published by ZX Media Corporation
COMMUNITY NOW! MAGAZINE
Volume 1 Issue 3 • Oct 2018
WE
AT BANBURY CROSSROADS TREASURE CHILDREN AS RESPECTED INDIVIDUALS, AND MEET THEIR DIVERSE NEEDS WITHIN A SAFE, FAMILIAL SETTING. WE ARE PASSIONATELY COMMITTED TO INCORPORATING INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL METHODS THAT FOSTER INTRINSIC MOTIVATION, LEARNING TO MASTERY, SELF-RESPONSIBILITY AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE.
CONTENTS INNOVATION
COMMUNITY
Krista Malden
The 100% Certainty Most Leaders Ignore 6
The Magic of Halloween Brings The Community Together in More Then One Way. 32
Kenzie Webber Master Creator
For App Sake! When INNOVATION & IMPACT Collide 10
EDUCATION Schools The Key to History 16 Class Size; An Anecdotal Viewpoint 18 Ahead by a Century... Just trying to do just one beautiful thing... 24
Josh Clark
Community Connector
Ad Guru
CONTRIBUTORS Stacy Richter
Zanika Malden
Scott Pickard
Sandra Malach
The Magical World of a Coach 41
Al Del Degan
Diane Swiatek
Jill Quirk
Les Mottosky
BUSINESS
Sophia Fairweather
Peter Lafontaine
What’s Possible with Sophia
Adette Lacerte
Heloise Lorimer STEAM Team
Giving Tuesday 39
42
Prof-it: The Entrepreneurial Road Trip 43 Leadership GAP! Do as I Say, Not as I do! 44 e-Mental Health and Dr. Google 46
Cover photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
For Questions, Comments or Information please contact publisher@communitynowmagazine.com Copyright 2018 ZX Media Corpoartion, Calgary Alberta Canada
Community Now! Magazine Copyright 2018, published by ZX Media Corporation. Volume 1 Issue 2
All rights reserved. This magazine or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher or writers.
Credit to Errorist_Artist aka Zanika Malden
Our Mission: Promoting curiosity, communication and engagement in making Calgary a stronger and better place to live, to be educated, do business, promote innovation and community celebration.
Community Now! \\ 3
About:
COMMUNITY NOW! gazine!
This isn’t just a ma
Community, Business and Education need each other to thrive. Community Now! Magazines goal is to bring Community, Education and Business closer together by storytelling, connecting and celebrating while discussing how innovation is apart of every day life.
The Main Pillars COMMUNITY
INNOVATION
will feature community organizations from around the city and province with a focus on Mental Health, Youth & Education.
will feature stories highlighting innovation that touches on all aspects of daily life in and around Calgary.
4 // Community Now!
ABOUT COMMUNITY, FOR COMMUNITY, BY COMMUNITY.
Sign up today to receive your free online issue 10 times a year, along with invites to events! publisher@communitynowmagazine.com www.communitynowmagazine.com
EDUCATION will feature educators and their philosophies, activities and impact on the students they teach. Students will share stories of their achievements and community impact.
BUSINESS will highlight careers in the worlds of sports, music, arts, education, technology, social enterprise and entrepreneurship with a common theme as to how these worlds build and impact our interconnected community.
Community Now! \\ 5
INNOVATION The
100%
Certainty Most Leaders Ignore
Les Mottosky
Everything is changing all the time. Everything. And where western society is concerned, it’s speeding up exponentially.
S
o why, then, is it that so many leaders continue to tow the status quo? Why’s it so difficult for them to align with,
6 // Community Now!
embrace and leverage the transformational thinking, tools, practices and information currently available to them, and improve the organization (and profitability!) with that transformation? These are questions baffling many managers, innovators, creatives, VP’s, teams, contractors and employees who are watching these leaders.
“
Change does not slow for mountain ranges or continents, seas or skies. Why would your
”
business be immune?
These folks all understand the importance of changing. And they desperately want you — their leader — to get it. The answer to why change continues to be ignored is a startlingly alarming and simple one: ignorance. Or, as the wisest teachers remind us: ignore-ance. (An invented verb that describes the act of being aware of the existence of the thing being ignored, and rather than dealing with it —for reasons of personal discomfort — continue to ignore it.)
Few of us enjoy discomfort, so why a leader would ignore change is understandable. However, it’s no longer forgivable. More than that,— from a business perspective — it’s downright dangerous. So how does a leader begin to disrupt their own thinking, break out of their stuck-rut and begin to create the enthusiasm to embrace the inevitability of un-relenting and accelerating change? We all possess blindspots. Lack the insight into our own inflexible mindsets and limiting beliefs is part of the human condition. A powerful antidote for leaders who are stuck in their limited thinking, is surrounding ourselves with an appreciative, trusted, diverse and — above all — candid team. With this cultural condition in place an organization has ‘a secret sauce’. Armed with clear, meaningful values, a resonant purpose and an inspiring vision, a team (in service of a viable business) becomes unstoppable. This connected and driven team also provides a leader with multiple points of view that can build upon or — more importantly — challenge their own perspectives. Without these alternate points of view, leaders will find themselves isolated in a mental field of vagueness and naivete. And lack of clarity or it’s compounded state, confusion, are deadly to leaders and organizations. The ubiquity of change is such that, even with an organization and leadership team firing on all cylinders, we can always benefit from a perspective check. How can one truly lead in an ever-changing world if their perspective on reality is compromised? The crux of this challenge is also the solution: change. (continued on next page) Innovation \\ 7
(continued from page 7...) Simple is never easy, so let’s explore a little deeper. As Carol Dweck demonstrates in her seminal work “Mindset”, we possess two dominant over-arching belief tendencies: the “fixed mindset” and the “growth mindset”. We all have blends of these mindsets in certain areas of our thinking and the awareness of this can transform our lives practically overnight. The Fixed Mindset is a belief that when it comes to our talents and abilities in a certain area, we either “have it or we don’t”. This mindset perceives our talent much like an adult skeleton; it’s the size it is and it can’t grow anymore. We’re stuck with it as it is and there’s nothing we can do about it. On the other hand, the Growth Mindset states that we “don’t have it…YET” and we don’t have it because we haven’t worked enough for it…YET. Or because we haven’t acquired the right knowledge…YET. Or we haven’t found the appropriate teacher or influence…YET. The Growth Mindset looks at our abilities and talents as muscles; so with the right exercises and nurturing, we can grow them. With this as context, it’s easy to see how our fixed mindsets combined with our love of comfort, can create the ideal conditions for stagnation. Much like a fixed mindset, comfort can be a killer too. It prevents us from exploring the potential and possibility available to us if we’re open to making adjustments. We love our comforts. We love being certain and we love being seen as “knowing” and “the person who has the answers”. But we can only ever actually know the past - and even then, the human memory is susceptible and corruptible by time and compounded experiences. So 8 // Community Now!
“
The Growth Mindset looks at our abilities and talents as muscles; so with the right exercises and nurturing, we can grow them.
”
“knowing” is actually a delusion. Not an invaluable one, but it can create a barrier to looking for other possibilities. This ego-state of “knowing” is not a delusion that most children suffer from. When we observe kids, it’s evident that curiosity trumps knowing. And because of this, change is a natural and exciting process for them. It’s only as we get older and (ironically) more educated, that we harden in our willingness to adopt the inevitabilities of change. Is it because change challenges what we believe we ‘know’? Does change threaten our identities as the person, professional, leader that ‘knows’? Perhaps we’re just focused, hungry for, or mesmerized by, past successes and the results that engrained behaviours have created? Maybe we’re just and overwhelmed?
fundamentally
lazy
It’s not any of the above conditions, a financial mistake, tech failure, or hiring hiccups that create a crisis or disaster for a company; those things are outcomes. Outcomes of something more covert; fear. Well, fear, and it’s close cousins greed, mistrust and disconnection. There’s a plethora of evidence that points to the idea that great organizations are driven, steered and nurtured by a humble leader. A guide who is reality-based, performancefocused, cares about the expectations of all stakeholders and is wholeheartedly accountable to their own role as leader. They do whatever it takes to get the job done. To be a leader in 2018, getting the job done requires us to understand that our fear of change, the ability to sacrifice our comfort in — and of— success and a willingness to question, challenge and transform our own fixed mindsets.
If you sincerely want your organization to make a difference in the marketplace and ultimately, the world, you must be vigilant about your own relationship with change. Without this awareness, you will have no ears to hear new ideas or the lens to observe critical opportunities to innovate. This ‘thinking about our thinking’ and a robust curiosity towards our own beliefs is a superpower of today’s leader. And the questions that will determine the impact and success of these 21st Century Leaders is this: Are you willing to align yourself — and the infinite potential of your growth mindset — with the 100% certainty of persistent and unrelenting change?
Or will you continue to ignore it?
Innovation \\ 9
For App Sakes! When INNOVATION
& Impact Collide
10 // Community Now!
I will be the first to admit that media needs a great headline to catch readers. I am not challenging the way media uses tactics to grab attention. That would be an entirely different article and hundreds of books are written about the subject. What I am challenging you to do, here and now, is to read between the lines. If you take a moment to read the article, you will realize that the article is not about how an upstart DVD mail delivery service (that’s right, Netflix didn’t start as a streaming service) kept up with the times while a large multinational corp. was too slow to move. The article’s author, Megan O’Neill, writes that Blockbuster turned down several offers to buy Netflix. The headline is all that most will read and they will be left with an impression that disruption destroys.
N
By Stacy Richter
ot all innovation needs to be disruptive. Who really decided that the only innovative companies, ideas and projects in this world need to be disruptive? I personally really do not like that disruption has almost become a synonym for innovation. The whole disruptive reference implies that for someone to benefit, someone else has to lose. I am part of the media industry who broadcasts this message so I begrudgingly accept part of the blame. All the stories that get widespread media attention have bold headlines like
“How Netflix Bankrupted & Destroyed Blockbuster1”
The truth that really needs to be discussed is how disruption through innovation is a net creator. At the very worst, maintain a net zero impact. Einstein said
“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” Innovation then, does not create or destroy, it transforms. Think about how innovation has transformed our lives throughout history. Prior to the industrial revolution, manufacturing was done in people’s homes using hand-tools. Travel was limited to how far a person was willing to walk or ride in a horse drawn carriage. Then machines like the cotton-gin were invented. The steam engine was built and enabled the first railroad. People learned to use these machines and created a new form (continued on next page) Innovation \\ 11
(continued from page 11...) of employment and travel. Products could be manufactured that couldn’t be stitched AND they could be delivered in weeks instead of months. The innovation of the industrial revolution transformed the lives of people. Fast forward to the information age and the worldwide adoption of Internet technologies. Email was expected to put federally run postal services out of business so to speak. So many ‘experts’ were convinced that the use of email would eliminate the need to mail a letter. Revenues from postage fees would plummet as letters, invoices and pretty much any correspondence can be sent electronically. The actual result is much different. Canada Post delivered 8.9 billion letter mail pieces in 2017 compared to ~12 billion in 2008; a 26% decline in volume. Thanks to the rise in parcel deliveries because of e-commerce, Canada Post had an increase in gross profit of 10.8% over that same period2. Innovation does not destroy; it transforms. This kind of transformation is subjective depending from which side of history you are looking at it. If you happen to be one of those who have been disrupted, then certainly innovation from this point of view is upsetting. Though I doubt that history will tell a story that Netflix ACTUALLY bankrupted Blockbuster or that the automobile rendered the horse & buggy useless. History is more likely to tell the story that humankind has progressed for the betterment of all and any disruption is more a function of status quo failing to update its operating system. There is a beautiful moment when innovation and impact collide. It is that moment when disruption is in harmony with change and isn’t really looked at like disruption at all. 12 // Community Now!
Many industries around the world are ripe for disruption but few are actually ready. The arts community is one of those sectors who are ready to innovate and improve the human condition for everyone involved. Admittedly, I am not very much involved in the wide world of arts. My understanding of a life devoted to the craft, its process and all of the misgivings that may come with the choice, is pretty limited. From the small bits that I do understand, I know that creating art requires a lot of time and dedication to create. In spite of my ignorance around art, it didn’t take me long to understand that an artist doesn’t make money until they sell a piece; regardless of the format. Some artists may be commissioned for a piece of work but even those gigs can be few and far between. So, I was left wondering, how do artists sell their work? E-commerce and social media have certainly done their jobs in providing platforms for artists and art lovers to find a medium with far less friction than the conventional auction houses or galleries. Forbes3 reported that 22.7% of art buyers primarily find their purchases online through social media compared to 20% via museums and 15.9% through galleries. And those are 2016 figures. These platforms are no longer new enough to be disruptive for most industries. There is another problem I encountered. How do artists benefit from the re-sale of their work? Steve Gow, co-founder of the new technology company UppstArt, explains that “in 93 countries in the world they have legislation in force called ‘Artists’ Resale Rights’, or ‘droit de suite’ in France, and basically what the legislation says is that every time artwork resells on the secondary market at auction, the artist gets a percentage of that art sale.”
Left to Right: Brent Cheal, Reggie the Pug, Steve Gow
According to the Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective4 (CARCC), Artists’ Resale Rights (ARR) have not been adopted in Canada. One example presented by the CARCC:
artists and the legislative solution is buried in administrative expense for galleries and auction houses. Blockchain technology is now at a point where innovation and impact collide.
“Tony Urquhart sold a painting, The Earth Returns to Life, in 1958 for $250. It was later resold by Heffel Fine Art auction house in 2009 for approximately $10,000. Had ARR been in place at a rate of 5%, the artist would have received a royalty of $400, assuming collective management administrative costs of 20%. Without ARR, the artist did not benefit from the increased value of his work.”4
Enter UppstArt into the fold. The startup technology company founded by Steve Gow and Brent Cheal is doing more than advocating for legislation. These co-founders are taking an innovative approach to an age old problem.
In the 93 countries that have the ARR legislation, the resale rights are enforced through the galleries and auction houses while sellers in private sales or peer-to-peer transactions are generally not required to pay resale commissions explains Brent Cheal, cofounder of UppstArt. It is proven that legislation can only address part of the problem of resale rights for
www.UppstArt.io is a platform for artists to list their art for sale online and receive a blockchain-recorded digital certificate of authenticity when their art sells. Their platform combines several technologies to manage the issue; e-commerce, blockchain and smart contracts. The function of UppstArt serves two purposes; initial sales of art directly from independent artists on the “Primary Marketplace” and peer-to-peer re-sales of artwork Resale Marketplace. (continued on next page) Innovation \\ 13
(continued from page 13...) How does UppstArt work, in your own words? Steve Gow - When a collector buys a piece of artwork directly from an artist on our primary marketplace, they buy it for ‘fiat’ money, which means Canadian or U.S. Dollars or any other currency in the world. They receive the artwork via courier from the artist and they get a digital certificate of authenticity. The ‘provenance’ information about the art and the price that it sold for is immutably and publicly recorded using blockchain technology. If the collector ever wants to resell that artwork in the future, they can do so at any time. For example, to switch up their décor or if the artwork doesn’t speak to them any more, they can re-sell it at any time on our resale marketplace. We use blockchain smart contracts on our resale marketplace, which we call “UppsmArt Contracts”. You can sell the art that’s represented by these smart contracts to other people in a peer-to-peer marketplace and all of the transactions, provenance and sales history is immutably recorded using blockchain technology. It is their use of blockchain technology where innovation collides with impact. When a piece of art is sold on the resale marketplace, the transaction is publicly and immutably recorded on the blockchain and a 4% royalty is automatically paid to the original artist by the smart contract. For an artist to collect a resale royalty otherwise, the art needs to be sold through a gallery or auction house in one of the 93 countries where the legislation exists and then is administered through copyright collectives taking considerable time and effort to calculate and remit. This only applies to qualified sales which typically does NOT include those between private individuals and is not currently legislated in Canada or the U.S. 14 // Community Now!
About UppstArt UppstArt is a blockchain art project organized by Adappcity Inc., a social blockchain
company
founded by Steve Gow and Brent Cheal in Calgary, Alberta in 2017. The MVP (or
“Minimum
Product”)
for
Viable UppstArt
was launched in July 2018 The convincing piece of how this innovation creates impact is the overall benefit to the resellers of the art, the buyers AND the artist themselves. Since the sales commission is only 20% compared to the gallery standard of 50%, the resellers win by saving $300 for every $1000 when they re-sell the artwork. The buyers of the artwork receive verification of the provenance of the art, its transaction history and the comfort of knowing they have access to a marketplace to resell should they choose. The artists continue to win because they receive a royalty payment every time their art sells, which is even more lucrative to the artist if their artwork continues to appreciate in value.
at
UppstArt represents a triple bottom line improvement and a significant shift in the art industry.
price and an image of
Technology and innovation provide for some very cool and interesting experiences. Not all… scratch that. Most innovations fail to contribute to the true benefit of the world and the people in it. The nexus where innovation and impact collide is a magic space.
www.uppstart.io.
It
is an online marketplace where original artwork is purchased online directly from artists and can be re-sold at any time for a
low
commission,
a
portion of which is paid directly
to
the
original
artist as a resale royalty. Every time a work of art is purchased on UppstArt, its provenance
information,
the work is securely and immutably recorded on the blockchain to help increase transparency and decrease fraud in the art world
1) O'Neill, M. (2011, March 01). How Netflix Bankrupted & Destroyed Blockbuster [Infographic]. Retrieved August 14, 2018, from https://www.adweek.com/digital/netflix-destroyed-blockbuster-infographic/ 2) MacLean, J. (2017, June 16). The fragile future of Canada Post is now in Amazon's hands. Retrieved August 14, 2018, from https://www.cantechletter.com/2017/06/fragile-future-canada-post-now-amazons-hands/ 3) Weinswig, D. (2016, May 13). Art Market Cooling, But Online Sales Booming. Retrieved August 16, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2016/05/13/art-market-cooling-but-online-sales-booming/#6b196f8c6ec9 4) Seline, J. (2013, October 15). Artists' Resale Right. Retrieved August 15, 2018, from http://www.carcc.ca/en/artist-resale-right
Innovation \\ 15
Schools The Key to History
Al Del Degan Founding Partner & Anthologist Capturing Legacies Inc. http://www.CapturingLegacies.com
Educational institutions have incredible histories. Their purpose has been to take young minds and to mould them and help them reach their true potential. Over time incredible history is created through the many students and faculty that pass through the halls. As the students move on to post secondary education, and on up through careers, their youth and the time they spent in school is often some of their fondest memories. The school itself is the centre of the growth and change that happens over time. The faculty and leadership exists to keep the gears turning, but many relationships are built and solidify along the way. As history rolls along, 16 // Community Now!
world events are captured in the hearts and minds of everyone, and schools are effective in looking at things from different perspectives. Teachers come up with creative assignments that help students understand the impact of current events and help navigate the often difficult, and sometimes confusing, world we all live in. History is important and knowing where we came from helps set our personal compass as we navigate through life. Knowing the history of a school is knowing how it began, who the faculty members have been through the years, and also knowing who the students were. People who have gone on to make a
significant impact in the world were once a student in school. Maybe they were the class clown, or the teacher’s pet, or maybe they were that one kid that was always getting detention or being sent down to the principal’s office. It is hard to tell who a child is going to be when they are young and eager to learn. In a class full of a dynamic mix of personalities and often cultures, one thing is for sure... they all will have stories to tell.
EDUCATION
Class Size:
An Anecdotal
Viewpoint O
By Diane Swiatek, Founder and Director of Banbury Crossroads School
ne size fits all” is a common slogan that is seen as a real convenience and problemsolving time saver. When it comes to class sizes in schools for children, however, this slogan is so inappropriate, for so many reasons. First, the “one sized” item that is supposed to fit all usually turns out to be a piece of clothing that actually doesn’t have a size of its own, since the object is a piece of stretchy fabric like a toque, a tube sock or pantyhose, which takes on the shape and size of the body it is put upon. It really is amorphous, in that its size depends upon its host. And common experience has also told us that it often does not actually fit that well. When this analogy is transferred to the size of the room used for a class of children, it is not the container that matters, those metal studs, brick or drywall, for they can indeed be divided or enlarged through various means, cost and effort. They can actually be amorphous with some carpenters’ help. The point, though, is that “class size” really refers to the size of the “student body”. So, if we are questioning what that class size ought to be, we are really talking about how
18 // Community Now!
many students work best in one group. And this is where it gets really complicated. The typical conundrum revolves around large versus small. As Malcolm Gladwell has written in his book, “David and Goliath”, the research is very inconclusive when it comes to academic benefits: one international study said that small class sizes have caused a noticeable benefit in Iceland and Greece (that’s all!); other studies say it causes a minor disadvantage, and still more say it causes little difference at all. What it causes a difference in seems to be student achievement, measurable by testing. In this aspect, Gladwell writes that the connection between size of classroom and academic performance can be described by a graph showing an inverted-U curve, whereby really small numbers of students, like 2 to 6, is a disadvantage due to a lack of inspiration and conversation. At the far end, 30 to 40 is also a disadvantage due to lack of individual student assistance and overburdening of teachers’ workload. The middle ground, between 15 to 20, seems to produce better results…in student achievement. But what about other aspects of children’s lives? It is already accepted world-wide that academic performance is a major focus for young people’s learning in schools. In addition, we know that their knowledge
acquisition and skill development are affected by their experience outside of schools. In the Western world, academic learning is one goal that we all value and agree is necessary. It is impossible for us lead an interesting and contributive life in our multi-faceted culture without knowing how to read, how to communicate orally and through text, how to understand the way the world works (science and math), how to think analytically and morally (which helps personally and politically), and how to experience our culture and add to it through the expression of our creativity (through art, music, dance, philosophy and recreation). We know that all of this is important, and all of this is addressed in schools. Perhaps what is not addressed so much is the emotional and social sphere…the studentas-a-person sphere. This leads us to the next point: class size affects students differently for different types of effect. Here, it depends on what is being measured or compared. Class sizes do, appreciably, affect students’ emotional and social realities. Unfortunately, this part of their lives gets short shrift. And the reason for this? Economics. The reason that departments of education and school boards even bring up the topic of class size is based on economics. They build schools, and these schools must be economically feasible, in order to be built and maintained. They also pay for teachers’ salaries. The value of teachers is culturally obvious, because of the role they play in nurturing students’ future potential, and thus the future of society itself. This is immensely important! It is also obvious that school boards must be able to afford these salaries; in this regard, it is more convenient economically for school boards to (continued on next page) Education \\ 19
(continued from page 19...) pay for one teacher for 30 students as an upfront cost, rather than for one teacher for 10 to 15 students. It is a real conundrum for school authorities to figure out how to make schools convenient primarily for students, rather than primarily for adults. They are involved in a balancing act, between cost and result. And sometimes, this balance is out-of-balance. In reality, one-size-fits-all as a concept in schools is usually applicable to the standardization of room size in standardized schools, for an expected number of students. This has come to mean rooms usually designed for 30, but as it plays out in actual schools, this number may reach 40 or more in some high schools. Whenever school districts have attempted to lower the student-teacher ratio across the American continent, it has cost billions of dollars for them to hire more teachers. To make dramatic changes from the way it is now is very costly, and not just for salaries. Once class sizes are smaller, the rooms can then be smaller, or the school needs more rooms, and this requires those carpenters mentioned before to adjust the spaces. This whole venture causes adults to pay more up front for the service of education, making politicians and parents more nervous, because taxes will probably have to rise to cover it. Paying now is often seen as less advantageous than paying later for the inevitable cultural costs of the results of large class sizes. “Pay later� has a really appealing ring to it, and many of us fall for it. However, the reality is that paying later usually involves enormous societal problems, such as the social issues caused by young adults who have not received the individual attention they needed, and the resentment they feel from this deficit. Illiteracy, shop lifting, smoking, drinking, drug use, risky 20 // Community Now!
and aggressive behavior, self-harm, poor decision-making based on arbitrary or non-existent reasons, ineffective problemsolving skills, selfish and non-empathetic responsiveness toward others, and other social vices, simply lead to our society having to pay later to remediate the problems that result. These problems are what institutionsmeant-to-reform-youth end up working on, and sometimes this mitigation effort can last a lifetime. This includes communication courses, psychological interventions, mediation services, homeless shelters, adult education upgrading courses, pre-employment training for unskilled laborers, medical intervention for drug and alcohol misuse‌and countless hours of misery for people caught up in failed marriages, unemployment or lost jobs, as well as the many costs they encounter for lawyers and judges to sort out the real messes. If, on the other hand, class sizes were small enough in the first place that teachers could actually get to know their students and follow their life stories, they could possibly notice when dysfunctional behavior arose, and they could intervene appropriately to work with these students while they are young. Our youth need so much in the way of inspiration and understanding, and options to address the problems they face. They need to experience teachers who care whether they learn and whether they can get along with others. They need assistance with realizing the necessity to honor the rights of others, as well as realizing their obligations and power to take care of their own needs and rights. They need to use their voices to express their thoughts and opinions respectfully. This all requires meaningful relationships between students and teachers, so that teenagers can learn to trust adults, since they will be one soon. This trust will build most easily if the class sizes are small. And it helps if the overall
“
The value of teachers is culturally obvious, because of the role
they play in nurturing students’ future potential, and thus the future of society itself.
”
school is small, too—that is, certainly less than 2,000 students. To be seen for who you really are, to be visible, to be a Big Fish in a Small Pond can be highly empowering. Small Ponds are places that nurture innovation, acceptance, individuality and community. When Big-Fish students from Small Ponds enter universities to become Small Fish in Big Ponds, they will be ready for these increased numbers of fellow students, because they already feel secure about who they are and their place in the world, and they are already heading in certain intrinsically-motivated directions. Besides, they are older, and equipped with more-developed brains. So,
this is one benefit of small class sizes that needs to be acknowledged.
The issue contains other complexities, however. One reality we live with is that children are all very specific particularities. So, this is another variable that will affect the answer to the question, “What size of class is appropriate?”, because it introduces the question, “For whom?” Shy children, or bright children, may thrive in small classrooms where there are more possibilities for engagement and discussion. For children with their own agendas for learning and intrinsic interests in certain topics, and for children with anxiety (continued on next page) Education \\ 21
“
Teachers in all classrooms, of whatever size, need to display much energy with their students, showing their own passion for the subjects they teach and the personal interests they can share.
(continued from page 21...) or learning difficulties, a small class allows the kind of flexibility that promotes more decision-making, project design, multi-aged grouping, teacher instruction and monitoring of results. All of these elements impact positively on the socio-emotional experience of students. However, when children have social challenges, such as self-centered tendencies, self-management issues, distractibility, hyperactivity, lack of empathy, or aggressiveness, then a small setting highlights their challenges and there is nowhere for their peers to hide. This is usually felt like a disaster, because everyone has to deal with what is going on. This is not easy; but it is better. They must learn communication skills to present their case and to listen to their peers and teachers. They must take others’ needs into account. They must solve those problems and learn persistence and resilience. They have to learn to apologize, make amends and forgive. In a large classroom or school, the classmates of children with social issues are able to disappear in another part of the school, down faraway hallways, and ignore the problem. This avoidance definitely feels like a relief; but it is actually worse for them, because they do not learn those social “soft skills” that make for harmonious living. School is a perfect place to learn these interdependent 22 // Community Now!
”
skills, because then social refinement and confidence become part of each person, and will be ingrained all throughout their lives. Small is better for all of this. Still, we have to recognize that schools are not just for students. Teachers live there too, and teachers, also, have their own predilections for teaching style: some love the role of extroverted actor, giving exhilarating presentations; they thrive in larger classroom settings. Some prefer the peaceful, engaged role of individual mentor, working more in a tutorial setting. Teachers are as varied as the students, and their needs count too. Nevertheless, just to make things more complicated again, even if a classroom does achieve a small size, the results of that opportunity depend upon what teachers do within this small-sized classroom. I once observed a class in a school that was in its first year of existence, and it was very small. I walked by a room in which 5 children sat at the fronts of 5 rows of desks. The teacher was standing in front of them, lecturing. I was astounded! I thought about what opportunities that teacher had (and wasn’t using) to engage with those 5 individual students in active, experiential learning, in energetic discussion and inquiry, in natural relationship-building, and in excursions. It showed me that small classes per se, if they are conducted just like large classes, are no better.
Teachers in all classrooms, of whatever size, need to display much energy with their students, showing their own passion for the subjects they teach and the personal interests they can share. They need to respect their students’ need to discover concepts for themselves, and to follow their own intrinsic curiosities. All children and teenagers, since they are in the incredibly intense learning phase that their brain is going through, benefit greatly from the opportunity to build and create and experiment and move and discuss and get excited about life! And they all need to spend time outside the classroom’s, and the school’s, walls. They need to see the world that they live in, and push their own personal boundaries. In the end, whatever size of class we build and offer and use, we need to make the best of it, and hope that different aspects of our situation will appeal to, and meet the needs
of, different students for different reasons. We cannot be both small and big at the same time. So, small classrooms in small schools need to find ways to give their students some largegroup experience, both within the school walls, and outside it, in the real world. Large classrooms in large schools need to create small spaces, and small pods or small sections wherein teachers can interact with smaller groups. Both of these accommodations are happening in our schools now. So, here’s the answer: class sizes need to be both small and large, for different students and for different reasons. We are, in some ways, having the best of both worlds already. This is due to those teachers who are a philosophical, responsive and flexible group of human beings, and who deeply care about the children they mentor. They all know that one size does not fit all.
Trico Centre for Family Wellness
11150 Bonaventure Dr SE
www.tricocentre.ca
403-278-7542 Education \\ 23
Ahead by a Cen
by Jill Quirk
T
he song “Ahead by a Century” performed by the famous Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, was about the social injustice in the 19th C. Some see injustice and speak up; however, some turn their backs to it, and sadly, it often takes too long for the rest of society to catch up. The Tragically Hip, inspires us all about what community means and what it means to live life to the fullest. Gord Downie taught us, “we must use our time in a meaningful way”. His message is clear. We must look after each other in a community. Gord Downie was a man who stood up against the injustice of our 24 // Community Now!
past and tried to take a leap into reconciliation. An attempt to make some peace with the residential schools in Canada. Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, is a man who used his fight, plagued with an incurable brain tumour, to teach us an important message. He gave us the gift of community. He brought the entire country together with the band’s last concert on August 20th, 2017. It was the most magically thing to see. The whole country stopped and was united through music. It gave us a message that we must look after each other.
ntury …
Just trying to do just one beautiful thing… Article inspired by the Canadian band
The Tragically Hip.
“On an August night of last year, with the country’s eyes upon him and his terminal illness weighing like a stone, Gord Downie had a message for Canadians: It is time to address the hardships of Canada’s First Peoples” The Globe and Mail1 The Tragically Hip, are the ultimate dreamers. “Most of all, at their finest, they urge us to rethink the present, and to imagine a more generous and accepting future that should not be ahead of us by a century.”2
The song Ahead by A Century is a song that suggests we should not have “a future that should not be ahead of us by a century”. We need to prepare students for a future that starts now. Preparing students for a future of community building. That is why part of our STEAM Team mission is thinking of ways to prepare students to learn how to live Sustainably. (continued on next page)
1) https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/gord-downie-praised-by-members-of-indigenous-community/article36655474/ 2) https://theconversation.com/remembering-gord-downie-through-his-lyrics-82507
Education \\ 25
B
elow is a paragraph from Grade 7 STEAM Team members Mea and Heather who have helped transform our STEAM lab into something more…
“We know that ecosystems are important to Canada! We love the trees, the mountains, the hills, the flowers, the plants. We love all living organisms in our country. An important part of the ecosystem, is us! We can help plants grow! We have taken a long time to grow plants in our school tower garden. With this project, we are so excited to use the produce for so many things! Our project can help Canada’s environment, because it teaches us to grow our own garden! The tower garden is a tall tower that holds plants and carries water vertically with an aeroponic growing system. The special LED lights are used to mimic sunlight. It is only three square feet and the rack around the tower is used for plants to hang on. The tower garden is a part of our STEAM Team learning. We have found that because we are learning how growing our own crops, we can easily get more people involved and, we will be able to help Canada’s environment! The STEAM Team want everyone to Stay Eco Friendly!”
It is obvious that we need to learn how to share and connect to our natural world. We need to learn how to live sustainable, and sustainability requires us to work together. The more we connect with each other, the less alienated people might feel.
26 // Community Now!
M ad e b y M o mma k nows ...
SOMETIMES MOMS ARE THE ONES WHO NEED TO BE TAKEN CARE OF.
H elp m a k e su re th a t e ve r y mom has t he s u pp ort t h a t she ne ed s. M a d eB y Mo mma. o rg
(continued from page 26...)
E
ach month The STEAM Team create a challenge for the whole school to participate in. This month the STEAM Team came up with the STEAM Team Canadian Tourist Challenge. The idea behind it was to celebrate Canada, and learn important geography about our beautiful country (especially because September is Terry Fox month) along with learning how to code and practice our innovation skills. The Challenge was - Can you help Bettie the Beaver and Marley the Moose have a most epic adventure across Canada by creating objects to help them in their travels? Each station has challenges to complete to improve on different Design Making skills. Station 1: Can you code a robot to go to three different locations in Canada? This helps students to understand how big Canada is. Below is a picture of grade 1s coding using shapes and colours with a Cubletto. Coding using shapes and colours allows for students to learn the concepts of coding even though they can’t read. An extension of this activity could be to calculate the distance between the places. Station 2: Can you create something for Marley or Bettie to use while traveling using LittleBits circuits? Here students learned about simple circuits and made things like mini flashlights. The idea behind this challenge is to make something simple using circuits. Little Bits technology helps students learning circuits because it uses magnets to attract the pieces that should fit together. When the connectors should work they attract and then repel when they shouldn’t. Station 3: Can you create something for Marley or Bettie to weather a storm or disaster with Cubelets? Here a Grade 5 student made something using Cubelets from Modular Robotics to help plough through something big. The student was thinking that if these characters encountered a rock slide or an avalanche, the spinning wheels would help to power through the disaster. Students are thinking of ways the Cubelets can help to solve a problem that they come up with.
28 // Community Now!
Station 4: Can you create a trailer for Bettie or Marley with K’nex and then code a Dash robot to pull it? Now if you don’t have a fancy robot, anything can work here. Creating something that can move can be as easy as using simple circuits items (alligator clips, motor, battery) and some recyclables such as: using milk carton lids, straws and bamboo sticks. A lot of students thought that if they made trailers to help these characters transport their camping supplies, it would really make these character’s travel across Canada easier. Some students wanted to create barriers that they may find along the way and then coded a Dash robot around the “barriers”. Station 5: Can you create fashionable outfits for Bettie and Marley to show their love for their country? Students created T-shirt designs for the moose. Students had to think about what kind of symbols and colours would be most relevant for a moose traveling across the country. Extension activity was for students to create micro:bit flashing badges for the shirts. What we wanted here was to get students thinking about clothing design. Soon we will be introducing sewing and having students create tech fashion. Tech fashion is a growing area in the Maker Space world. I think it will be a great touch to the challenges if students can use their coding knowledge to make wearable tech! Stay tuned to see what our students come up with! Station 6: Can you create a selfie of you in a place you think Marley or Bettie would want to visit in Canada? I got a lime green sheet from the Good Will Store and put it on a bulletin board to make a green screen. I got a variety of Canadian artifacts from my own travels that students could use. Students learned how to use s green screen and Imovie to create images that were “selfies” across Canada. This station helped students learn their geography of hot spots in Canada along with improving their tech skills. (continued on next page) Education \\ 29
(continued from page 29...) Station 7: Can you create a friend for Marely or Bettie out of plasticine? This is a great way for kids to think about empathy as well as animal biology. Students had to think about what would be a good friend for a moose and or beaver. And possibly what would not be a good friend. The photo provided is a picture of a red Canadian goose. It is amazing how much children love to explain their thinking by molding out of plasticine. Station 8: Can you create a game in Scratch for Marley or Bettie to learn the geography of Canada? Scratch is a free online coding program. We started with Grade 1s and 2s creating sprites and backgrounds. Students easily manipulated the sprites, through the “costume function”. For students in higher grades, students started to look at how to create a game using the sprites. (see photo). Students learned how to contribute to a team by helping to add coding ideas to a game that is on a shared collaborative Scratch account. Station 9: Can you learn what the provinces and territories look like by coding the Ozobots to outline the provinces and territories? Students use different colour markers and draw what the provinces or territories look like. This is also coding using colours – so no reading necessary. Students use the Ozobots to code in different speeds and trace over their drawings with the small robots. Station 10: Can you create something that Bettie and Marley could use for a camping trip somewhere in a Canadian forest? Students used their knowledge of circuits to create and innovate unique tents and other fun camping items. There was a lot of students who made pretend campfires which is probably because they had a summer of no fires this year. 30 // Community Now!
Station 11: Can you create music for Bettie and Marley’s road trip? Students use any tools available. If students didn’t have access to computers they could use the science of sound and use different bottles (each with different amounts of water for different pitches). Our students had access to MakeyMakey and GarageBand, which is where most students made their music. Students learned how to create a circuit using MakeyMakey and then used the piano function to make the music.
The Canadian Tourist Challenge has been a big success. However, one of the problems we were faced with was we often struggle with getting students to reflect and draw their great ideas. They are usually so busy tinkering, that they have little time to reflect. I brought up this problem to the STEAM Team and they thought of making the whole thing a competition against the classes in the same grade. What happened was the students thought that the challenges needed students to be challenged. SO… these students thought of a fun aspect to their challenges. For some strange reason, we have a Cookie Monster Mascot…and because The STEAM Team always loves to add a silly twist to all challenges. We decided this year that our challenges will have an extra twist. We thought that wouldn’t it be funny if The STEAM Team took all of cookie monster’s cookies! And… the class that has the most design drawings from each station at the end of the challenge will be awarded the cookies! We thought that this will help students to work on their drawings and be more aware of the “why” behind each challenge through the power of reflection.
I
RODUCI NG T N
M AKE R LAB Discover the fun in science, technology, and engineering!
If you want??? Have a challenge??? Next month we are exercising our wizard skills with the Wild Wizard’s STEAM Challenge. Try out the challenge with your class and put a spooky twist to your October STEAM lessons!
Coming in
September 2018!
COMMUNITY
The MAGIC of
HALLOWEEN Brings the Community Together in More Then One Way.
Because of a childhood memory a fabulous Halloween attraction grew into a community celebration. Q & A with Christine Campbell; Creative Director/ HallowQueen www.hauntedcalgary.org Why Halloween?
H
alloween has always been a favourite holiday for my family, although my mum might say it's her second favourite (we don't mention that "C" word this time of year!). We remember the fun of trick-or-treating and the magic of Halloween. Today, some of those simple Halloween traditions seem to be dying. I mean, I don't entirely blame parents for taking their kids to the heated mall for trick-or-treating rather than bundling them up and trying to stuff winter jackets under costumers to go door-to-door, but it just isn't the same.
32 // Community Now!
We’ve raised over $30,000 for animal rescue and profits will be donated again this year to Calgary Animal Rescue Society.
Dad, my son Ryker, and I last year Credit Calgary Herald 2017
"Halloween is so much fun. It's a chance to be anything or anyone you want to me. It's a chance to be creative. There are no rules. We can be macabre and embrace the things which we fear most. There is something so freeing in that." As the haunt has grown, for me personally it's also become a personal challenge and a chance to grow as a person and learn and expand new skills. I have a very scientific mind so creativity doesn't come naturally to me. When you're creating haunt props and sets, though, you don't want them to look "good." You're striving for imperfect so there's no way to mess it up- that's pretty liberating.
Why do you donate the money raised to charity? We started the attraction just for fun and to give back to the community as a form of entertainment. After we moved to a larger property and started attending Halloween and haunted attraction-related trade fairs
and conferences, our little yard display really started to gain momentum, especially as we turned the corner into the 21st century. Around that time we were starting to attract crowds in the thousands and we thought "gee, this is an awful lot of work and we're investing lots of money into it. Wouldn't it be nice if the haunt could help bring the community together even more and help out a charity? The Calgary Food Bank has always been a charity that our family supports. We've known so many people who have had to access it and we've seen its impacts. Food is such a basic need and there should be no reason anyone should ever have to go without, especially in Canada. It was an easy ask of our visitors- please bring a food donation. After a few years, my family started volunteering with and fostering for a local, very grassroots animal rescue. The organization was just scraping by, largely from the pockets of the directors themselves. They were doing incredible work and saving so many lives. (continued on page 35) Community \\ 33
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(continued from page 33...) Because I was so closely connected, I could look into the eyes of the animal that a dollar would help. I knew that every penny was going to the animals as the organization was run entirely by volunteers and I started to see how small, grassroots charities often need the support of sponsors and special events more than anyone. It was a natural fit to bring them on board. Over the years, we've raised over $30,000 for animal rescue and profits will be donated again this year to Calgary Animal Rescue Society. We always wish we could do even more. There are so many worthy organizations in Calgary doing absolutely incredible work. While our profits aren't large enough to split with more charities, we encourage partnerships with social-aid organizations like Calgary Alpha House Society, local youth groups like Girl Guides of Canada, and schools. We are able to provide some hands-on training for several job skills, including basic power tool use and construction, marketing, administration,
customer service, etc. In return, we have some extra volunteer hands on deck to put on a great attraction for the community. It's such a win-win and we've made some amazing lifelong friends through those partnerships.
What do your neighbours think? We are very lucky to have some absolutely incredible neighbours. Some come over almost every day to help us build our sets. Our little fan down the block, at three years old last year, announced that he was officially going to "build his own haunted house" and proclaimed it "better than (Haunted Calgary)." We love it- he's the next generation of haunter! That said, there's always a few people who don't appreciate the extra noise of construction or screaming, traffic from visitors, or looking at a haunted house for months as we build it. We try to mitigate any negative impacts as much as possible and our phone line is always open if neighbours have concerns. (continued on next page) Community \\ 35
Credit: Joanna Jenson Photography
(continued from page 35...)
Why a haunted house? Haunted Calgary was started so organically that we didn't even realize we were doing it. When I was young, my dad got stuck on parent duty- watching myself and a group of neighbourhood kids. Being fall, he also had "rake the leaves" from our big poplar tree on his honey-do list. "Hmmm...." he thought, "how can I put these kids to work and kill two birds with one stone?" He grabbed some white kitchen-catcher bags and hauled us all outside. "Fill these up halfway with leaves, then we'll tie them off and you can draw faces on them to make ghosts," he said. It kept us entertained for the day and he hung the ghosts in the tree. That got him and my mum thinking. I'm not sure who came up with the idea of making tombstones out of cereal boxes, but again the neighbourhood kids were enlisted to help. We set them up in the front yard and Dad laid his extension ladders out on their sides to create a cemetery fence. My mum then jumped in to the fun and dressed up like a wicked witch to hand out the candy. Her character was so convincing that all the kids at school started knowing her only as "the wicked witch," a title which she's taken to heart so much that it's now even her license 36 // Community Now!
The Scream Team First years
plate moniker. The next year on the first day of school, dozens of students approached her asking if we were going to decorate the yard again for Halloween. She called my dad, saying "I think we started something!" The rest, as they say, is history. Each year it became a personal challenge to one-up the last. From simple bag ghosts in the tree, to covering the house with black plastic, graduating to carving foam tombstones, and now being Calgary's largest walk-through haunted yard attraction with Hollywood-scale animatronics and a cast of over 60 ghouls, we've never lost that connection to the community. They are the blood, guts, and soul of Haunted Calgary.
Post-Halloween Masquerade Ball Benefiting IndigeSTEAM
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GIVINGTUESDAY
YYC
WHAT IS GIVINGTUESDAY? Everybody knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday … GivingTuesday arrived in Canada on December 3, 2013. It is a new Canadian day of giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The “Opening day of the giving season,” GivingTuesday is a day where charities, companies and individuals join together to share commitments, rally for favorite causes and think about others. The goal is to heighten the importance of giving, improve attitudes, and increase giving and volunteering behaviour. “We have two days that are good for the economy. Now we have a day that is good for the soul too.” GivingTuesday is about supporting those charities you love to see thrive, but why wait until December 31st under the gun of tax legislation? Give early and give plenty!
HOW TO GET INVOLVED? Any charity can join and become a member of their local civic movement. Companies can jump onboard as well as individuals, who make up 80% of the annual giving universe. Volunteer your time, make a gift, donate clothing, all of these activities are within the spirit of GivingTuesday. We are proud to have the following organizations support and promote GivingTuesday in Calgary: The Calgary Foundation, CCVO, CAGP, Propellus and the Association of Fundraising Professionals Calgary & Area Chapter, founding partners in 2012 in the US and 2013 in Canada. As this is a movement, they often start slow and then like a large boulder, starts rolling faster and faster with encouragement. Each year since 2013, there has been a significant spike in gifts on each GivingTuesday with CanadaHelps tracking the activity through its charity partners, but that does not recognize all organizations, so the impact is significantly higher as the number of gifts grow and the of amount gifts increase year over year. Success for GivingTuesday is when it eventually morphs into a gflobal day of giving celebrated by all countries around the world – help us make this happen! 38 // Community Now!
WHO IS INVOLVED? GivingTuesday in Canada is an initiative of The GIV3 Foundation, CanadaHelps. org, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Apathy is Boring. There was an open invitation to the entire charitable sector - encouraging Canadians to join the movement and give and volunteer for charities of their choice. Supporting GivingTuesday is about helping all charities. GivingTuesday US was started in 2012 by the UN Foundation, the 92nd Street Y and several other charities and companies. GivingTuesday and the Calgary Civic Movement was spearheaded by AFP Calgary & Area Chapter and the AFP Canadian Council (now AFP Canada), chaired at the time by Derek Fraser, CFRE. Communities across Canada were ask to come together to have a unified movement of activity and promotion to raise awareness and hopefully the gift-giving capacity of everyday Canadians.
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For more information on GivingTuesday https://givingtuesday.ca/ To join the Calgary Civic Movement: https://givingtuesday.ca/partners/ givingtuesdayyyc Contact for more information: Wayne Steer: wayne@freshstartrecovery.ca Derek Fraser: derek@idophilanthropyinc.com
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I
The Magical World of a Life Coach? am often asked, “what is a Life Coach?”
discover
Sometimes it is better to start by answering
their
own
what a Life Coach is not first. Life Coaches are
personal
often grouped in with careers and professions
potential.
such as psychiatrist, psychologist, counselors, or
Coaches
even mistakenly grouped with sports coaches or
play a role
executive coaches. While all of the good people in
in not only
those professions do amazing work, it is not the
bringing
same as a Life Coach.
what already exists to the surface but providing
You could say that using a Life Coach is a little like going to Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, you have teachers like Professor Minerva McGonagall that
By Adette Lacerte at Nine and Three Quarters Coaching Ltd. – Breaking through Barriers to a Magical New Life
perspective, tools, and a little “magic” to supports their clients in reaching their own personal goals and objectives.
are giving the opportunity to explore your hidden
So while each of us could all be comfortable living
talents. Sometimes they help you with a better
a perfectly ordinary Muggle life, going along day
understanding of the world around you, sometimes
by day through our perfectly ordinary existence we
they provide you with tools, and sometimes they
also have a choice. And one of the ways to break
provide you with a safe place to practice your
free from a Muggle existence is to use a life coach
magic before exploring the Muggle world with
to help you find your true magical self. So if you
your new-found magical self.
find yourself in the mental hallways or stairwells
At Hogwarts, you would use a psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor in much the same way as you would use the services of the Hogwarts Hospital and Madam Poppy Pomfrey. And in some
of Hogwarts lost and confused, you just might call on the help of a Life Coach. The spell “Alohomara!” could be your ticket to unlocking the door to your magical new life.
instances, you will call for Professor Dumbledore to
I am on an adventure of re-discovery of who I am at
fix things or correct problems that arise. Professor
my core and my true purpose in this lifetime. This
Dumbledore is alerted to many situations that
blog is intended to give me a space to explore some
occur at Hogwarts, but often he delegates back
of the thoughts and ideas that I am having and test
to the Professors to manage. He knows that his
them out with a small group of trusted individuals.
direction is far more than what is required and
Consider yourselves part of my inner circle of
would be over taxation of his time and talents.
trusted friends. A huge hug to you for being there
Rubeus Hagrid might be considered your sports
for me.
coach as he is always seen to be in Harry’s corner cheering him on and stretching his understanding of his own talents. A sports coach will often use psychological tactics to bring out the best in his athletes and throughout the Harry Potter series, Professor Dumbledore entrusts Hagrid with several secrets, many which are inadvertently or
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“strategically” revealed to Harry along the way. And while coaches are not teachers like in traditional western schools, coaches are there for their clients to support them along their journey to help them
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Community \\ 41
BUSINESS
WHAT’S POSSIBLE WITH SOPHIA
people did not know what they were doing. And when I asked to join the programs they
When I was about 8 and business was
would say “Well, you have to come up with
going good, I started asking for a partner
a new product and drop what you already
and help, but all I got back was “Join our
have” which I did not want to do. That was
programs” or “ask ___xxxxx______ as they
an example when it didn’t help.
will be able to help”. This advice sometimes helped and sometimes didn’t. Mostly it did not. I am going to tell you of one of the organizations that gave me advice that didn’t help and one that did help.
Here’s one that did help. This is a family friend named Annabelle who says “Don’t throw it all away, use what you have to start again” which I keep to heart and use when a product is a flop. I use what I know
So once when I was at a meeting with
to from that product to start again and
someone from an organization and was asking
make another product.
for help all I got back was “Well, from what you are saying ___xxxxx____ would help you a lot” and “Well, join our programs they will help you do what you want to do.” Which didn’t help because when I asked the suggested organizations, they would say the same thing. It felt like a ‘run around’ and
Three helpful organizations are Monica from Business Chicks, Cheri from BusinessLink. and Wendy from AWSN.org. What’s possible: Sometimes advice is good and sometimes not, but you will know what’s right for you.
PROF-IT:
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ROAD TRIP
By Sandra Malach, Sr. Instructor, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary
T
he Entrepreneurial Ride is always an interesting trip taking entrepreneurs on unpredictable adventures. The road is not necessarily as straight as the TransCanada highway between Calgary and Regina but is more like a logging road with U-turns and unexpected hills and valleys. The process is not necessarily linear and progresses over time as the entrepreneur and the business embark on an exciting journey. OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION & EVALUATION is the identification of a real solution to a real problem resulting from changes in society, economics, markets or technology. Many entrepreneurs will identify an opportunity and over time verify its viability from both a business and personal perspective. This is also when entrepreneurs make the decision to invest additional time and money on the business concept. The journey has been defined and the entrepreneur has decided whether to embark on it! PROCEED. The decision to proceed is marked by concrete steps that must be taken in preparation to launch the business. Entrepreneurs may seek to work with other partners or employees with complementary skills. They often ascertain the amount of start-up capital required and if required seek external funding from people, banks or government programs. The initial target market is decided upon and a domain name and web page are created. Some entrepreneurs prepare a formal business plan while others just develop a plan to move forward The business now has a name and identity and the route for the journey has been planned! LAUNCH. This busy phase requires that the entrepreneur complete many tasks in
preparation for the business launch. It’s an extremely stressful and exciting time. Inventory must be procured. Space must be rented. Advertising strategies must be put into action through the development of Web pages and social media content Employees are hired. Government licences and approvals must all be obtained. It’s a lot of work but the first sale is a big, satisfying reward! BUILDING AND OPERATING. This is the longest phase of the business but in order to continue to provide value to old and new customers businesses must continually innovate. This is done by repeating the first three steps to identify and implement new products and services. If an entrepreneur is lucky the business will thrive. A growing business presents many challenges that may possibly include the need for additional people, space and inventory. This can strain the business if these costs arise before the sales to pay for them are made. The operating phase is the journey and there will be many challenges for the entrepreneur to overcome. EXIT. Sooner or later entrepreneurs will want to leave the business. Many to pursue a different opportunity and others to retire. Entrepreneurs should always consider the exit strategy. Do you hope to sell a unique product or service to another business? Do you plan to sell the business to another business person? Do you plan on family succession? Do you plan on evolving the business into a public company? Many entrepreneurs make most of their money on a successful exit. So, if you are an entrepreneur, enjoy the process – it’s an amazing ride! Business \\ 43
Leadership GAP! Do as I say, not as I do! by Peter Lafontaine
Is it just me or do you believe we need some real leaders in this city, this province, around the world? Here is the challenge! Every good parent knows by now that their children learn from their parents’ actions not their words. Too many of our leaders in politics, large public institutions, public and private companies feel like they can say one thing then go about doing quite the opposite? Even outright lie, cheat and steal then cover up with lawyers, bureaucratic process, creating coverup stories or finding someone or group to throw under the bus. Or simply put up distractions. The examples are everywhere, and something needs to change. What are we teaching our young people? To succeed you must look after yourself first and do whatever it takes to move up. Work the system to your advantage and get what you can. That is what we are teaching our young people! And then we have the audacity to say what is wrong with our young people today? If you want to play the blame game chances are you only have to look in the mirror. Statistics show the majority are these types of leaders or one of the complacent followers, not willing to act but rather just complain or throw up your hands. I know this is a negative, so I will try to climb out of this story with a ray of light! There is a tiny minority of people who are actively trying to change the model. As one of 44 // Community Now!
the active members of the Rainforest (building and innovation ecosystem in the province to help diversify our economy) we have adopted a great example. We follow a model which includes signing a social contract. It is simple: trust, honesty, paying it forward, sharing, giving before you expect to get, diversity and being good role models. Jim Gibson’s recent book “Tip of the Spear”, he emphasizes the critical importance of getting our moral compass embedded in most or our decisions going forward. It’s not too late but things are moving very quickly. There are a handful of places and institutions that are pushing this leadership shift. The growing emphasis on Social Enterprise (purpose…profitable in that order) is very promising. So called average people can make a big difference today. Crowdsourcing and social media allows people to influence entire markets, and companies and governments. We just all need to up our game become better role models. A simple way to start being a good role model is by asking someone if you can help them in some way and then doing it. *Have opportunities for people to become mentors or role models email publisher@ communitynowmagazine. com
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enabled by technologies such as gaming, telemedicine, wearable computing and monitoring, virtual reality, robots, apps, peer support via social media groups, numerous other computerized treatment resources and just plain old search. This is a new frontier in medicine that is totally unregulated.
D
by Scott Pickard
r. Google has transformed the way people self-diagnose and treat ailments, whether physical or mental. How relevant is technological self-diagnosis? One study I came across says one in four self-diagnose on the internet instead of visiting the doctor! There are a host of socioeconomic factors that point to this staggering number but there is no arguing that technology has changed the way people access and process health information and the growth of this “on demand” information mechanism is not going away. Access to information has transformed our generation and health diagnostics have progressed medical treatments exponentially, but challenges remain. No doubt Dr. Google would have a hard time putting a band aid on a laceration (at least for now) but Dr. Google is treating mental health issues through information in real time, today. e-Mental health can be defined as the mental health services and information delivered or enhanced through the internet and related technologies. It is currently
Has technology enabled mental health issues to worsen? Has technology helped people who are suffering from mental heath issues, or allowed them to become more secluded with out the need for personal contact? How has your business been affected by mental health issues? As business people, we need to be pro-active with employees under our charge; to be aware of the hidden indicators and reach out to help as appropriate. As community members, we need to be understanding of people without jumping to conclusions about situations we know nothing of. There will be uncertainty as we rarely have the ‘bigger picture’ information when we are dealing with mental health issues’ but we still must act responsibly. So many people suffer in silence because of the stigma, the ridicule and embarrassment. As community leaders and business people, we need to be very cognisant of behaviours and actions of people in our sphere of contact and even though we are not health care professionals, we still need to understand the people, events and environment in which we interact with them to ensure we are doing our part to address problems and how the workplace is being effected. Before my technology career, I worked in Emergency Services for many years in a very fulfilling way. In many ways that career was simpler; you see blood and you cover up the wound, you attend a cardiac arrest and you (continued on next page) Business \\ 47
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There will be uncertainty as we rarely have the ‘bigger picture’ information when we are dealing with mental health issues’ but we still must act responsibly.
follow a protocol for treatment, you treat broken bones by some form of stabilization. In many ways it was extremely complicated because in a short and acute episode you rarely understand enough about all the complicating factors that are the primary cause of the problem, or the secondary underlying cause(s) of the emergency. Mental health and related well being makes up a large portion of Emergency Services calls, in one way or another. Working in this capacity creates compassion for people but can also creates hardness against people and the actions they take. Mental health is a very significant factor in home, work and social settings for all of us. Studies have shown that one in five employees has a mental health problem. Of course, ‘studies’ can be influenced by data design
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and swayed towards outcomes rather than true measures of exactness but the fact the sheer number of employees, our people, that are affected is real and we must take notice. Estimates have been made that mental health issues and substance abuse cost employers nearly one hundred billions dollars a year in reduced productivity, absenteeism and increased health care costs. Solutions-based planning is key to enable assistance to those is need. If we as leaders talk about mental health and don’t deliver on real solutions and actions, I challenge you to really think about what message that sends to those in your organization that are suffering in silence. Does it drive the employee deeper into silence because of the ‘lack of importance’ the company places on their people? Does it make the employee more, or less, productive?
I assume the answer is obvious yet we all get busy and sometimes do not follow through as we intend. Where do we start? There is a lot of professional assistance out there, but it often comes with a cost of resources or people time. Education opportunities, EAP programs, technology based resources and in-service training are all options, but if leadership does nothing to support the initiatives, we all know where they end up. If your company culture truly supports its employees, invest some time into research to find some programs that fit for your company and your people. Show the team you are committed to them and make a difference, it is our responsibility as leaders. Choose not to let Dr. Google be the only option they have.
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