[OSList] 1,000 OS's for 'Civic Listening' (and HO in his hat)

[Kai Degner via OSList]

Greetings-

How about 1,000 community OS's?

I know too few of you, but am a fellow OS convener and am happy to be back
on the OSlist.  I just finished 8 years on a local city council
(Harrisonburg, VA, USA) and five months running for congress (VA6).  More
importantly, I've convened over 25 community summits using OS in that
time.  And I had lunch with Harrison on Tuesday (see photo, I'm on the
left, Bruce on the right).

Briefly, I believe the dialogue, democracy, facilitation, leadership,
business, and communications worlds frequently promote people taking turns
talking as sufficiently useful for quality discourse.  We often
underemphasize and take for granted individual and group listening skills,
and there could be value in focusing on how to "let people feel listened
to" rather than just "let people talk."

My time in elected office let me see the opportunity for OS to contribute
to what I'm calling "civic listening infrastructure."  How can/does a
community listen to itself?  Where are its open spaces?

Government is not the most credible or competent convener, neither is a
candidate, nor is an elected official.  We The People could convene We The
People, with a little help from the people who know OS.

The way the Peace Corps or Army Corps builds infrastructure, I am starting The
Listening Corps <http://www.listeningcorps.com> in hopes of inspiring
and/or supporting people committed to honing individual listening skills
and then facilitating group listening.  OS is a power tool on the group
listening tool belt.

I'm hosting a webinar at three times this week to teach some simple
listening skills and invite participation in The Listening Corps.  *You are
cordially invited. Link
<https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/6047065842932730372>*

For discussion purposes, I'm curious how the connection between OS and
civic listening lands with this group.  Does sparking community OS's on
locally-chosen topics seem like a useful way to address the political,
class, and cultural divides ?  What could be possible if we joined to
create 1,000 such events in our communities?

Thanks for listening -

Kai



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​

-- 
*Thanks for listening!  -  *Kai Degner

Blogging, teaching, and musing at www.KaiDegner.com
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