Engagements
We work in partnership with organizations to build team-focused cultures. Our work to date has included programs for the Boston Consortium of Higher Education, the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE), the Boston Society of Architects, the OD Learning Network, the Women at Work Museum, Tufts University and a variety of regional, national and international companies and consulting practices.
Research
The goal of our research is to measure improvements in individual, family, team, organizational and community health and well-being. We have found that one useful metric is to track changes in the Reality Gap. The Reality Gap places a value rating between 1 and 10 on the gap between organizational aspirations and values voiced in the in the strategic plan, recruiting brochure, client proposal and/or annual report and the experientially-based reality of employees.
Pilot Program
On January 13, 2006, Center for Balance by Design hosted a community building event at the headquarters of the Boston Consortium of Higher Education. Our Leadership Team and other community members worked with us to develop aspirations for a one-year pilot program. The goals of this first phase of pilots are to optimize the design process for organizational performance systems and project delivery systems. Two pilot organizations have been identified, and we are negotiating with other industry leaders. Query us for more details via info@center-for-balance.org.
Redesigning Work Together
Be a passionate advocate for team-focused culture. Our research suggests that women have an innate, hard-wired drive to connect with others and level the playing field. At our very cores, we know in our hearts that working collaboratively will benefit everyone. Bigger, better, faster and the pressures to compete so prevalent in companies and institutions are pulling everyone further away from our core values and what really matters.
Our biological clocks tell us time is running out. Working together, we can unleash our passion for connection, and advocate for the adoption of organizational and cultural changes that will benefit all.
Join us now! Together, women and men can redesign work to place teams and shared leadership at the heart of business. Membership and participation are critical to our ability to make the team-focused future we see a reality. Working together, we can expand commitment and advocacy for team-focused culture, one organization at a time.
National Science Foundation Proposals
Center for Balance by Design led a collaborative team that includes Colorado School of Mines, Wellesley Centers for Women, Tufts University and Northeastern University who co-designed a three-year, $1.5 million program. Gender Synergy and Teamwork applies a team-focused, project-based pedagogy, piloted at Colorado School of Mines, to structure learning modules for engineering design classes at Tufts University and Northeastern University.
Center for Balance by Design collaborated with Tufts University to submit a proposal to the NSF Partnerships for Innovation program. The project was designed to identify the barriers to success for women engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs.
Cooperation Agreement with the U.S General Services Administration Workplace 20.20 Program
On September 23, 2003, Center for Balance by Design signed a Cooperation Agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration Workplace 20.20 Program. Our two organizations agreed to share knowledge and best practices in the areas of workplace performance and sustainable development.
Work Studio Project
Center for Balance by Design generated over 500K in donations from community partners including Service Point, Primary Group, MIT, GEI Consultants, Tufts University, Lyme Properties, HMFH Architects, Syska & Hennessy Group, Turner Construction, the LEGO Group, and Knoll, Inc. Our Work Studio “design incubator” will be a living-model of team-focused practices. Through an international RFP process, the Studio will house creators of ideas most consistent with our mission, and spawn an integrated system of team-focused organizations, products and processes. The project is on-hold until additional funding sources are identified.
Conferences
How Space Shapes Learning Outcomes
March 2, 2007
In partnership with Project Kaleidoscope, Center for Balance by Design will host a one-day conference in the metro Boston area. The goal of the conference is to establish a leadership community and support for an action-oriented agenda that will build educational systems and facilities that will best prepare our youth for the challenges of global leadership.
Degrees of Connection
November 14, 2006
In association with the Boston Society of Architects and the Women In Design Network, Center principals are co-chairing this one-day conference. Workshops will explore work, life and family connections; inter-disciplinary connections; inter-generational connections; connections to the arts and natural world, and connections within the physical environment: both integrated design and sustainable building technology. If we put our heads, hearts and aspirations together, maybe the future can be more about finding out what we have in common, than in proving how we are different?
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