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

Kai Degner via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Mon Jan 9 12:25:15 PST 2017


Hello Harold-

You have quite a memory!

I appreciate you honing in on a claim that certainly has exceptions:
government not being a credible or competent convener.

In terms of credibility, I find the public-facing side of government is
designed to be deliberative, i.e. focused on decision-making ("Let's decide
where we are going to eat tonight.")  This is opposed to a dialogic or
brainstorming function ("Let's discuss what our favorites restaurants are
and why, and what other restaurants there could be.")  Most brainstorming
happens within staff, in non-public settings.  Thus, government convening
Open Space, or any other effort to simply 1) invite creativity from a
diverse audience or 2) promise The People an experience of authentic
listening, is seen as suspect.  Whether it's true or not, government
process is often perceived to be one to move along a somewhat
pre-determined path.  Lastly, government is often a stakeholder with an
extreme power differential, which can make it less credible as a convener.

Competency has a harsher connotation than I mean, but it's the right word.
Overloaded job descriptions and meager budgets create a bunker mentality,
and open process is frequently seen as threat because change is perceived
to have costs.  Heck, even dreaming could lead to more costs, so that ought
to be avoided.  Rarely are there in-house facilitation skill sets in
staff.  Long-time staff members can be jaded by dealing with a largely un-
and/or misinformed public, and the 45-second sensational TV "news" that
attempts to highlight suspected incompetence or wasteful spending is not
helpful either. (Local media isn't as interested all the moments government
successfully provides the services we take for granted).  Government staff
is, quite frankly, just not of the mindset or skill set to say, "Come
together and have at it."  But the reason is understandable: they are doing
yeoman's work keeping water running, people safe, cars moving, sewage
treated, kids educated, etc. - and being suspected and under appreciated
along the way.

Of course, there are many moments government has blind spots, debilitating
inertia, and no vision.  That's where We The People have a role: to inform,
to push, to dream.

I found great difficulty getting politically diverse attendance to Open
Space events while a candidate - people avoid partisan politics and/or
don't want to tacitly support a candidate by attending and/or mistakenly
fear their nonprofit job keeps them from participating.  However, once
elected as mayor, I had convening ability - but I was convening the events
as mayor, they were explicitly not city-sponsored events.  I can sell, but
getting my colleagues on city council to say yes to OS is not one.  They
hear: "Hey, how about we approve funds for an event where anyone can say
anything about anything the city is doing and propose a bunch of expensive
things that won't solve problems but that they will be mad at us for not
doing."  This is easier: "Hey, I'm hosting an event, open to anyone.  There
are 75 community organizations participating.  You're invited, it's free
with food."

Hosting as mayor, 350 people showed to a Harrisonburg
Intercultural/Interfaith Summit, held in OS.  200 for a Sustainability
Summit.  150 for Health and Wellness.  Outcomes and relationships aplenty.
Cost to city: zero.  Actions that required city involvement: few.  Actions
the people who attended could implement on their own: most.

But, not all of us are mayors, and I'm not anymore.  Thus, We The People
need to host the OS ourselves because we know how to do it, no one else
will, and we believe such events can create the working community
relationships we are so sorely missing.

Thus, The Listening Corps.

Thanks for listening!

Kai

On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 1:39 PM, Harold Shinsato via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Hi Kai,
>
> Clicking on your link from your first post, I realized - yes - you were a
> bit of a legend here in the past for your work opening civic discourse as
> an elected official in the U.S.
>
> I know that many of us are passionate about bringing more open space into
> civic dialog, and I'm extremely grateful for you showing a successful model
> of doing this.
>
> I'm responding mostly out of enthusiasm for your posting this offering to
> the OSList, but I'd love to hear more from you.
>
> Would you say more about "Government is not the most credible or competent
> convener", and how you sense "We The People" could do the job? I really
> thought that's what our Government in the U.S. was supposed to be. We The
> People, as stated in the U.S. Constitution. Surely you must have some
> special insights doing this convening work from inside Government?
>
>     Thanks!
>     Harold
>
>
> On 1/8/17 10:40 PM, Kai Degner via OSList wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>
>>>
> --
> *Thanks for listening!  -  *Kai Degner
>
> Blogging, teaching, and musing at www.KaiDegner.com
>
>
>
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>
> --
> Harold Shinsato
> harold at shinsato.com
> http://shinsato.com
> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
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-- 
*Thanks for listening!  -  *Kai Degner

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