leaders has been to advise and counsel other business leade...
Liminal Thinking: The Art of Finding, Creating, and Unlocking Potential
Liminal Thinking: The Art of Finding, Creating, and Unlocking Potential
Liminal is Latin for threshold.
Literally a threshold is a doorway. But a threshold is also a starting point,...
What is Culture Mapping and Why Should You Care?
What is Culture Mapping and Why Should You Care?
60-70 percent of change initiatives fail to meet their stated objectives, and the primary source of that failu...
A Brief History of Co-Creation
A Brief History of Co-Creation
Co-Creation is a powerful concept: engaging broad stakeholders in a design or problem-solving process as co-de...
Inside XPLANE: Culture
Inside XPLANE: Culture
Culture is the Heart of Our Organization
We aren't trapped in cubicles all day, and there isn't a time...
Surviving the Big One: Visual Thinking Through the End of the World
Surviving the Big One: Visual Thinking Through the End of the World
Did you read that article in The New Yorker about how the big Portland earthquake will destroy our beloved Pac...
How to Go on Vacation Like a Program Manager
How to Go on Vacation Like a Program Manager
We’re strong believers in work/life balance, and not the kind where you spend 50% of your vacation stres...
Unicorn Hunting: How I Spot the Right Candidate in a Sea of Donkeys
Unicorn Hunting: How I Spot the Right Candidate in a Sea of Donkeys
I have seen a lot of disasters when it comes to interviews. I have had candidates cry; I have had them tell me...
Gamestorming User Experience—Because You Can
Gamestorming User Experience—Because You Can
Anyone can make a pitch to change the world in which they live. Start with empathy. Draw the story. Pick a car...
XPLANE Designers Take Over Show & Tell at Portland State University
XPLANE Designers Take Over Show & Tell at Portland State University
On Thursday, May 21, our Associate Creative Director Tim May and Designer Jeffery Frankenhauser teamed up with...
Five Reasons Why You Didn’t Get The Job: Debunked
Five Reasons Why You Didn’t Get The Job: Debunked
Being in HR is one of those jobs; like being in the medical profession, you end up answering a lot of people&r...
Focus on User-centered Design; It’s Not About the Title or The Org Chart
Focus on User-centered Design; It’s Not About the Title or The Org Chart
In the wake of some high-profile departures of communications leaders, PR Week asks whether communications and...
Our First xDay in Review: Part 2
Our First xDay in Review: Part 2
“xDay is all about passion,” Associate Creative Director, Marvin Gaviola says. “It’s i...
Our First xDay in Review
Our First xDay in Review
On February 20, we closed our computers, put out-of-office messages on our emails, and hosted our first xDay. ...
The Origin of xDays
The Origin of xDays
I recently published a post on a new practice we are trying this year called xDays. The basic idea is this:
x...
Creative Briefs as Storytelling
Creative Briefs as Storytelling
Generally speaking, art students don’t consider themselves writers. In fact, many will tell you art scho...
Design is the Key to Success This Year – Make it Work For Your Team
Design is the Key to Success This Year – Make it Work For Your Team
It’s XPLANE’s year.
The Chinese Year of the Sheep is known for design and creativity and so...
Project Managers, Scourge or Angel? Interview with Christopher Knaus
Project Managers, Scourge or Angel? Interview with Christopher Knaus
Our very own Christopher Knaus, Director of Program Management, was recently a guest on PushPull Podcast discu...
How to Avoid Being “That HR Person” in Three Simple Steps
How to Avoid Being “That HR Person” in Three Simple Steps
Many of my friends have an almost visceral negative reaction when I suggest they look at going into the HR pro...
I Had a Dream
I Had a Dream
No, I am not channeling Martin Luther King. Rather, I started the New Year awakened from a very vivid dream, w...