Monday Kickstarters: October 19, 2020

Monday Kickstarters is a working session designed for everyone on the call to figure out how to have conversations worth having when faced with a tough situation or problem. The process is based upon the book, Conversations Worth Having. The way it works:

1. Anyone with an issue, challenge, or negative situation types it in the chat box.
2. We choose one issue at a time; the person who posted the issue is in the “driver’s seat.”
3. Everyone on the call offers the flip: the positive opposite of the issue.  The “driver” chooses the flip that most reflects what they see as the positive opposite.
4. Everyone on the call then offers a suggestion for a positive frame: the desired outcome if the flip were true. The “driver” chooses the frame that best fits their desired outcome.
5. Then everyone offers generative questions, posting them to a whiteboard. These are questions to engage stakeholders in a conversation that will move them towards the desired outcome.

You can listen live on the Conversations Worth Having YouTube Channel.

Here are the topics brought forward by our guests, the positive frame (desired outcome) for the conversation, and generative questions that were developed on Monday, October 19!

COMMUNITY LEADERS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The Challenge: Our community leaders are old school and not open to whole system engagement in systems change.

Flip it: Our community leaders are open to whole system engagement in systems change.

Possible Frames:

• Our community leaders are open to system change.
• Community leaders are engaging the whole system.
• We have a collaborative culture which focuses on moving our system forward.
• Our community is thriving and flourishing.
• Our community leaders are able to seek out their constituents in engaging conversation.
• Our community is healthy and engaging in meaningful projects.
• Our leaders are celebrating small steps of progress.
• Our leadership creates a community that everyone wants to be a part of.
• Choice: Our community leaders are able to engage constituents in meaningful conversations to bring positive change to the community system.

Insight! Before moving to frame a conversation, take a look at your challenge and the flip. Are there any inherent assumptions in the challenge that might limit how you frame it? For example, in the challenge above, there’s an assumption that community leaders have to initiate or lead the engagement process or even be open to it in order for the whole community to engage in systems change.  If we drop that assumption, the problem is simply the community as a whole is not meaningfully engaged in planning for systems change. The Flip: the community is meaningfully engaged in planning for systems change. Now, a whole different set of possible frames emerges.

OUT CONVERSATION ALWAYS TURNS NEGATIVE

The problem: It seems like whenever I connect with colleagues in our organization, the dialogue always turns negative about our leadership

Flip it: Dialogue about leadership with my colleagues is positive

Possible Frames:

• Our colleagues are inspired and supportive of senior leadership.
• Our organization is able to engage in positive and collaborative dialogue with our leadership.
• We are able to engage in positive and collaborative dialogue with leaders at every level.
• We engage in positive and collaborative dialogue with our leaders.
• Our organization engages in weekly dialogue about the future with a ground rule that only. positive / constructive comments will be the focus.
• How do we listen to each other?
• The Choice: We engage in positive and collaborative dialogue with each other and with our leaders at every level.

MONDAY KICKSTARTER

To view past Monday Kickstarter sessions, please visit our  Conversations Worth Having YouTube Channel.

To learn more about fostering conversations worth having, visit the website and download your conversation toolkit, read or listen to Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement, and sign up for a Conversation Bootcamp.