FOCUS - A Psychological Approach to Difficult Conversations
From the 2022 Spring Conference
While organizations pride themselves on arriving at the optimal “fix” to a community’s concerns, oftentimes the participants leave still feeling unheard. The presentation, “In the Frying Pan: A Psychological Approach to Difficult Conversations,” explains this mismatch -- that stakeholders tend to talk around the crux of an issue because of discomfort in confronting its emotional side. This leaves a barrier where complicated feelings of fear, shame, and anxiety are not expressed and therefore not dealt with.
Shockey Consulting's work with public and nonprofit organizations starts with Thomas-Kilmann’s Five Approaches to Conflict Resolution. This model establishes two axes: assertiveness and cooperation. The matrix produces five options for resolving conflict, each with a set of winners and losers.
- Competing
- Avoiding
- Collaborating
- Accommodating
- Compromising
In this model, only collaboration yields all winners. Short of open and honest collaboration, organizations’ “business as usual” practices can perpetuate the disinformation that leads to a lack of trust, and eventually disengagement from those it seeks to help. Brené Brown illuminates this misunderstanding when she notes that trust is not gained by grand gestures but in smaller moments of authentic listening and genuine connection.
With that in mind, Shockey shares the FOCUS model described below, which encourages emotional expression and facilitates storytelling that allows people to connect through shared experiences. It is a tool for true collaboration because it recognizes that emotional awareness drives success as much as meeting budgets and deadlines. The model uses the following series of questions:
Frustration: How do you feel about this situation?
Obstacles: What are some of the barriers of this situation?
Consequences: If nothing changes, what will likely happen?
Utopia: What is the ideal situation for all of us?
Satisfaction: What is something you could do to improve this situation?
Because FOCUS centers the human experience, this engagement framework can be applied widely. Both internal use with a group of employees and a public-facing Housing For All Task Force have achieved positive results. Shifting the paradigm from a purely rational, logic-based approach to one that incorporates the full range of messy feelings and misconceptions helps break down silos that stifle meaningful solutions. Instead, it strives for solution-building with greater data points, including the participant’s psychological reactions.
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The Midwest Chapter thanks Shockey Consulting presenter Maddie Hughes, Urban Planner and Community Engagement Specialist.
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IAP2 USA UPDATES
An Evolution in IAP2's Certificate in Public Participation
IAP2 recently announced updates to its flagship Foundations training program, which provides skills-based learning to people and organizations on what they need to know and do, so that they can successfully develop, deliver, and lead authentic engagement processes.
The IAP2 Certificate in Public Participation (P2) now consists of 3 core courses:
- Fundamentals of Public Participation
- Designing Public Participation
- Applying Methods.
Participants will receive a certificate of completion from IAP2 for each course completed. Upon completion of the three core courses, participants will receive a Certificate in Public Participation. For more information, visit https://iap2usa.org/2023_Flagship. Use IAP2 USA's training calendar to find and register for an upcoming training.
This program is a key step on your journey to becoming a P2 professional. Once completed, you have the opportunity to apply for IAP2 USA's rigorous certification program to become a Certified Public Participation Professional (CP3) or a Master Certified Public Participation Professional (MCP3). Learn more about how to become a certified P2 professional.
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CHAPTER HAPPENINGS
2023 Conference to be held next week in Eagan, MN
Next week, members and friends of the Midwest Chapter will convene in Eagan, MN, for the chapter's 2023 Spring Conference, themed Meeting People Where They Are in Public Participation. The schedule is full of informative session, interesting panels, and engaging social events.
Registration for the conference is now closed, as we anticipate nearly 170 attendees -- making this the biggest Midwest conference since members revived the chapter in 2018!
We look forward to welcoming conference attendees very soon. For those unable to attend but interested in the content, follow #IAP2Midwest for updates.
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Spots still available for pre-conference trainings
There are still a few seats left in the two add-on trainings scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the Eagan Community Center.
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Training Option #1
Inclusive Thinking in Engagement Planning: Strategies for Incorporating Diverse Perspectives
$125
This training session is designed to help engagement practitioners facilitate inclusive thinking amongst their teams and colleagues. It is intended to raise awareness of the importance of actively engaging the diverse perspectives of project team members to support engagement planning.
The workshop will cover a variety of topics including:
- Understanding biases and its impact on engagement planning within project teams
- Techniques for actively seeking out and considering diverse perspectives amongst project teams
- Principles for inclusive thinking that promotes open dialogue amongst project team
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a better understanding of the importance of inclusive thinking and the need to actively seek out and consider diverse perspectives into their engagement planning work with project teams.
Trainer: Maria deBruijn, Emerge Solutions, Inc.
- up to 10 seats remain -
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Training Option #2
Stakeholder Mapping: Identifying and Analyzing Underrepresented Stakeholders
$125
This course introduces a powerful, transparent process to identify and analyze key stakeholders for any engagement project – a critical step in an ethical and equity-centered engagement design. After understanding the theory and purpose, participants use short cases to practice stakeholder mapping.
Participants will learn how to identify and analyze the full spectrum of stakeholders, with special emphasis on underrepresented stakeholders who need additional outreach/support to ensure inclusive engagement. For each case, the group learns how to “clean” and finalize the map, and then discusses implementation challenges and how to overcome them.
Participants leave ready to conduct thorough, defensible stakeholder mapping that identifies underrepresented stakeholders, and use the results to plan and successfully implement inclusive engagement.
Trainer: Anne Carroll, Carroll, Franck & Associates
- 2 spots remain -
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Do you know someone who might be interested in these updates? Be sure to forward this email along!
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