​​Purpose and Intended Results
​​Dialogue, Deliberation and Systemic Transformation 
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​​Image courtesy of www.NewStories.org
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​Ben's 12/__ Draft
​​(in his 12/29 email invite draft)
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  • ​​Purpose: 
​​To explore the calling question of what we, as members of the dialogue and deliberation community of practice, have to be and do to enable our most positive transformational impact in the face of climate change, peak oil and water, profound wealth inequity, and other emerging crises which fundamentally challenge our business-as-usual habits and systems.
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  • ​​The following are among the intended results for this inquiry:
​​1. Engage in deep dialogue around our calling question.
​​2. Connect to build community and share resources, information, and strategies.
​​3. Elicit inspiring, actionable possibilities and support the emergence of collaborative teams to work together on bringing them forth in the coming year.
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​Ben's 12/22 Draft
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​​Purpose: to gather through the end of January online and over the phone/video conferencing, as a "community of inquiry," around what can be done at the intersection of dialogue, deliberation, and systemic transformation to “make enough of a difference to make a difference” (h/t Bob Stilger).
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  • ​​Intended results:
  1. ​​Build supportive relationships among those of us who are committed to this work as agents of transformation
  1. ​​Gain clarity and insight into the ways that D&D can catalyze and amplify systemic transformation
  1. ​​Elicit and identify inspiring, actionable possibilities and support the emergence of collaborative teams to work together on bringing them forth
  1. ​​To have the inquiry [process] itself be a prototype that can be iterated upon in service to systemic transformation
  1. ​​As feasible, discover or develop and disseminate sources, information, and tools useful to the above.
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​Discussion
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​​I'm feeling a sense of urgency in getting back to people after our Dec. 15th conversation to let people know next steps.  I know Ben is also which is why we would like to talk about this tomorrow.   
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​​For me, the first two points (intended results above) happen automatically if we stay connected around a shared-sense of purpose (which I thought Tom did a great job of in his initial email that got the group going).  We will be building supportive relationships whether we 'dialogue', pull cards of the evening, or do more world cafes through Maestro.   So, I'm not sure we need to specify this in this next round.  
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​​As for the 2nd intended result:  D & D simply DOES amplify systemic transformation...not that it is the only way to catalyze and amplify, but none of us would even be in this inquiry if we all didn't know deep down that D & D is by definition, a transformative practice.  So, perhaps, what I'm getting at, is that I'm sensing we need to actually extract what we all heard from Dec. 15th's call in the way that suggests we heard what people were excited about and here are some threads we heard that seem fruitful for follow-up AND here is how we are suggesting we go about that.   
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​​I do like Ben's 3rd item, but even that isn't clear enough for me in terms of how our convening team sees helping emerging collaborative teams come into being.  I had thought that perhaps we could have a section on the hackpad for Open Space sessions to be initiated with times/dates specified so people could begin to self-organize around shared interests.  I'm not sure I know how to make that happen with the hackpad/maestro technology, but to me, this is one of the most important things we could be facilitating.  It seemed to me that there were many ideas that were being floated out there on the 15th.  Now the need is to help land and root them to see if there are ideas around which people want/are motivated to self-organize.  Not necessarily for them to go "DO" anything just yet, but for people to at least be able to gravitate to others with like ideas/interests for what could be done amongst us.  I thought having some sort of "What's Possible" section, that Ben has already started, with this idea of a more actionable way of taking those ideas to the next step, merged would be the way to go.  
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​​As for the 4th point, I think if we are effective in framing the Dialogue in January well, we can have a very meaningful inquiry into how D & D as well as how "we", whomever "we" are (as we don't even know who all is really on the call yet), can perhaps make a difference in systemic transformation.  I'm now understanding after some conversations with Ben, that we ARE also (possibly) prototyping a way of having conversations here with the technology that could be useful to others.  I think having that as a "What's Possible" idea is very useful and legitimate.  But, I would want to get clear on how our process is different from other processes and what are we trying to consciously prototype before naming it as such.    
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​​The 5th point for me was a very useful one...especially should we decide that we want some sort of on-going 'learning organization' to unfold from our efforts here.  It seemed part of the 'back-bone, or consultant's co-op idea' that I keep pointing toward that came out of our prior conversations and the one I had with Ben Kadel and also with Robert.  Of course we would want to share resources, information and tools between ourselves and whomever we might choose to work with.  We all have client bases, so these resources would be very valuable.  What's working?  What isn't working, etc.  
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​​I had sent a partial 'alternative draft' to Ben last week.  It isn't even remotely ready to send out and it mainly broke down what I've said above...So, I look forward to our call tomorrow and other's comments here.  I'm feeling that we are at a crucial turning point in what we are doing together and helping to facilitate.  
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​​Ben...how do we come back to this?  It isn't clear to me how to get to the convenor notes from the hackpad.  
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  • ​​Linda: thank you for the detailed response. I see many points of alignment. And it may be that the non-alignment I read into your comments has more to do with what you think this statement needs to explicitly articulate than with any disagreement about what we are (or want to be) up to.
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  • ​​Still, given how much you seem to want to change the "P&IR" I presented above, I'm thinking about how best to proceed. My first instinct is to respond point by point to what you said, but I'm not sure that's actually the most constructive or efficient approach.
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  • ​​One option would be for you to find that earlier version you drafted, update it, and share it in the space below. Then we could look for alignment, merge the two, or decide which one to use as a "base." Another approach would be to do this "holacracy-style," where the initial proposer (i.e. me, unless you want to take the lead and can get something posted fairly soon so we can reflect on it before today's call) takes feedback from everyone in the circle, makes modifications as he/she sees fit, then asks for a vote on whether or not the modified version is "safe enough to try" (as opposed to exactly the way you would want it to be if you were the proposer).  
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  • ​​You asked two questions in the last graf, but I'm not clear on what you meant. "Come back" to what? And by "convenor notes," do you mean the notes from the conversations you, Tom and I had on 12/14 and 12/18? If so, that's now called the ​+Hosting Team Main Pad for the DandDTrans Inquiry​, and is also linked to at the top of these two new pads.
  • ​​[Ben R., 12/23, 8:30am ET]
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​​Sorry, about my unclarity about coming back...it is how from the hackpad to find this section.  I can see it comes automatically when people add to it.  I just didn't know if I could get on the hackpad and find these notes.  These notes are not being shared to everyone on the hackpad, right?  Just to the convening team?  
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  • ​​Nope--the notes are linked to for all to see right now, at the bottom of the DandDTrans Home pad. [Ben R., 12/27]
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​​So, before I jumped on the internet this morning, I took out what I had drafted last week to you, Ben, and reworked it a bit and am going to attach it here or below under alternative drafts.  I would send it not in the hackpad, but just as an email to everyone who has signed on for the conversation.  Ben R...you would need to put in some of the information such as how many were on the call and the links I refer to.  I also think we need a specific way of helping people connect either in the "What's Possible" section or in a separate markeplace section that might be created for an upcoming Open Space.  I'm envisioning that in the "What's Possible" section there might be a way for people to indicate their interest and then someone could actually create times and spaces using the Zoom process for meeting off line and then they could also put up their ideas for an upcoming OpenSpace Maestro meeting as well where people could indicate their interest.  And, once we get more organized around the Dialogue, we will need to send that out as an invitational email as well.  
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​Alternative Drafts

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​Linda
​​The convening team (the official convening team is still Ben Roberts and myself, Linda Ellinor and we on the last call Nancy_____ and Robert Corman joined us) has met a couple of times since our first Maestro call held on Dec. 15th.  We felt it important to reflect back to you what we are planning for January ASAP so you can plan accordingly.   If you missed the call, you can view the notes and reflections here_______.  
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​​Our overall intention in planning the events we describe below and updating our HackPad format is to create as many venues as possible for helping us see if there are ways we might self-organize around D & D to address the problems we have been discussing (see Tom's initial list-serve post here _____) that would be self-sustaining (funded in some way).   We’re also hoping that we can create and experience shared meaning together through holding longer meeting times and using Bohm Dialogue in a couple of different ways around the theme of how D & D can make a difference in the world. 
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​​We sensed  from reviewing the notes on the HackPad that some of us have already connected around specific, do-able projects.  We invite those who are assessing such projects to use the HackPad’s “What’s Possible” section to describe your ideas so that others might join in.   (Ben this is where I would explain how they can use the “zoom” line for their own ad hoc meetings.)  And, then they can hold their own ‘off-line’ meetings to flush these ideas out further.  And, then we would invite you to write up notes on what comes out of your meetings, so, again, the whole community that is coalescing can see what you are up to.  
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​​We’re also going to put up an Open Space market place for another Maestro Call to be held in early January.  This might evoke yet further ideas for self-organizing.   [I am particularly in favor of providing Open Space space on Maestro and Hackpad. - Tom]
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​​Some of us want a forum for longer, more in-depth periods of inquiry/dialogue for possible break-through understandings on what might be referred to as the “Great Shift” or “Great Turning.”  These inquiries/Dialogues might be specific to one subject (contingent), others might be more open-ended (non-contigent).  We’re in the process of planning how to facilitate these and will be asking you to sign up for them so that we can plan best how to all get on the same page and have them run smoothly. 
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​​We also felt a yearning for space for building community and sharing tools, information, and strategies in these sessions.  The Card of the Evening is doing this to some degree and we might organize another, more formal way of doing this also in January.  
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​​So, what we would propose going forward, through the end of January, is the following:  
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​​1.  Four, 3-hour long/weekly Bohm Dialogues:  Several of us will be meeting next week to organize how these might be facilitated and focused.  We will provide you with some dates and times to self-select into the groups that will be run.  We’ll try to accommodate as many people as possible and then announce the dates and themes for the Dialogue.  We’ll probably do this using  “zoom”.   
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​​2.  A place on the HackPad for Open-Space questions, interests, proposed collaborations to emerge (taking some of the What’s Possible” over into this section, and a way for others to join in or to  show their interest.  These Open-Space items can then be scheduled in a variety of ways that the convening team can help with. 
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​​3.  We will create scheduled times for those wanting to share what is working in their professional lives using D & D and to learn from others during January after we tally the interest and availability of those wanting this. 
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​​(I now realize that in our convening team we don’t have agreement around the last piece below, so this is something I will simply continue to add to on the “What’s Possible section and in the Market Place for Open Space to see if there are others out there that want to play with this idea.”  I am leaving it in as a way for you all to know, again, one direction I get juiced out of this conversation that is unfolding. )  We also want to schedule time to flesh out this idea of the creation of some sort of backbone network of services that some of us might want to provide from what we do as D & D providers to other organizations (front-line activist organizations, perhaps), that might improve their effectiveness were we to connect with them and explore ways of working together.  This would be possibly in the form of a consultant’s/activists cooperative, where everyone buys into the organization that is formed and receives assistance, information (what is working, what isn’t working around the shift that needs to take place), and where learnings are pooled for the advancement of all.  We will first tally who and how many people are interested in joining us to think this activity through (and ally when people are available for this activity) and get back to you with times and dates.   [I don't understand why this isn't an Open Space offering you introduce and recruit people for.  It seems so fitting in that form... - Tom]
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​​We will also keep the “card of the day” going as a way for informal thinking/chatting to occur so we can all get to know one another more deeply and stay in the conversation in a more informal way.  
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​​If any of you have other ways you would like to see us be using our time together in January, please contact Ben Roberts or Linda Ellinor at…
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​Tom
​​I really appreciate and support the work Ben R and Linda have done above. As noted, I think it is time (within the first 2 Jan conversations) to move into a primarily Open Space mode to address (make generative space for) the diverse ideas and interests and perspectives out there, while keeping a "commons" for interactions across those silos.  I think any activity involving commitment should be an OS session/group; this includes both the Bohm DIalogue activity and the Consulting Network activity.  The commons should be for things like the generic Maestro WCs (perhaps with evolving questions that emerge from participant voting activities like CoDigital) and the Card of the Evening conversations - i.e., conversations that anyone can come to any time, which sprout from our broader convening sensibility but do not necessarily involve connections (of meaning or participation) from one session to the next.  They are simply places to meet and converse and share ideas and recruit participants for the other, more specific (and often ongoing) inquiries and activities that are anchored in the Open Space realm.
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​​I myself have an emerging inquiry about the strategic use of conversation, like the strategic use of force or money or community organizing.  Sort of like social transformation acupuncture.  I imagine a group of conversational pros asking "Where would a conversation have a good chance of catalyzing a significant/needed transformation?  Who would have what kind of conversation with whom, where and over what time period?"  It could range from an email conversation (triggered by a networking email to one or both of the parties, containing a provocative/generative question) to a 5 day Open Space involving several key networks of players in one or more fields to some ongoing World Cafe's or a major We the People-generating intervention in a community to....  Peggy Holman and I once convened an "Evolutionary Salon on Philanthropy" specifically to catalyze transformational inquiries among philanthropists about how to make philanthropy more potent and relevant in the 21st century, in terms of both its focus and its forms.  The decision to convene it came from our growing awareness of how difficult it was to get philanthropic sponsorship of D&D efforts, which meant that philanthropists didn't understand the power of D&D, so we would give them an experience of powerful D&D to inspire them to include D&D in their philanthropic visions (among other things they would do to evolve their field).  It worked and didn't work, depending on your perspective.  But the point is that no one asked us to do that event.  We convened it (and another one later on "story fields") because we sensed there was strategic transformational leverage available by doing it.  I think there was something about that buried inside my original note:  The sense that D&Ders could take strategic initiative with their powerful tool to shift the energies and fields of possibility in the society towards the needed transformations.  Something like that.  I should problably write a blog post on that soon...
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​​Tom:  This vision dovetails with my ​+personal possibility declaration​, both in the focus on strategy and the idea that we do things that we recognize as valuable, and can get paid for doing them, even though "no one asked us" to do them. Indeed, I see the convening of this "community of inquiry" as a prototyping for such work "out in the world." Ben R., 12/24
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​​What Tom says here also dovetails with the initial impulse I had to join into this conversation:  "The sense that D&Ders could take strategic initiative with their powerful tool to shift the energies and fields of possibility in the society towards the needed transformations."    So, my thought is how can we help motivate D & D'res through January to become more strategic and specific around the conversational tools they have mastered.  
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​Ben L.
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