Send us a text In this episode, Bob and Jessica explore a powerful tool designed to deepen your connection with others—empathy mapping. Whether you're working with military families, service members, or anyone navigating life's challenges, this practice can help you step into their shoes and understand their experiences on a whole new level. Jessic…

Send us a text Navigating conversation about difficult topics, like money, can be daunting. In this episode, Bob and Jessica help you turn those tricky conversations into opportunities for growth and understanding. Jessica introduces the “Hopes and Concerns” activity, a powerful tool from the Constructive Dialogue Institute designed to ease the dis…

Send us a text In this episode, join us in exploring how our beliefs and values shape our work, with a focus on financial attitudes and personal reflection. Research shows that investing in self-awareness can really build a foundation that allows service providers to respond to themselves compassionately regarding financial topics and concerns, all…

Send us a text 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 En…

Send us a text 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, l…

Send us a text 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 fro…

Send us a text 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 sh…

Send us a text 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.By OneOp

Send us a text 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…

Send us a text 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 mo…

Send us a text Research has shown we have a negative bias against creative ideas because we are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Implementing new ideas means change and change brings uncertainty, so we dismiss new ideas before that uncertainty arises. Bob Bertsch shares a practice that can help us deal with that uncertainty by seeing that all ideas,…

Send us a text 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 l…

Send us a text In this episode, hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch delve into the heart of community recovery with their enlightening discussion on the "Come Back Better" approach. Discover how you and your community can navigate the challenges of our rapidly changing world by harnessing the strengths and assets within your community. Gain va…

Send us a Text Message. 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 …

Send us a text 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 tra…

Send us a text 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 tra…

Send us a Text Message. 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 emoti…

Send us a text 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 su…

Send us a text 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…

Send us a text 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 t…

Send us a text This is the first 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, Jessica Beckendorf shares two practices for building curiosity, which is necessary …

Send us a text In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about watching for opportunities to think big - 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…

Send us a text 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 a…

Send us a text 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 Partn…

Send us a text 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 improvisati…

Send us a text 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 dev…

Send us a text 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.…

Send us a text In this episode, Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch explore the profound impact of emotion regulation on health, well-being, and relationships. They delve into the importance of regulating emotions and the misconceptions surrounding it. Bob guides listeners through a mindfulness meditation designed to cultivate equanimity, providing …

Send us a text 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.…

Send us a text In this episode, we share the practice of empathetic listening—a game-changer in building emotionally supportive environments. Discover why empathetic listening goes beyond the basics of active listening and how it can transform your interactions. Jessica Beckendorf guides you through a step-by-step practice, providing insights on id…

Send us a text A conversation about building an ecosystem of support and addressing issues upstream with Nicola Winkel, Project Director at the Arizona Coalition for Military Families, a nationally recognized public/private partnership focused on building Arizona’s capacity to care for and support all service members,…

Send us a text Setting goals that focus on what we can learn from each other not only builds our own personal and collective knowledge, but can build community and leave space for collaboration. In this Practicing Connection practicast, Bob Bertsch shares a practice to help us take control of our learning and begin to build a knowledge network .…

Send us a text Community engagement, co-creation and collaboration depend on meaningful conversations. Asking the right question is the most effective way of expanding a conversation, keeping it engaging and making it meaningful. In this Practicing Connection practicast, Jessica Beckendorf shares a practice to help us engage people in the meaningfu…

Send us a text When people feel that they are being listened to empathetically, attentively, and without judgment, they enter a safe state that enables them to delve deeper into their consciousness and discover new insights about themselves – even those that may challenge previously held beliefs and perceptions. In this practicast, Jessica Beckendo…

Send us a text In this episode (Season 5, Episode 1), co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about investing time in leisure, in learning, and in yourself - 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 …

Send us a text Sharing your work, even before it is done, 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 for getting started.…

Send us a Text Message. We know that relationships are important, but with so much focus on tasks we rarely take time to work on relationships in meetings. IN this episode, Jessica Beckendorf talks about why relationships are so important to collaboration and guides us through some activities we can use in meetings to help build those relationships…

Send us a text In this episode Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about why generosity is important in collaboration and share a practice for reflecting on your own generosity.By OneOp

Send us a text In this episode, four of our guests from this year return to share their year-end reflections on seeking balance. Central to connection and communication and collaboration with others is knowing yourself, learning and growing. Regular reflection practice can help with that. Featured guests: Randy Lioz, Founder of DOC: Depolarizing Or…

Send us a text 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 her experience with energy and engagement tracking.By OneOp

Send us a text When it comes to reducing the effects of stress on our bodies, a growing amount of research supports meditation as a practice that pays off in a big way. In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Bob Bertsch, guides us through a grounding chair meditation, a practice that can help reduce stress levels in the moment, while he…

Send us a text In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Bob Bertsch, guides us through how to use the question, "What Lights You Up?" to begin to find a sense of purpose, an important factor in individual resilience.By OneOp

Send us a text In this practicast, Practicing Connection co-host, Jessica Beckendorf, guides us through how to use the Feeling Wheel, a free, printable resource, to help us identify what we are feeling. Knowing and naming your feelings can be really helpful for allowing yourself to feel it, reflecting to pinpoint the cause, knowing what actions you…

Send us a text A conversation about burnout and resilience with guests Dr. Charles (Chip) Benight and Nicole Weis from the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Their research on human resilience paves the way for therapies that address the needs of trauma survivors, including service providers …

Send us a text In this episode (Season 4, Episode 9), co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about how to applying technology to community and community to technology - one of the eight ways of cultivating community resilience that we identified in their “Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery” project. "Connecting Commu…

Send us a text A conversation 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 familie…

Send us a text In this episode (Season 4, Episode 7), co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about how to adapt, flex and be resilient - one of the eight ways of cultivating community resilience that we identified in their “Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery” project. "Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community …

Send us a text The Food Security Hawaii Working Group is an amazing cross-sector collaboration to address food security issues military families are facing, In this episode, we talk with Arletta Eldridge Thompson, Health Promotion Coordinator for the 15th Medical Group for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam; Lorna Souza with the Hawaii Air National Gua…

Send us a text In this episode (Season 4, Episode 5), co-hosts Jessica Beckendorf and Bob Bertsch talk about making intentional and deeper connections - one of the eight ways of cultivating community resilience that we identified in their “Connecting Communities in Asset-based Community Recovery” project. "Connecting Communities in Asset-based Comm…

Send us a text In this episode (Season 4, Episode 4), we welcome guest Randy Lioz to talk about the challenges polarization poses to collaborative efforts and how to engage in some depolarizing practices to improve our relationships and collaborations. Randy is the founder of D.O.C. (Depolarizing Organizational Cultures), a workshop facilitator, sp…