Is Your Process Provoking Engagement?

We are making progress and moving along with Leadership Reno County 2021.  This past week, we were able to hear from their heart as they told stories of what shaped them. We also sought to raise the heat by having some conversations around gun control and issues surrounding racism.  Needless to say, there were lots of opportunities to learn and practice acts of leadership.

One area we focused on was creating a trustworthy process.  And, related to this, I thought our alumni might benefit from asking how the processes you are in are provoking engagement.  Here's the deal: most of us are engaged in acts of leadership and we want to energize others and foster their engagement and voice so that we make process.  We need a trustworthy process in those moments (a lot like our LRC 2021 class needed last week to go into those deep issues).  David Chrislip calls this a "collaborative premise" - "If you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with good information, they will create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns.”

One tool that KLC uses in evaluating a trustworthy process invites us to rate the level of engagement around the following statements:

• those involved have a shared purpose
• those involved equally share the risks in the work together
• conflict is handled openly
• individuals in the group openly express ways that enable them to learn and help others work with them most effectively
• members tell "why" this issue is important to them
• members with differing viewpoints listen to understand rather than to change opinions
• "us versus them" dynamics among the group are named
• group members are able to empathize with voices affected by the issue who are not at the table
• hidden issues get surfaced and handled so they don't get in the way of progress