As part of the last day of the GEL Conference I attended in April, I participated in a recap session at The Hired Guns, led by Allison Hemming. We were asked to set 3 goals: one for within 24 hours, one by the end of the weekend, and one to be completed within the month. 

My month-long goal was to set up a plan for identifying and breaking the barriers we experience for developing the Creative Houston project. My table-mates at the recap session, Archie Miller, Lynn Boyden and Lynn Kahle. We assisted each other in discussing our goals, resources, and strategies. The Hired Guns had a good system we used to make sure everyone got equal participation and a record of what we learned. 

After I got back to Houston, I also attended a Change Anything seminar, and found they have a wonderful system for identifying and managing barriers. They identify six sources of influence, and you can look at each of the six and see whether they are working for or against your plan. I expected that social influences were the biggest problem, but I was wrong. Careful analysis shows that unaligned incentives, lack of education, and few opportunities to practice good behavior represent the biggest hurdles. 

So now I'm deep into a plan that I can share with other people in the project, and I'm really looking forward to developing it with them. But first, I want to thank Allison, Archie, Lynn B. and Lynn K. for getting me off on the right foot.