Transcript Cross River Connexions Learning to work WITH Differences

Cross River Connexions
Learning to work with differences
Daniel Martin, Ph.D
The Art of Dialogue:
Collaboration in Public
Health Preparedness
‘We’ve spent billions of dollars
building a huge new bureaucracy,
and all we know how to do is react to
things that have already happened.’
— Lee Iacoca
Preparedness vs. Preparation
Preparation
Things done
The past
The known
Preparedness
Readiness
The future
The unknown
Preparedness
A people process that needs
trust and safety
Dialogue and Preparedness
Dialogue is the glue that holds the
process together.
The Challenges of Preparedness
• Understanding each other
• Hierarchies and power-brokering
• Flexibility/adaptability
• Trust
• Fear of being wrong
Understanding
‘…For instance, at inter-agency meetings involving
fire, law enforcement and public health we have
finally learned that each discipline uses words in a
different way, which can lead to different
understandings of subject matter….’
—State Health Dept. Official
Hierarchies and Power-brokering
‘…the state put together a team to streamline the requests
coming to the state and facilitate a communication
mechanism for the locals through one phone number….
…the team worked well together but when they reported to
the Security Taskforce there was no Dialogue but instead
power-brokering occurred.
…The final outcome was that instead of minimizing the
number of phone numbers for local first responders to call,
the state actually increased the number….’
—PH Official
Flexibility and Adaptability
‘…in Oklahoma City when the event happened,
…the thing that impressed me most was their flexibility and
adaptability within the first three hours of an unanticipated
event–and apparently it was due to lots of advance team
planning in the city emergency office and fire department.
…What they actually did had not been written down but it is
a small example of the kind of flexibility and creativity that
can mean everything in a real emergency….’
—County Health Director
Trust
‘…I was in conversation with a contractor who is working with
the state to set up logistics, but he was clearly not briefed on my
role or the status of the state’s technical expertise and came off
as the ‘parent’.
Well, simply put, he picked the wrong tone and words with me
the first day we met….We were already at the eleventh hour and
logistics weren’t in place….And, because we hadn’t ‘connected’ at
all before the work of figuring things out started, there was no
safe place for us to disagree.
I was so irritated…and I suspect he was too….Had either of us
employed even the most rudimentary of dialogue skills…the
meeting would have been more productive….’
—Senior PH Official
Fear of Being Wrong
‘…In public health, we are hampered by our science
and fear of being wrong. Consequently we can’t or
don’t or won’t engage in honest dialogue, at least in
real time, during an event. Or if we do it is at some
risk professionally. This is in part the culture, but
surely Dialogue could at least help promote more
genuine communication….’
—State Health Director
‘We’ Thinking
• Understanding each other
• Learning how to listen
• Building shared agreements
Social Networks (Relationships)
= the most effective way to
knowledge sharing
People tend to learn from other
people rather than from books.
In a Crisis
We turn to people we know and
trust even when the procedure
is clear.
Relationships Are the Essence of
Preparedness
Preparedness is developing
trust and understanding
between people
Emergencies always
come out of left field.
Preparedness is being ready for
The Unknown.
Dialogue Is about Participating
in the flow
Dia of meaning
-Logos
Dialogue is working with the unknown.
Hammer Technology Costs $100
The hammer costs $1.
Knowing when and how to use it
costs $99.
Dialogue and Preparedness
‘…The most positive aspect
of all the preparedness
activities—tabletops, joint
planning efforts, etc.—has
been in establishing
relationships with those who
will be critical partners in a
response. Dialogue is
fundamental to how those
relationships are created
and nurtured….’
—PH Preparedness Bureau Chief
The Three Essential Components of Dialogue
• Connect
• Listen
• Discover
Connect
The power of story
• Always begin by connecting through
personal story.
• Show up and invite others to show up by sharing a
story/memory.
• When we connect at this level, creativity already
begins to happen.
‘If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the
kind of person you are, a pattern that others made may
prevail in the world and following the wrong
god home we may miss our star.’
—Wm. Stafford
Three Kinds of Trust
• the trust of competence
• the trust of integrity
• the trust of vulnerability
Question
Why is PH preparedness important
to me?
Reflect on why public health
preparedness is important to you,
and write 1-2 words via text-chat.
Text Chat
Question
Which category does my answer fall under?
A.
My children, grandchildren, future
generations
B.
Safety/security, community relations
C.
Health, well-being
D.
Values/ethics, principles
The Personal
• The personal connects us.
• Here we create trust.
• This is where preparedness
begins.
Personal Work
• Honing intention
• Cultivating attitudes
• Practicing skills
Listen
Listening is multi-faceted and multi-leveled:
Listening Means Creating a Container
• Where different perspectives can be held
together
• Where they can be owned by everyone
A container is made up of
safety, skills, commitment,
experience.
In a good container, different
ideas can cross-pollinate and
create new ideas.
The Rules of the Container
• Go in sequence
• No cross-talk
• No rehearsing
In the container, every voice can be heard;
every perspective is valid.
An Experiment in Listening
Five volunteers
• Think of a time when you experienced
preparedness in action.
• Follow the rules of the container and respond
to:
What is the essence of PH preparedness?
Engaging All the Differences
My life is not this steeply sloping hour
in which you see me hurrying.
Much stands behind me
I stand before it like a tree.
And I am only one of many mouths,
and that the one that would be still the soonest.
—Rilke
Discover
Allowing new life to happen
• Hold the differences.
• Listen for what is emerging out of the
differences as shared understanding.
• Harvest shared agreements/decisions for
action from this shared understanding.
I am the rest between two notes
that are somehow always in discord,
because death's note wants to climb over;
And in the dark interval, reconciled,
they stay there trembling,
and the song goes on, beautiful.
—R.M. Rilke
Creativity
When differences are held
together like musical notes until
the song emerges
An Experiment in Discovery
What is the essence of PH preparedness?
Simple Steps for Discovering
1. Distill your point using the three container rules.
2. Pause and listen for what is emerging.
3. Give voice to it…however clumsily.
4. Continue to listen for what is
emerging.
5. Build together.
Dialogue is working with the
unknown.
Creative Discovery
‘…Another example might be the issue of response
across jurisdictions. Many people were obsessed with
the difficulty in instituting a command and control
structure across multiple legal jurisdictions. It was not
until we began to discuss how some problems were
solved through coordination and communication, that
many began to realize that they did not need a multijurisdictional command structure….’
—State Health Official
Success = ?
True success has many aspects:
• Results are how we usually measure success.
• Relationships: What if we get results by treating participants in
the process badly?
• Process: What helps us achieve
good results and good relationships?
Note: All three serve each other
and make for a successful
outcome that will be
sustainable over time.
Results
Values
Values are what drive
and shape all three.
Process
Relationships
Applications to PH Preparedness
• Increase community engagement.
• Develop key relationships (e.g., media,
governors, legislators).
• Enhance performance on
the target capabilities.
• Build trust.
• Create clearer shared
understanding.
• Realize more creative responses.
A New Era of Participation
Living systems are self-organizing.
A healthy immune system
consists of highly functioning
relationships.
Preparedness
Brings together all the
stakeholders for constant,
creative exchange.
Dialogue and Preparedness
Dialogue is the glue that holds the
process together.
Preparedness is a collective
response to life
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.
—Rumi
Cross River Connexions
Learning to work with differences
Daniel Martin, Ph.D
The Art of Dialogue:
Collaboration in Public
Health Preparedness