I love the opportunity to go and meet with people. Today’s meeting destination was Falls City, Nebraska. I wasn’t very familiar with Southeast Nebraska, so I was pretty excited to explore a new area of the state and pretty excited to stay at another historic hotel. The Grand Weaver hotel did not disappoint. I walked through the boutique hotel doors and was instantly grateful that someone invested in renovating and preserving a piece of history. This establishment, built-in 1924, was once a hub for commodities trading. My 4th-floor hotel room, with its original doors and original phone took me back to another place and time. You could almost feel the history.
When I’m out and about I inevitably find myself in a conversation with a community innovator about economic development possibilities. These conversations turn into robust idea generators for them and for me. A give and take of what worked and what failed. I used to try to find the recipe for the secret sauce these people use to make a project work in a community. What I find is there is no secret sauce that works for any one community. There are nuggets of knowledge you can collect and share. However, there isn’t any true duplicatable blueprint that works without truly invested people. These incredibly brilliant, thoughtful, and giving individuals risk failure to create new businesses, put their money where their heart is without fear of making a financial return, give their time and talents to maintain the places they hold dear.
I ran into one of these game-changer, idea factory, innovators. As it always happens, I found myself listening to a deep conversation about, “what could be, if only.” Although I really enjoy getting financially compensated for the strategic facilitation work, I do with groups, it is incredibly fun to listen to someone spilling their ideas and then actually coaxing them into writing them down and organizing them into a practical vision. I really enjoy the “aha moment,” when they see all their ideas pulled together and wrangled into something they can clearly explain and share with a larger group of innovators. So last night while the wind howled and the temperatures dropped, I didn’t make a nickel. Instead, I shared my pizza, watched an aha moment, and showed someone a method for pulling ideas together into a clear practical vision. How much fun will it be to see what the game-changer does with their new vision?
I had a purpose in Falls City which I look forward to sharing with you soon.
In the meantime.
What is your next great idea?
Write it down.
Write down every detail about your imagined finished product?
- What does the finished product look like in 3 -5 years?
- Who are the people involved in your finished product?
- Where does it happen?
- What do you need to make it happen?
…….. Just keep thinking about all the tiny details of your dream. Once you have those details, pair, and cluster those details. Write themes that describe your clusters. The cluster themes become your practical vision, your north star, a vision to aim for. If you are interested in learning how to do practical visioning along with the other pieces of the strategic planning puzzle reach out. I really enjoy helping people connect to training or facilitating the strategic planning process.
…. If you are ever in Falls City book a room at the Grand Weaver and have a pizza and a great conversation in the Den.
