Tools for Community Dialogue

SB181 Affinity Group

​

​

November 2024

Connection before content

15 min

Please sign in here

​

Please come off mute and share

• Your name + pronouns (if you wish)
• Context you’re coming from (organization, location, background - information that is relevant for you to share)
• What motivated you to pick this Affinity Group?

Objectives + Agenda

Objectives:

• Explore effective facilitation methods to foster open, inclusive conversations within communities.
• Learn strategies to navigate and resolve conflicts that may arise during community discussions.
• Implement dialogue tools that are sensitive to diverse cultural perspectives and ensure all voices are heard.

Facilitation Techniques

Conflict Resolution

Culturally Responsive Dialogue

This is not a presentation

To understand how you need support with community dialogues and to see what we can learn from each other

​

The purpose of Affinity Groups are to understand how you need support within your HDCGP Project and create a space for collective learning and sharing. We will focus on tools for community dialogue but connect back to your needs and capacity building.

Proposed Group Agreements

• Camera on to engage and participate actively
• Approach with curiosity & wonder
• No one knows everything–together we know a lot
• We will share stories here; the stories should not be shared, but the lessons should be
• If you are going to post something in the zoom chat, be ready to express it out loud as well
• Take care of your needs.

​

​

Community Dialogues

What is a Community Dialogue?

The purpose of community dialogue is to foster trust, build relationships, and create collaborative solutions to community issues. It empowers individuals to voice their opinions, contributes to collective decision-making, and strengthens community cohesion by ensuring all voices are heard and valued.

​

Dialogue does not seek one right answer.

Brave Space

A community Dialogue is a brave space where participants come to share tier stories, lived experiences, their unique perspectives in order to be heard and understood.

​

Facilitating these dialogues is also brave and essential work.

Story Time

Tell us about your most recent community dialogue

​

Purpose of the dialogue

What problem was the community trying to find a solution to?

​

We will explore with follow up questions:

• What were barriers to communication in the dialogue?
• What was difficult?
• What was a positive outcome?
• What else did you notice about the participants?

​

Facilitation Techniques

Consider this…

You’re riding your bike and you fall and break your bone. Who do you get to fix it?

What about when human communication breaks down? Who do you get to fix it?

A Facilitator’s Mindset

A facilitator’s mindset is open to discovery and possibilities when they work with groups.

​

​

Types of Public Communication

Dialogue

Deliberation

Facilitation Skills

• Facilitation skills involve guiding and managing a group to ensure productive discussions, decision-making, and achieving set goals.
• Facilitators utilize key techniques to inspire and encourage participants to share their ideas, beliefs, how they see things, and what matters to them

​

Effective Questioning

For Facilitators, Questioning is a Practice

• Not all questions are made equally–They are made Intentionally
• The type of question you need to use with a group, depends on the intention you have for the group at a specific time

​

Dialogue

Deliberation

Questions for Dialogue

• An effective dialogue has exposed multiple perspectives within a group
• Your role as a facilitator in this part of the process to create divergent thinking
• We live in complicated times where it is safer to self-censor, hold back, and not share what we think because we are afraid of cancel-culture or we think we don’t have an opinion/knowledge on any given topic.

Questions for Dialogue

• This is a unique part of the group process because we want to focus on the “I”--the Individuals
• Facilitators want to discover what the individuals in the room think, feel, understand about any given topic–in order to do that–we need to ask questions that can elicit authentic, new answers
• Why new?

​

Questions For Dialogue

Open-Ended Questions:

• Questions that begin with How or What
• Questions that require more than a one word answer
• Questions that are new
• Questions that encourage stories

​

​

​

​

Questions For Dialogue

Questions For Dialogue

Practice

Belief: The Western World is more progressive than other parts of the world

​

• Use How or What
• Try to seek views on this topic that have already not been question
• So, question all angles of this statement

​

​

Divergence to Convergence

• From the Individuals to the Collective
• From I to We
• Identifying what the group has in common even in divergent thinking
• A facilitator is paying attention to how the differences are similar and how the similarities are different

Questions for Deliberation

Consensus-Building Questions:

• Aim to find common ground among participants.
• Example: "What can we all agree on as a starting point?"

Exploring Compromises:

• Discuss potential compromises that could satisfy all parties.
• Example: "What is the middle ground where both sides can meet on this issue?"

​

​

Questions For Deliberation

Future-Oriented Questions:

• Focus on what can be achieved together moving forward.
• Example: "What steps can we take together to ensure this project is successful?"

Using “We” Language:

• Frame questions to emphasize collective responsibility and collaboration.
• Example: "How can we work together to address this challenge?"

​

​

Questions For Deliberation

Positive Framing:

• Frame questions positively to foster a constructive atmosphere.
• Example: "What strengths can we build on to achieve our common goals?"

Encouraging Collaboration:

• Ask questions that promote working together towards a solution.
• Example: "What can each of us contribute to ensure the success of this initiative?"

​

Listening

What do you listen for?

To Win

To Speak Next

To Defend

To Prove

Facilitators Listen Differently

• We hear things all the time
• Listening is hearing with meaning, with intention, with purpose
• Like questioning with intention, listening with intention take practice & awareness
• Facilitators listen “actively”--They DO something with their listening
• This action is “Reflective Listening”

​

Reflective Listening

• A facilitator’s job is to listen Fearlessly–to listen to everything that is being said or not being said
• A facilitator uses Reflective Listening to be a mirror for individuals and the group
• This type of listening is essential because

It helps people to listen better to one another

It slows down the pace

It helps an individual listen to themself

How to do this?

Paraphrasing:

• Restate what the speaker has said in your own words to show understanding.
• Example: If the speaker says, "I'm exhausted from working late every night," you might say, "It sounds like you're really tired from all the late nights at work."

Summarizing:

• Provide a brief summary of the main points the speaker has made.
• Example: "So, you're feeling overwhelmed because you have too much work and not enough time to complete it."

​

How to do this?

Reflecting Feelings:

• Acknowledge and reflect the emotions that the speaker is expressing.
• Example: "It seems like you're feeling really frustrated and stressed out about this situation."

Clarifying:

• Ask questions to ensure you understand the speaker’s message correctly.
• Example: "When you say you're feeling overwhelmed, do you mean with the amount of work, the complexity of the tasks, or both?"

​

How to do this?

Validation:

• Validate the speaker’s feelings and experiences to show empathy and support.
• Example: "I can understand why you would feel that way; it sounds really challenging."

Mirroring:

• Mirror the speaker's body language and tone of voice to create rapport and show empathy.
• Example: If the speaker is sitting forward and speaking softly, you might do the same.

​

Facilitators Listen so that

• The individuals in the group and the group as a whole can make better sense of what is being shared
• What do you notice about each technique of reflective listening? What is a facilitator NOT doing?

What are the Moves?

• Listening for:
• Facts - Facts are details of who, what, when, and where that the speaker describes
• Values - Values are characteristics the speaker finds important that guide their opinions and decision-making
• Emotions - Emotions are subjective responses to a person, thing, or situation.
• Affirming
• Acknowledge the bravery or vulnerability it took to express an opinion
• Pausing
• Provide quiet time for the group to process before responding
• Paraphrase
• Summarize the key message from a speaker
• Probing or Follow Up Question
• Question to the same speaker to get clarification or dig deeper

Conflict Resolution

Two Forces

A facilitator works with two essential forces that exist in everyday tasks and all groups: conflict & collaboration

​

A Facilitator’s Mindset

​

​

A facilitator believes that conflict is the foundation for change and collaboration is the foundation for stability.

​

This belief allows Facilitators to do one of the most important things: take all sides. This is a different way to think about neutrality.

Four Guiding Assumptions

Assume any single word holds multiple meanings

Assume people are already thinking and connecting the dots

Assume where someone is standing, determines what they see

Assume no two people are standing in the same position, so disagreement is always present

Story Time

• Think about a time when conflict–disagreement–became a true barrier–
• What is the story?
• What is the disagreement?
• How do you move through this in a community dialogue?

Practice

Word Activity

Culturally Responsive

What is it?

Culturally responsive dialogue is a form of communication that acknowledges, respects, and integrates the diverse cultural backgrounds, values, and experiences of all participants.

What has worked in the past for you?

What has worked in the past for you?

Practice & Bringing it Together

Background: A community center in a mid-sized town serves a multicultural neighborhood with residents from Latinx, Southeast Asian, African American, and Eastern European backgrounds. The center planned to develop a community garden but faced differing opinions on how the space should be used, reflecting cultural values related to food, traditions, and communal space.

Challenge

Community members expressed frustration during early meetings as certain voices dominated discussions, and cultural misunderstandings created tension. The center wanted to ensure everyone’s perspective was heard and respected, promoting harmony and collective ownership of the project.

Breakout Rooms & Design

What do you do next as a Facilitator?

Reflection–What is one new thing you learned today?

Canopy Learning Online

Strengthening Decision-Making

Community Engagement Continuum

Need 1:1 support? Request a coaching session.

Transforming Conflict & Collaboration

Book to deepen your understanding & crediting illustrations

Meeting Assessment

Not very

effective

Very effective

What could we improve?

What made it work?

How effective was today’s meeting?

Thank you

Please fill out this Evaluation

​