Businesses

“Games teach that failure isn’t bad and that collaboration isn’t cheating.”

- Henry Jenkins (MIT Media Lab)

 

IN THE BUSINESS OF BETTER COMMUNICATION

You might say we’re in the corporate space by accident. But then, so are Post-It notes… What began as a toy for blind children evolved into something for education more broadly – and then an interesting thing happened. We discovered our toys and our approach were invaluable in business settings.

It makes sense, of course. We believe there are better ways to teach people how to think through problems, work together, be creative and resourceful and resilient in changing conditions… Stop us when we’re reminding you of the economy you operate in, or the last mission statement you wrote.

What does this have to do with Empathy?

A lot actually.
Empathy is the key to better communication. Without it, an organization can’t understand who it serves (both in terms of markets and stakeholders), how its own people do their work, or what the next steps are to advance a goal.

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Now what can we do for you?

Are you a Human Resources practitioner or in a leadership position at your organization?

  • You can make a pre-order of the CONNEXIONS™ Toy and run your own workshops. Our comprehensive Organization Package includes a 10-piece set with instructions on teaching Empathy and a number of activities to run in your workplace.

  • Or just leave it to the professionals and 
order a workshop for your office, conference, or retreat here. (You can download a PDF of our Workshop Outline here.)

Are you a facilitator?

  • If you are a facilitator, contacts us about CONNEXIONS™ Toy workshop training.

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Continue reading . . .

Collaboration is the new Competition

It’s not just big-picture talk about globalization and corporate excellence that drives some theoretical conversation about sharper thinking or better communication. Businesses in the 21st century face a new landscape. The challenges are real, and they won’t be going away if we just apply an extra dose of 20th-century thinking.

Shall we run down the list?

1. Perhaps the most well-known for two decades now, the rise of globalized markets means that companies must communicate and perform across cultures near and far. But unlike in the cozy 90s, this game isn’t just for multinationals anymore. Businesses of all sizes must increasingly think about global markets, stakeholders, and supply chains from the start. If they don’t, global forces will eventually find them. So, then, how do we learn to talk –and listen– to the whole wide world? Who was teaching that in business school?

2. If your answer is something like a fancy segmented advertising budget, we’ve got a fax machine and a pager to sell you. Only one decade into the new century and businesses are operating with a new media environment that has no historical precedent – one where customers and communities control the majority of the message. More and more, success in the marketplace means engaging customers in a conversation – in a way that conventional advertising never did, and never even tried. How do we cultivate that skill set?

3. Internally, corporations are undergoing a lot of changes in organizational structure.
- Businesses must be more agile and units need to break down work silos in order to innovate.
- Organizations need to engage with external groups in a way that is seamless and uncluttered by the fear of vulnerability.
- With the Baby Boomers not retiring and Millenials entering the workforce, we all need to figure out how to make intergenerational teams function and thrive.
(We’ve barely got the hang of multicultural!)
- More than ever, employee recruitment and retention is a fierce undertaking. The most talented employees are expected to work hard, but in exchange they now look for work they find meaningful and organizations that treat them like friends.

Any ideas on how to develop a corporate culture that explodes with diversity, engagement, creativity, and innovation? 

Yes, we’ve thought about this a lot. And we think the answer lies in being able to have productive conversations across (or despite) differences. Better communication leads to better collaboration, and collaboration is the new competition.

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Twenty One Toys: Connexions Toy Workshops

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Workshop with Engineers without Borders

“The toy led to a rich discussion on how important dialogue, understanding and empathy are for effective collaboration, and provided a diverse group of participants (from Ghana, Malawi, Canada, France and beyond) with a common language to help explore cultural differences in communication, collaboration, and leadership. The toy became, for our participants, a workshop experience that helped them highlight issues they have struggled with in their own projects.” - Facilitator Drew Dudley of Nuance Leadership Development

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Featured-ewb

Workshop with Engineers without Borders

“The toy led to a rich discussion on how important dialogue, understanding and empathy are for effective collaboration, and provided a diverse group of participants (from Ghana, Malawi, Canada, France and beyond) with a common language to help explore cultural differences in communication, collaboration, and leadership. The toy became, for our participants, a workshop experience that helped them highlight issues they have struggled with in their own projects.” – Facilitator Drew Dudley of Nuance Leadership Development

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Grove_Featured

Workshop with Grove Community School

Watch a video of the Grove grade 1 students playing: Ableism month at The Grove Twenty One Toys held a workshop at The Grove this January for Ableism week, defined as a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities. Founder, Ilana Ben-Ari presented the CONNEXIONS toy to Kristina Katsoras’s grade 1 class [...]

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Workshop with Raising the Village in Uganda

Connexions Toy in Ugandan Daycare and Orphanage This fall we worked with Raising the Village, a non-profit organization that provides critical infrastructure, tools and training to recovering villages in Uganda. Founder Shawn Cheung and International Programs officer Krystal Muise were trained on the CONNEXIONS toy and brought it with them to the Grace Daycare and [...]

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art-science-and-the-brain

Art, Science and the Brain: New Models of Learning for the 21st Century

Re-imagining our education system for the 21st century Art Science and the Brain: New Models of Learning for the 21st Century was held at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, Ontario on Monday, October 31 to Tuesday, November 1, 2011. “The Conference featured some of the most innovative educational thinkers and entrepreneurs in Canada and [...]

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International-StartupFest

Speaking at International Startup Festival

The business of startups Twenty One Toys presented at this years International Startup Festival in Montreal, Quebec. “The International Startup Festival is a three-day conference (July 13th-15th, 2011) on the business of startups. It brings together industry veterans and fresh faces, thought leaders and technology giants from around the world, for a series of lean, [...]

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Teaching at Shad Valley

For the month of July we will be working at Shad Valley at Carleton University. Mentoring and teaching the young “leaders of tomorrow” in a program devoted to the entrepreneurial spirit and introducing some of the top high school students across Canada to the exciting world of social innovation. While there we will be having a workshop with the Twonicorn toy and plan on learning just as much as we are teaching.

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Featured-Jeunes

We Got Funding!!

A wonderful grant from Jeunes Volontaire! Given to support young artists and entrepreneurs in Montreal!!

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Aalto Venture Garage in Helsinki Finland

We are thrilled to announce that we are one of 16 teams (chosen from 200) who are participating in Startup Sauna; an intensive 7 week entrepreneurial program at the amazing Aalto Venture Garage in Helsinki, Finland!

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Music and Life

An animation of Alan Watts’s lecture on music and life. It’s a wonderful reminder to not miss the point of it all, and to remember to enjoy the journey.

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Social Design in Helsinki and London!!

For the spring of 2011 we will be overseas expanding our minds and hearts at Aalto University and Design Against Crime. What an adventure!!

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