Long, long ago, and in what sometimes seems like a galaxy far, far away, but is actually just down the road, two communities shared a border. One was larger and one was smaller, but their landscapes and economies were far more alike than different.

One of these communities responded to the impacts of growth by instituting a neighborhood-based planning approach and spent most of three years developing a comprehensive plan and complementary land-use regulations (both its first). The process involved dozens of people on appointed neighborhood advisory committees and more than 100 public meetings. It also featured proactive efforts to ensure good coverage by the local weekly newspapers and hundreds of conversations with individual citizens. In the end, the new plan and regulations were adopted without much controversy.

Officials in the neighboring community, which had also begun to grow, watched these events and said, “Let’s not reinvent the wheel.” This was before there was a computer on every desk, so a copy of the neighboring community’s new regulations was obtained and laboriously re-typed. To give credit where it is due, adjustments were made and they did remember to change the name in all of the appropriate places. Then they set the formal hearings required by law.

A year or so of acrimony and confusion followed. Incumbents lost elections. When the dust settled, the community had no plan and no regulations other than minimal rules required by state law. Despite considerable growth, that was still true a decade later. In fact, two decades passed and this place still did not have effective growth management. Political memories are long.

What would have happened if the second community had begun by investing as much energy in public deliberation as the first? We’ll never know for sure, but don’t you think this story should be taken as a forceful reminder that people probably will not buy into plans or policies they were not asked to help write?

This story also clearly illustrates that local plans and regulations are NOT wheels. They are not manufactured. They are not technology. A copy of a wheel or the straight pins Adam Smith used to explain the capitalist economy will work just like the original, but political and social institutions cannot be copied. They must evolve. And that may take 100 meetings!

What to Read? Mechanical metaphors are deeply ingrained in our Western culture, but we should be aware of the power of these figures of speech and chose among them most carefully. Let’s not infer that the complex, organic process of ____________ consensus in a community is mechanical.

But how am I tempted to fill in this blank? “building consensus?” forging consensus?” Even I, who have been thinking about this for months, am challenged to escape mechanical metaphors. But what if I stop, think about the impact of this choice, and choose to say we ‘grow’ consensus, or perhaps that we ‘nurture’ it. Do you see the difference?

A book that may help is Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (The University of Chicago Press, 1980, with a 2003 Afterword). You may have heard of Lakoff. He has attained minor celebrity status as a political advisor and commentator (see his books, Don’t Think of an Elephant or The Political Mind), but he is also an accomplished scholar who helps us understand the power of linguistic choices and how those choices interact with our cognitive wiring.

For almost 5 years I’ve been involved with envisioning and creating a “pattern language” for group process.  (A pattern language is a set of design factors to guide people in creating things that are wholesome and life-giving – vibrant communities, effective curricula, engaging software… and great conversations.)  That process has now come to fruition.

In 2008 Peggy Holman and I did an all day workshop on “A Pattern Language for Conversations that Matter” to introduce the idea of pattern languages to professionals in the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD).  That winter, Tree Bressen invited me to a multi-day gathering at her home to actually construct a pattern language on group process.  That session began what proved to be a profoundly complex and challenging task facilitated by Tree and her tiny core team of volunteers – all pieced together on a gigantic wiki and Google docs and dozens of meetings.

I participated in a few more of their multi-day work sessions over the years, but about a dozen other volunteers did far more work than I did.  Last year I wrote a blog post on the project for NCDD - http://ncdd.org/4535 - and a couple of weeks ago wrote a personal blog post - http://post.ly/534Wr - on the transformational potential of pattern languages of all kinds – and why I consider them profoundly important.

But the big news now is that the pattern language so many of us labored for so many hours to produce has now been released as a gorgeous card deck.

I can’t recommend this resource highly enough for anyone seeking to create high quality conversations of any kind for any purpose. This card deck is THE premier navigational tool for powerful conversations.  It goes deeper than methodology and is more practical than theory.  It is designed to help us understand what is going on and how to make it better.  It offers greater flexibility and power to our practices of dialogue, deliberation, mediation, choice creating, and conversation of all types.

It is available electronically FREE for the taking – and only costs $25 if you want a physical printed boxed deck.

And to top it all off – it is beautiful.

So I hereby invite you into a new world of conversational adventure and insight, available to you right now.

- Tom Atlee

GROUP WORKS PATTERN LANGUAGE CARD DECK RELEASED!

After three years of work by a team including over 50 people, the Group Works card deck – the first product of the Group Pattern Language Project – has now been released!

The deck consists of 91 full-colour cards (plus a few blanks to add your own patterns) – as well as a five-panel explanatory categories card and a booklet explaining the purpose and history of the project and suggesting uses for the cards in group process work.

Each card depicts and describes a “pattern” – a factor that can help you make conversations, meetings and conferences more productive and full of life.  It also directs you to other pattern cards related to the topic featured on the card you are holding.  The patterns range from “Aesthetics of space” to “Yes, and…”  They address everything from the purpose of a meeting to the relationships among the participants, from emotion to accomplishment, from creativity and spirit to courage and learning.

If you want to preview the entire deck, all 91 patterns are displayed at groupworksdeck.org - and you can even download a free pdf of all the cards and print out your own set.  Or, if you prefer the easy path, you can buy a beautifully boxed set for only $25.  (Soon there will even be a smart phone app with the whole deck on it. Track our website http://groupworksdeck.org for that upcoming news.)

The deck is designed to support your process as a group convenor, planner, facilitator, or participant.  We developers spent several years pooling our knowledge of the best group events, processes and dynamics we have ever witnessed and distilling that knowledge into a coherent set of insightful data points with dozens of uses, presented in the handy modular physical form of a card deck.

We looked at meetings, conferences, retreats, town halls, and other sessions that give organizations life, solve longstanding dilemmas, get stuck relationships flowing again, deepen understanding, produce clear decisions with wide support, and make a lasting difference.  We also looked at routine, well-run meetings that simply bring people together to get lots of stuff done.  And we made sure to consider what makes such conversations juicy and fun.

These cards are yours to use in whatever ways make sense and work for you:  in the workplace, in design and preparation of facilitated events, as a learning and teaching tool, for reflecting on how an event went, or just to play with.  The website and booklet explain some of the ways the cards have been used by facilitators and students so far, to give you some ideas to get started with, and we invite you to share your experiences and stories with us.  In the last month we’ve heard of new uses we never dreamed of.

• To see and explore all the patterns right now, visit http://groupworksdeck.org/patterns
• To order copies of the deck or download a free PDF copy, visit http://groupworksdeck.org/deck
• To explore ideas of how to use them, go to http://groupworksdeck.org/activities
• To learn about who was involved in creating it, go to http://groupworksdeck.org/acknowledgements
• To explore the original wiki that is still being used for ongoing development of the pattern language, and where most patterns are described and explored in greater detail than on the cards, go to http://grouppatternlanguage.org

Finally, as noted above, this is just the beginning.  These cards are only the tip of an enormous evolving iceberg of knowledge.  We invite you into ongoing activities to continue to evolve the group process pattern language on its wiki and ultimately produce new, ever-more advanced versions of the deck forever – tapping the process wisdom of even more people in order to make this resource even more valuable.  If you’d like to participate in that – or just stay informed about news and developments in this project – go to http://groupworksdeck.org/participation

For more information on the deck, visit our website: http://groupworksdeck.org

Join colleagues who use and / or have learned Open Space for this full-length Open Space conference. It is not a training – Lisa will not be teaching anything — this is for attendees to question, explore and share together about Open Space and related topics.

Join us for this fun annual event:

• If you have facilitated Open Space
• If you have not yet facilitated it but have studied it in workshops, through extensive reading, or exploring the behind-the-scenes of facilitating this in your community of practice
• And if you want to hang out for a few days in a nutritious environment sharing thoughts, experiences and questions about Open Space and sister methods

So if you would like to learn about this method for the first time – ask me about this year’s workshop schedule offered by me and my world colleagues.

But if you know / use Open Space, even if you took someone’s workshop and are waiting waiting waiting to use it in the world, join us. Your thoughts and questions will enrich us all.

Contact me at lisaheft@openingspace.net for further information about schedule, pricing, registration materials and nearby accommodations.

I look forward to seeing and sharing thoughts with you!

Lisa Heft
Consultant, facilitator, educator
Fellow, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution
President Emerita, Open Space Institute US

Ever wonder how Citizens Juries are different from Deliberative Polling?  When you should use World Cafe, Open Space, or Charrettes?  Or perhaps you have a good handle on dialogue and deliberation processes, but you need to introduce these options to a planning board or public official without overwhelming them too much?

Well, if you’re not already familiar with NCDD’s popular Engagement Streams framework, you’re in luck.  Our creative director, Andy Fluke, just produced a gorgeous document outlining the Engagement Streams, and you are welcome to reproduce and distribute it as much as you’d like!

First developed in 2005, NCDD’s Engagement Streams Framework helps people navigate the range of dialogue and deliberation approaches available to them, and make design choices that best fit their circumstances and resources.

The framework presents two charts:

1. The first chart, Engagement Streams, categorizes dialogue and deliberation approaches into four streams based on one’s primary intention or purpose (Exploration, Conflict Transformation, Decision Making, and Collaborative Action), and shows which of the most well-known methods have proven themselves especially effective in each streams.
2. The second chart, Process Distinctions, goes into more detail about 22 dialogue and deliberation methods, and includes information such as group size, meeting type and how participants are selected.

The full 8-page Engagement Streams Framework (.pdf) should be printed in color on 8.5 x 11 paper. Download the doc at www.ncdd.org/files/NCDD2010_Engagement_Streams.pdf.  And for more info and other versions of the streams (including an Excel version of the charts), visit the Engagement Streams resource page anytime at www.ncdd.org/streams.

Sandy is an amazing woman who seems to spend every waking moment finding out new information about how we can improve the way we engage people in decision making and she shares it so willingly through the NCDD website. If you have not already been on to the website take some time to visit and linger long enough to find some of the gems of information that are on offer. Apart from the website content, Sandy organises webinars with great speakers and holds on-line seminars and learning events. She weaves a web of interconnections across the US and other continents and connects a lot of people who are like minded about engaging with communities.

And, by the way, yes, the every waking moment part is very true!  Thank you, Barbara, and Happy Valentine’s Day, Sandy!  

Don’t forget to register for next week’s NCDD Confab Call with Tina Nabatchi and Cynthia Farrar!  The Confab will take place next Thursday, February 23rd from 1:00 to 2:30 Eastern (10-11:30 Pacific). An impressive group of over 20 leaders in our field have already signed up for the call.

Tina Nabatchi is an assistant professor of public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Cynthia Farrar is CEO and Executive Producer at Purple States LLC.

NCDD’s “Confab calls” are opportunities for members of the NCDD community to connect with each other, hear about exciting projects in our field, and explore our field’s most pressing challenges.

Register for February’s Confab call today, at www.ncdd.org/community/confabreg-feb2012, to receive the call-in details.

Next Thursday’s call will focus on some of the things Tina and Cynthia learned while working on their 2011 report “Bridging the Gap between Public Officials and the Public.”  Among other things, the report explores what state and federal public officials know and think about public deliberation — and yielded some provocative results! (Download the full report here or see a 3-page summary on the NCDD site here.)

And please note that we’ll be trying something new during the last 15 minutes of this Confab… calling on NCDD members who have announcements of interest to their colleagues.  Let us know on the registration form what you might want to share, so we can determine who to call on at the end of the call.  Announcements about upcoming events, job or funding opportunities, facilitation gigs, new and interesting programs… it’s all good!

Here’s the full announcement…

International Conference:  Participatory Budgeting in the US and Canada 

March 30-31, 2012, New York City

Join us in New York City to learn about a new type of democracy! After spreading around the world for over 20 years, “Participatory Budgeting” is making waves in the United States and Canada. It is giving people the power to make real decisions over the budgets that affect their lives–and it may soon be coming to a city near you!

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It was first developed in Brazil in 1989, and there are now over 3,000 participatory budgets around the world. Most are for city budgets, but counties, states, towns, housing authorities, schools, and other institutions have also used PB to open up public spending to public participation. PB is common in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa–but it has only recently appeared on the radar in the US and Canada, with a few Canadian processes starting in 2001 and some initial US experiments starting in 2009.

This first regional conference on PB will be a space for participants and organizers of the initial processes in the US and Canada to share and reflect on their experiences so far, alongside interested activists, practitioners, and scholars. Participants will also have the opportunity to observe and celebrate the closing of New York City’s first PB cycle.

A taste of what to expect:

• Site Visits to Observe PB Voting in NYC
• Presentations on PB processes in New York, Chicago, Toronto Community Housing,    Guelph, Montreal, Porto Alegre, the UK, and elsewhere
• Sessions on e-Participatory Budgeting & Digital Media, Community Organizing, Arts & Culture, Public Housing, and Youth Engagement
• Focused discussions for elected officials, practitioners, and community organizations

Speakers Include:

• New York City Council Member Brad Lander
• New York City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito
• New York City Council Member Eric Ulrich
• New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams
• Chicago Alderman Joe Moore
• Erik Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Cezar Busatto, Municipal Secretary for Political Coordination and Local Governance, City of Porto Alegre, Brazil
• Yves Cabannes, University College London
• Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Brown University
• Giovanni Allegretti, University of Coimbra, Portugal
• Jez Hall, The PB Unit, UK
• Josh Lerner, The Participatory Budgeting Project
• Rachel LaForest, The Right to the City Alliance
• Sondra Youdelman, Community Voices Heard
• Caron Atlas, Arts & Democracy Project

Organizers:

• Pratt Institute, Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development 
• The Participatory Budgeting Project 
• Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College (CUNY)

Co-Sponsors:

• The Right to the City Alliance
• The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
• The Public Philosophy Network
• Planners Network
• Arts & Democracy Project

Locations:

New York City: Pratt Institute (Brooklyn), Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and other locations throughout the city

Registration

Registration is now open on our website–and space is limited, so please reserve your spot soon! There is a sliding scale conference fee, from $10 for low-income people to $50 for full registration.

For more details please visit www.pbconference.wordpress.com, or email pbconference.info@gmail.com

When diplomats or politicians spend time on meeting arrangements, seating plans, and the details of meeting agendas — the conditions under which the parties agree to meet — they are really deciding how they will decide. They are building agreement.

Practical Tip: When it seems like you are stuck and cannot decide something, at least decide how you will decide. Name a next step that moves you in the direction of eventual agreement. Make a plan for a future discussion and vote, send it to a small group or committee with a specific charge, or name a third party decider.

Elie Wiesel said, and we experience: “People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell.”

We are part of a 19-year-old Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue preparing for its 238th meeting here on the San Francisco Peninsula. To offer to NCDD participants and others the stories of human successes and best-practices that work in everyday life, we continually update two Web pages for you and citizens worldwide.

(1) At http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm are preserved over 600 messages containing several thousand success stories of Palestinian-Jewish and some interfaith relationship building. These pages are rich in human experience and social science that documents the flowering public peace process of Dialogue and Deliberation on Earth.

(2) At http://traubman.igc.org/dg-prog.htm are vividly described and illustrated several hundred effective local and international public outreach endeavors of our local handful of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

In addition, we are here to personally answer questions and be continually be available for edducators, facilitators, and all citizens seeking to help diverse women and men engage well and communicate with excellence. Some foundational principles of this public peace process of change are experessed in graphics and text at http://traubman.igc.org/changechartsall.pdf.

Damaging impact of economic recession on L.A. communities to be explored during ‘From Wreckage and Ruin… The Road to Rebirth’, a citywide dialogue on Wednesday, February 29

L.A. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson, and L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich lend support to The California Endowment-sponsored conversation on th affect of joblessness, home foreclosures, debt and poverty on our health and that of our communities.

Los Angeles, CA – On Leap Day, Wednesday, February 29, L.A. area leaders from politics, business, labor, education, philanthropy, government and religion will come together at sites across the city to convene with community residents and neighborhood leaders for a timely discussion and an important two-hour dialogue on the impact of the Great Recession on the health of men, women and families throughout the city and the overall health of their communities.

Days of Dialogue will host “From Wreckage and Ruin… The Road to Rebirth: A Day of Dialogue on the Economic Crisis and Community Health. This special one-day, citywide dialogue event is sponsored by The California Endowment, United Way, California Community Foundation, Brotherhood Crusade, Attucks Asset Management, Cedars-Sinai Health System, AFL-CIO and a host of businesses and community-based nonprofit organizations.

A special leadership dialogue will take place on Wednesday, February 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at The Galen Center (3400 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90007) on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC).

Days of Dialogue co-convener Avis Ridley-Thomas said, “We know the recession and ongoing economic crisis has affected millions of people in the Greater Los Angeles area. Breadwinners have lost jobs. Families with children have lost health insurance coverage and they cannot afford routine medical care, not to mention serious illnesses or ailments requiring hospitalization. Households that were stable have been upended by home foreclosures and apartment evictions.

“The chasm between rich and poor has widened. Economic anxiety is high across all income levels and our communities continue to suffer the consequences of continuing layoffs and lackluster new job opportunities. We need to talk collectively about these social circumstances and what they mean for all of us. Through our dialogue event, ‘From Wreckage and Ruin… The Road to Rebirth’, we hope to share thoughts and feelings about our next steps toward economic recovery. The coming together for this important dialogue is the first step.”

For more information or to register to participate at dialogue locations in communities throughout on Wednesday, February 29, please visit Days of Dialogue at daysofdialogue.org or call (213) 290-5449 or email: info@daysofdialogue.org.