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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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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 ...
Approaching the Strategic Plan — Thoughtfully
Approaching the Strategic Plan — Thoughtfully
In January 2015, we received an RFP asking for help developing a five-year strategic plan. As an organization ...
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...
Create an Inspiring Meeting with The Hero’s Journey Agenda
Create an Inspiring Meeting with The Hero’s Journey Agenda
Organizing a full-day offsite meeting? Leading a two-day summit for your department? Take your team on a journ...
Behind the Scenes with Design for America: The 2015 Strategic Journey
Behind the Scenes with Design for America: The 2015 Strategic Journey
This article was originally written by Design for America's Allison Chen....
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...
Slow Design: XPLANE Amsterdam Takes on Visual Thinking School
Slow Design: XPLANE Amsterdam Takes on Visual Thinking School
In a results driven world where efficiency seems to be the highest priority, we work hard with a clear target ...
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,...
Performance Review Abuse: How HR Policies Might be Hurting Your Employees
Performance Review Abuse: How HR Policies Might be Hurting Your Employees
Recently, our company changed the way we handle performance reviews. We moved from a documented performance re...
The Story of the First Culture Map
The Story of the First Culture Map
Many people have asked me why I am working on something I’ve been calling the Culture Map, a tool f...
Stop Performance Reviews. Start Conversations.
Stop Performance Reviews. Start Conversations.
I once worked with a manager who had what he felt was a brilliant idea for a new performance review system....
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 I Discovered Visual Thinking
How I Discovered Visual Thinking
I vowed to make this co-creation a regular part of my learning process, and in doing so I soon learned that I ...
Four Things Every Marketing Mastermind Should Know: A Recap of HubSpot’s INBOUND Conference
Four Things Every Marketing Mastermind Should Know: A Recap of HubSpot’s INBOUND Conference
Last week I attended HubSpot’s annual Marketing Conference called INBOUND. This year, over 14,000 market...
Game Design, Unreserved Creativity, and the End of the Sun: An Interview with Ryan Spangler
Game Design, Unreserved Creativity, and the End of the Sun: An Interview with Ryan Spangler
The sun is dying, and the various inhabitants of the planets in this solar system are launching one last effor...
Visual Thinking School: Slowing It Down in a Fast-Paced World
Visual Thinking School: Slowing It Down in a Fast-Paced World
We’re living in an ultra-connected and increasingly fast-paced world that is demanding more and more spe...
VTS: Captain’s Lunch, Engage!
VTS: Captain’s Lunch, Engage!
Captain’s Blog, star date -307557.1
On Thursday, June 11, Spaces Herengracht asked XPLANE to kick...
What is XPLANE’s Process? Glad You Asked!
What is XPLANE’s Process? Glad You Asked!
At XPLANE, we use a tried-and-true, five-step process with our clients for our standard deliverables. By stand...
XPLANE Doodling 101
XPLANE Doodling 101
Whether in a seminar with a team of clients or in an internal meeting with a consultant, the XPLANE designers ...
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...