Community — The Deep Sense of Belonging
In this rapidly changing world, many people feel that they have been "left behind" for too long and that their voices are not being heard. Some are feeling depressed and powerless while others are getting angry. These deep emotions are erupting into grassroots movements for change. Some of these movements are organizing around polarizing ideas whereas others are attempting to bring people together. Whatever the case, communities are attempting to heal and find their collective health and balance. People everywhere are longing for a greater sense of connection and community where they feel like they are understood, belong and can make a meaningful contribution. Like it or not, communities are on the move!
Engaging Community From Outside The Box
People have come to rely on rules, structures and institutions that govern and shape the way we live and work. Meant to take care of us and our community, many of the old, well intended structures are now failing us and often make individuals or groups feel powerless within them. Many of these structures and institutions no longer hold the answers or block solutions to the many challenges we are facing in this time of rapid change.
When an open space is created where people are able to step back and take a perspective from outside of these limitations, they can often make a better sense of changes that are happening and co-create new, innovative solutions.
Comprehensive engagement of citizens, stakeholders and interested parties is essential when municipalities, governments, alliances and other organizations want to develop their area and create sustainable change. When people have a chance to work together for the common good, one of the implicit results is often that problems of conflict, diversity and inclusiveness get solved in the process.
ElevateWork offers established processes with proven track records for engaging people, increasing participation and for developing and implementing ideas. Every engagement we do with you and for you is customized to your specific community needs and goals, so that we awaken the wisdom that is there and mobilize it into appropriate action. Our processes are especially good at
- Mobilizing people
- Bridging diversity gaps
- Transforming conflict and reconciling differences
- Finding solutions for the common good
‘Whatever you do for me, without me, you do against me.’
ElevateWork uses a variety of methods to expand connection, engagement and collaboration among people who might not normally work together. The method or combination of methods will depend on what challenges your community is facing and the goals you wish to achieve. For example:
- Bohm Dialogue groups reconnect people; bridging what divides us. These conversations rooted in curiosity, listening, respecting, empathy, and understanding rather than debate. Dialogue elevates the quality of our relationships and creates an environment for new insights and solutions to emerge.
- Cohering Community is a circle-based learning lab we've designed to personally experience and practice core conversations that are foundational to building and sustaining coherent, vibrant, trust-based community. This journey will expand your relational and communication capacities, give you a felt sense of belonging, support and hope, and inspire you to participate in reweaving our social fabric through grassroots communities that act for the good of all.
- Storytelling Sessions are appropriate to help process and shift a community that has been through some traumatic event and is grieving. Storytelling with deep listening helps the community to let go of the past, experience the present with each other and prepare to move forward, together.
- Open Space Technology Conferences are a very effective way to bring people together to find solutions on common issues, plan what to do and build seamless bridges for the implementation afterwards. Our facilitation includes an established process for planning, conference facilitation, evaluation and accountability.
- World Café meetings are good to tap into the knowledge of people, get their ideas, their preferences and connect different thought streams.
- Cultural values assessments, combined with cultural change workshops align your community's culture around common purpose, vision and values. When the culture of your community are more aligned, people work together better, and valuable energy is not wasted in superficial conflict.
Can ElevateWork help you engage your community?
We can assist you with...
- Facilitating gatherings to engage and empower your community in collective change and innovation.
- Transforming your community culture so that it is agile, resilient and thriving in the face of change
- Building a confident, elevated leadership team with the capacity to "BE the change" and "walk-the-talk"
- Hosting and training groups in the practice of open Dialogue to expand their connection, understanding and creativity. You'll learn to listen beyond division.
- Creating capacity to thrive together in our Cohering Community Program, where we train and mentor community leaders in holistic and participatory ways of working that invite people to listen deeply, find their authentic voice and passionately contribute from their strengths.
- Strategies to engage your community virtually in online conferences like Open Space Online
About ElevateWork
We are an international group of facilitators, trainers and coaches with a shared mission to elevate the world of work in collaboration with other like-minded, like-hearted leaders and organizations.
ElevateWork specializes in facilitating highly effective online meetings, holistic leadership mentoring and cultural change. Open Space Technology, Bohm Dialogue, online Open Space conferences, participative online meeting facilitation, Cohering Community, and facilitator training are our specialties.
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