Community Conversations Methodology, Pt. 2 (Week 7)

6) Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative inquiry is defined, somewhat long-windedly as being “the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations and the world around them.  It involves systematic discovery of what gives a system life when it is most effective and capable in economic, ecological and human terms.  Appreciative inquiry involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential.  It mobilizes inquiry through crafting an unconditional positive question often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people” (149).  Put more simply, it is a collective back-patting session. 

Appreciative inquiry argues that we should focus on possibilities, not problems, to move from “skepticism to a spirit of Namaste [after looking it up I discovered that Namaste basically means hello so I’m not entirely sure what is meant by this]” (152).  After ditching skepticism and critical thinking you are then invited to “walk through the forest of success” to hear how great other people at the meeting are as well and then with some hot yoga or something [just kidding] (153).  As a future [hopefully] public servant I would likely feel pretty weird walking through a “forest of success” while large amounts of people still have to, say, go to a food bank so they don’t die of starvation. 

7)   Common Meaning Questionnaires

Common meaning questionnaires involve queries like “What does “together” mean to me”.  The goal of a question like this is to establish a kind of common ground between all of the people completing the questionnaire, which in turn, is supposed to facilitate collaboration and productivity.  As an ice-breaker this is all well and good, but of course the real meat of the meeting comes after this stage.  You can also draw pictures with crayons and markers if that’s more your speed.

8)  Food, Movies … And Conversations

The main idea in this section is that food and movies are facilitators of conversations, which is true.  And actually, there are some interesting ideas in here for public servants who wish to get a better read on their community.  For example, the “progressive dinner”, where those who serve the community venture from the forest of success and actually get out into it and see the contrast between public-school breakfast clubs and swanky private daycares (173).  I think it can be easy to live within a comfortable bubble [I’m certainly guilty of this] and forget how people who are different than you live.  Getting out there and seeing a diverse group of people puts your head back on straight, and that’s a good thing.

9)  Giving Voice to Photos

Photograph as conversation catalyst is the crux of this section.  It’s light on content outside of the usual long autobiographical success story featuring Paul Born.  Again, I have no issue with this section; photos can act as a jumping off point for conversations.

10)  Building A Learning Community

Learning communities are groups of people within communities that, over time, collectively build their shared knowledge base and apply this knowledge to help improve their community.  Much like all of the other aforementioned steps, the main way to keep these learning communities effective is to ensure that they are constantly having conversations, both in-person and electronic. And really, all of the steps before this one are done in order create a learning community, one that does not stagnate and become compartmentalized off in their own little groups.

Despite some silliness and back-to-grade-schoolesque cheese in some of Born’s suggestions, this is a noble goal, and, while I personally do not buy into all of the steps he’s outlined, I can see where he’s coming from.  People do have to talk, so we should make the process of talking more engaging.