Practicing Connection

Send us Fan Mail This is our annual Reflections episode, where we invite some of our podcast collaborators from the past year to share their reflections with us. Why? Because at the heart of meaningful connection, communication, and collaboration is the ongoing journey of self-awareness, learning, and growth. Regular reflection helps us stay grounded, inspired, and ready for the challenges ahead....

Send us Fan Mail Explore how inviting creative destruction can pave the way for innovation. In this practicast, Jessica shares a fun and insightful practice inspired by the Liberating Structures TRIZ activity, guiding listeners to identify and eliminate counterproductive behaviors to make space for new ideas and better outcomes. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicin...

Send us Fan Mail Explore practical ways to cultivate deep respect in your personal and professional interactions. This practicast introduces “1-2-4-All,” a practice rooted in community development principles, designed to amplify every voice and promote meaningful collaboration. Learn how genuine listening and collective reflection can empower individuals and create stronger connections within grou...

Send us Fan Mail Discover practical ways to create more welcoming and inclusive environments in your personal and professional life. The episode introduces "The Welcome Wagon," a simple practice inspired by community development principles, offering steps for personal reflection and group collaboration to foster a culture of belonging. Explore insights on the power of connection and smal...

Send us Fan Mail Amy Rodick, Director of the Office of Military Family Readiness and Policy for the Department of Defense, joins the podcast to discuss the importance of community connections and how service providers and families can contribute to a stronger Military Family Readiness System.  As an Army veteran and military spouse, Amy brings a unique perspective, sharing real-world strategies fo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Practicing Connection podcast, hosts Jessica and Bob explore the concept of balancing the "big picture" with "small actions" in their work and personal lives.  The episode delves into a practice inspired by adrienne maree brown's book Emergent Strategy , focusing on how simple, individual actions contribute to larger systemic changes...

Send us Fan Mail Discover the transformative power of feedback. Hosts Bob Bertsch and Jessica Beckendorf explore the nuances of giving and receiving feedback, emphasizing its role in personal and professional growth. Jessica shares a practical readiness checklist, offering valuable insights for enhancing feedback practices. Links Dare to Lead: The Engaged Feedback Checklist Listening for Strengths...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk with Monica Bassett, founder and CEO of Stronghold Food Pantry, a resource for military families on Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Monica talks about how she started a food pantry on Fort Riley, KS and how she launched Stronghold, highlighting the role military spouses, like Monica, can play in supporting military fami...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, learn how values shape emotions, decisions, and relationships, providing a roadmap for reduced stress, boosted confidence, and thriving connections. Bob Bertsch introduces practical exercises, guiding you through reflections and rapid assessments to uncover and understand your core values. Links Values Worksheets from the Wellness Society (PDF) Sign up for our mon...

Send us Fan Mail Sharing your work, even before it is done, is a great practice for dealing with imposter syndrome. It can help you realize no one is perfect and can make your work better, make you visible to others, and lead you to a community of support and growth. In this practicast, Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about the benefits of sharing your work with others and share a practice...

Send us Fan Mail The more you understand about yourself, the better you’ll be able to align your life with the things that are really meaningful to you.  In this episode,   Jessica Beckendorf shares how to do less of what drains you by using energy and engagement tracking. Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, co-hosts Bob Bertsch and Jessica Beckendorf talk with Lisa Sapp and James Yracheta about a collaboration between Malmstrom Air Force Base and the Great Falls (MT) School District to provide military-connected kids access to the Transitional Kindergarten program. In addition to providing early childhood education, the program helped military families with their chi...

Send us Fan Mail Many of us tend to take a linear approach to program development. We develop a program, implement it fully, then evaluate it to see if it worked. However, making small adjustments, aka iteration, is an important part on innovations. Bob Bertsch shares a practice to help us build our capacity for iteration by helping each of us get more comfortable with the process. Links The Scien...

Send us Fan Mail Getting to a shared purpose as a group often requires digging a little deeper than usual. Jessica Beckendorf talks about the chaordic stepping stones, a  helpful tool for going below the surface with a group, and shares four questions that can help groups work toward a clear statement of purpose together. Links "You don't have to be local" by Derek Sivers "Keep...

Send us Fan Mail Separately, mindfulness practice and character strengths practice have been shown to improve well-being. Recent research has shown that combining these two practices may have even greater benefits.  In this episode, we continue our conversation about character strengths, a strengths-based approach to identifying the positive traits behind our thinking, feeling, and behavior.  We d...

Send us Fan Mail Much of the conversation around character strengths focuses on their positive aspects, but there are some contexts in which character strengths can lead to negative outcomes. It’s all in how we use them. In this episode, we continue our conversation about character strengths, a strengths-based approach to identifying the positive traits behind our thinking, feeling, and behavior....

Send us Fan Mail Character strengths are your unique pathways to those positive goals people pursue in life. They can help us amplify positive things in our lives, like self-acceptance, autonomy, goal progress, and more. In this episode, we continue our conversation about character strengths, a strengths-based approach to identifying the positive traits behind our thinking, feeling, and behaviors....

Send us Fan Mail Finding your character strengths can help improve your life and emotional well-being, as well as meet the challenges and difficulties you are facing.  Some frameworks and assessments for identifying our strengths focus on workplace performance, but Character Strengths can be applied to any situation, leading to positive emotions, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and ac...

Send us Fan Mail Amy Rodick, Director of the Office of Military Family Readiness and Policy in the Department of Defense, joins the podcast to talk about the informal and formal network that help military families thrive. As an Army veteran and military spouse, Amy brings a unique perspective,  sharing real-world strategies for service providers to successfully engage with the Military Family Read...

Send us Fan Mail This is the third is a series of three practicasts centered around "holding space," a concept we learned from Heather Plett, author of "The Art of Holding Space." Our co-creator for this series was our OneOp colleague, Kristen Jowers. In this episode, Bob Bertsch shares a practice for letting go of something in order to let something new emerge. Sign up for our...

Send us Fan Mail Check out the show notes. This is the second in a series of three practicasts centered around "holding space," a concept we learned from Heather Plett, author of "The Art of Holding Space." Our co-creator for this series was our OneOp colleague, Kristen Jowers. In this episode, Kristen Jowers shares two practices to help us prepare to hold space for someone exp...

Send us Fan Mail We are offered gifts from others every day. The hard part is often noticing them and recognizing them as gifts. Once we do, it has the potential to unlock amazing possibilities in our communication and collaborative relationships. In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Noticing...

Send us Fan Mail We live in a world where competition is everywhere. But what if we broke the mold and instead focused on making each other look good - de-centering ourselves and centering others? In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Making Your Partner Look Good" can help us in our lives...

Send us Fan Mail Saying “yeah, but” is a habit that has become second nature to many of us. Yet we know that validating and building on ideas and offers from others is an effective way to build high-trust relationships and teams.  In this practicast, special guest Shannon Hughes of Enlivened Studios talks with Jessica about how the applied improvisation practice of "Yes, And" can help us...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about share the work (and love) - one of the eight ways of cultivating community resilience identified in the “ Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery ” project. "Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery" is a collection of resources developed during the COVID-19 pandemic....