Thorny Questions in Your Side? Get the Community Clippers!

We just came off of a thought provoking Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP website) webinar, hosted by Joanne Schroeder and guest presenter Paul Kershaw, titled Influencing Public Policy: Tips and Traps.  What drew us into the call was our quest to learn more about how community can take action, impact policy changes and engage with people at a local level and beyond. Trust us, they delivered, so if you missed the call watch for the archive of this presentation on the HELP website.

Joanne discussed thorny questions – the barriers that get in the way of people participating in change efforts. See if you can identify with any of these prickly scenarios:

“We just can’t seem to agree on the action/priorities.”

“We can’t endorse that piece of work.”

“What difference will it make?  Will we really have any impact?”

Lo and behold, village raisers, you will be impressed (and likely not surprised) with Joanne’s response to the above thorns. Yes, get your community clippers out and take heed that the answer seems to circle back to the power of community collaboratives and participatory processes.

Here are some collaborative shearing tips:

• Be clear on your group’s definition of advocacy. What’s the difference between influence and advocacy?
• Base your advocacy conversations on research and fact rather than opinion. Ask people “What do we know to be true?”
• Use consensus building processes to work through the fact of life that people have different opinions.
• Connect with other communities – learn from and share with other groups to decrease isolation and increase shared power.
• Be a conduit for community voice with a pro-active planned strategy (include in your annual plans).
• Use a solution based focus - stay positive
• Find both quiet (building relationships, small conversations) and louder (rallies, big messaging) ways to advocate.
• Evaluate your impact

It seems that time and time again that to have impact and foster change, we need to use informed group processes that boost a collective empowerment. The thorny questions will arise – what we are after are the practices that help people move beyond the thorns into the further development of their working together initiatives.

Book review - Everyone Leads

With a title like Everyone Leads, this book caught our attention. A book claiming to inspire readers to see new leadership possibilities within themselves and their communities.. is definitely up our alley! 

The book's conversational tone makes it seem as if you are chatting with author Paul Schmitz. The first chunk tells the story of his innovative and  grass roots organization called Public Allies. It is, in fact, the organization that Michelle Obama worked in early in her career.  Still going strong across the United States (website), Public Allies identifies talented young adults from diverse and under-represented backgrounds who have a passion to make a difference, and helps them turn that passion into a viable career path.

The book, outlines the five core leadership values of this organization; 

1. Recognizing and mobilizing ALL of a community's assets
2. Connecting across cultures
3. Facilitating collaborative action
4. Continuously learning and improving
5. Being accountable to ourselves and others.

These are values that resonate with our work. In fact, much of the language and the "how-to" strategies run parallel with Raising the Village - relationships, leadership and strengths. Given our work with community collaboratives, we took a closer look at the chapter on facilitating collaborative action. Here are some of our favourite passages.

"Building teams is about building trust. 

Exercises and processes can help prevent common pitfalls..."

 "Leadership is inherently a collaborative process. 

Leaders inspire, persuade, and engage others to work with them on common goals." 

"Self awareness and interpersonal collaboration also extend to the formal and informal organizations that constitute communities."

"Being collaborative is a commitment."

The book offers an exercise that helps to identify and acknowledge strengths. Each individual writes the answer to the following questions and shares with a partner. We challenge you to answer them!

• What two gifts, talents or skills make you a valuable family member and friend?
• What two skills make you especially good at your paid or volunteer work?
• What talent do you have that not many people know about?
• What are your 2 or 3 favourite hobbies?

Let's take it farther!!  Here is a fun way to match your strengths and natural gifts to your role as leader and community builder.  Try our self-assessment quiz: What is Your Group Leadership Style. Are you a mover & shaker? a clarity seeker? a strengths creator? or (yikes) a group process killer?!

Embrace your strengths and offer up your gifts as everyone leads! 

Brain-based Engagement Strategies - a List

After a year of offering our Collaboration: Authentic Engagement Workshop, we have compiled a list of brain-based engagement strategies from the amazing and diverse workshop participants whose wisdom, experience, innovative thinking and new insights filled flip chart pages with practical engagement ideas.

The ideas are organized by the four key community building strategies that we outline in our book, Raising the Village;

1.  Unearthing - Are you looking at finding a deeper understanding of community?

2. Building Relationships - Are you looking at strengthening relationships or building new partnerships?

3.  Framing Leadership - Are you looking at enhancing and sharing the leadership required to work together?

4.  Constructing Collective Relevance - Are you seeking that "feeling" of collective relevance...the "us"?

The ideas are further sorted according to the 5 domains of human interaction using a brain-based engagement lens. We have learned about these domains over the last five blogs; status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness.

Enjoy! Download this handout of engagement ideas here. (under the leader Development section). We hope it is useful!


Upon reflection, our last six blogs have been a reminder to examine how we engage you - blog-readers interested in building stronger communities. Our mission at Raising the Village is to support, inspire and engage individuals, organizations and communities in their efforts to collaborate. So taking direction from our own handout...

We welcome your input, comments, posts and questions in all of our online communities - blog, Facebook and Twitter. Tell us what engages you about building community - and what you are interested in learning more about.

We are continually seeking new ways to support community building efforts (in your families, in your workplaces and in your communities). Check out our website Resource page for a great selection of information on community development, leader development, the early years and group activities.

Our new book will be available soon! It is full of engaging activities for group leaders. The book (also available as 2 ebooks) shares 50 group activities that guides groups to gather information, make meaning from data, generate innovative action ideas and make decisions for action. For our growing Raising the Village communities we want to offer a pre-order discount. If you are not already receiving our seasonal newsletter, sign up here - we'll be sending out the discount soon.

Tackling Mountains of Data

Faced with a mountain of information, one can feel compelled to climb towards the top - seeking clarity of vision at higher elevations. Or, conversely, one can also feel overwhelmed in the shadow of knowledge and sink in a quagmire of muck at the base.

Author Judi Adler wrote;
"Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time. They have no use for helicopters!"

One step at a time. Faced with volumes of information - whether it be statistics, research, evaluation reports or experience - figuring out the first step is often the trickiest.

This is the time to think simple.

Tips to keep it simple during the early forays into making sense of data is the visual presentation of the information.

1. Get to the point - don't hide the key pieces of information with EVERYTHING available!


2. Pick the right format - think about how numbers, columns, pie charts, colours, maps and pictures can make information easier to digest


3. Keep it simple (we said that already!). With complicated information, make the layout or presentation clean and free of extra frills and clutter.

Once the information is shared, take it apart! Deconstructing complex information doesn't "dummy it down," it allows people to get there heads wrapped around it bit by bit. Community change efforts have a lot of variables. Taking it all in at once runs the risk extreme and total confusion.

One visual and fun way to deconstruct and simplify is by separating all the information at hand on post-it notes or index cards. By breaking down the complexity into bite sized pieces, you can clump them in a variety of ways, sort, re-sort, theme and rearrange. By doing so, people engaged in the work can become active in their roles as meaning makers. They can see information along side other concepts that are important for context. They can make connections that weren't obvious to them (or anyone) when the information was kept in it's original package - whether it be a number, chart, map or story. They can also, visually, connect the single units of information and re-construct the information. This time, however, the familiarity with the information will avoid confusion.

Do your group a favour and help them learn and apply new information by sharing it with them in ways that supports their meaning making journey. Simply, take the first step together (and then another)!

Village Raising Question:

What's your first simple step towards understanding your data?

How do you support a groups meaning making journey?

Data Fog

. One of the passages from our book, more than any other, captures the feeling of collaborative inquiry.

Sleeves rolled up, furrowed brows, slumped shoulders, a heaviness in the air…Weighted down with an all-consuming sense of responsibility, everyone involved was focused, intense, and determined to wade through the fog and confusion…. The overwhelming task before them was to make sense of data, agree on key issues and make a plan.

Sound familiar? 

While we know that it is important to make plans and decisions based on good information, it can feel more like a journey through pea-soup fog. Finding a process to guide a group through the murky, complex world of data so that people emerge feeling informed and cohesive is the key.

Data helps us to give issues and opportunities colour and detail and depth. Data enables us to make new connections and informed decisions. In fact, true innovation emerges during this journey, even when what we don’t know still exceeds what we do. The journey demands risk taking, being open to getting it wrong, and a persistent inquisitive spirit.

Raising the Village will be focusing our blogs this month on getting through the data fog.

What are the essential elements of a group process that will lead to clarity (rather than spinning in circles, getting lost and disoriented)?

How can we avoid data becoming something to fear or defend against?

Can we actually have fun doing this too???

Then when we make it through… find clarity and meaning (having a good time along the way) – we stand on a precipice yet again.  This one is the gap between knowing and doing…but we’ll save that for a future set of blog posts.  :)

Take our challenge this month:

Think of an issue or opportunity that you are currently facing. Ask yourself:

What are some predictions you have about the situation?

What are some questions you need to ask?

What are some possibilities for learning that this situation presents?

What kind of data do you currently have access to that might shed some light on the topic?

Gather your answers and be ready to dive into the fog with us!

RTV #52 - The Year of Raising a Village

In search of a way to examine what our blogs have expressed over the last year, it was with great anticipation that we clicked "ok" for the great reveal...

First, let's look back to December 2010. We at Raising the Village were fired up to share! Here is an excerpt from our blog and our commitment to our readers that 2011 would be a Year of Raising the Village:

There are many different ways to Raise a Village so we are taking some of the innovative and timeless ideas we have researched and will be sharing them with you. Yes, a year of ideas that in and of themselves might not sound like a sustainable village effort, but pieced together they sure are impressive! ...  We ask you to consider the year of ideas as a united tapestry – by taking these seemingly separate patchwork activity ideas and weaving them together into an integrated and coordinated strategy that aims at reducing child vulnerability and increasing community engagement and awareness. We encourage you to take your own grass roots approach and adapt and create what works for you and your community.

Fast forward to today... we copied every single blog entry of 2011 into wordle (www.wordle.net) hoping to see what kind of language we chose most often to express our messages.
 

 What fun to have this image materialize - full of the words that resonate with what we do, what we believe in and what we have hoped to share.




The fact that COMMUNITY jumps as the most commonly used word in 12 months of blogs is significant. As community developers, it is our passion to promote how community plays a vital role in supporting positive change.


But take a look at some of the others that made the top 50 word list - IDEAS, FUN, PLAY, CHANGE, PROCESS... just to name a few that tickle our fancy.


It has also been illuminating to look at the wordle using two new lenses - those of the 2 streams of work that we do at Raising the Village. The first focuses on “It takes a Village to Raise a Child” which is our work around building communities that nourish and support their youngest citizens thereby nourishing our future.

As we have written in our book (Raising the Village), "The well-being of children has a complex and interconnected relationship with the well-being of communities...Every person has the capacity to be a community builder. Parents, grandparents, neighbours, child-care providers, health-care workers, educators, politicians, and entrepreneurs - all contribute because the well-being of children touches us all."


The blog words of CHILDREN, TOGETHER, PLAY, SOCIAL, TIME , PEOPLE, LOCAL and FAMILIES emphasize this important focus.


Our other stream of work is around organizational collaboration, team building and strengthened leadership capacity. Here too, the wordle reflects the work we do with organizations who are engaged in supporting the well-being of children.

PROCESS, CHANGE, IDEAS, TIME, BUILDING, QUESTIONS, GROUP and TOGETHER leap out as sparks to social change makers.


So it is with great satisfaction that we end the official Year of Raising the Village and begin 2012 with a validated sense of direction and re-committed purpose to share ideas and inspiration with people. Those who want to make this world a better one for children...and those whose paths are to strengthen collaborative communities.
Happy New Year
from Tracy & Tammy

RTV # 48 Find the bright spots.

A Year of Raising the Village. Week #48 - Find the Bright Spots

At Raising the Village - we are proponents of strength based thinking and strength based approaches. So when we first heard about the work of Jerry and Monique Sternin, we were intrigued by a new strength based change model - one that "flips the standard protocol on its head" - called positive deviance.

In their book entitled The Power of Positive Deviance: How unlikely innovators solve the world's toughest problems, authors Richard Pascale, Jerry and Monique Sternin outline a highly village-like approach to tackling complex issues. They write;

Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges.
The Positive Deviance approach is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover these successful behaviors and strategies and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned.

Their discovery of this method was in Vietnam, 1990, working with very poor villages whose children suffered from malnutrition. The cause of the malnutrition was systemic - lack of clean water, immense poverty, no social support beyond the occasional food handout, a collapsed health care system, a US trade embargo against Vietnam, and the inevitable political hurdles.


This fascinating story is told in their book, and also in Switch by Dan and Chip Heath (another great read about change). The positive deviant practices were found by interviewing families who, despite the villages' dire situation, had children who were well nourished. They called these families bright spots. What made their practices different was identified by the villagers and local volunteers. The practices that could be replicated were then introduced to the village. The consultants played a background role in the process as the villages, themselves, found strategies and implemented them.

The result? A 65-80% reduction in childhood malnutrition in 22 Vietnamese provinces with a total population of 2.3 million. And the change (drum roll please) is a sustainable one!

Real, sustainable change, according to the Sternins, begins with new behaviors rather than new knowledge. And since these new behaviors come from real people – rather than from top down or fancy consultants – there’s real ownership of the solution rather then merely a buy-in. In this process, the very people whose behavior needs to change to solve the problem are the ones who discover the solution.

At first we thought - well good for them but that kind of thing wouldn't work in North America! The book goes on to tell a number of stories from other places around the world - including Pennsylvania.

So...this week's village raising strategy borrows from the thinking of positive deviance. As community builders, let us re-frame how we approach community change, and consider how we can support a process that finds and spreads the positive practices of the bright spots.

We would LOVE to learn from your experience! Please share (through comments or by email) your stories about finding positive deviants and enabling them to spark sustainable change.

RTV #42 - Get it in writing

A Year of Raising the Village. Week #42 –Get it in Writing!

ACTIVE commitments have more staying power than those that are made passively.

It can be frustrating when trying to drum up some volunteers - and the bulk of the work continues to land on the same few shoulders. This road is sure to lead to burnout.

An interesting study found that the number of people who agreed to volunteer didn't change whether it was an active or passive response  but the difference was who actually showed up. And in the end, that is what counts!

ONLY 17% of those who passively volunteered ("said" yes or raised their hand) showed up while 49% of those who actively volunteered came as promised.


The obvious observation, then, is to try to get ACTIVE commitments.  What does that look like?  The study found that when commitments get written down, the individual is connected more strongly with a  judgment on themselves. So it becomes more difficult to shake off, ignore or downplay their commitment.

Have a sign up sheet! Then circulate that list as a reminder!

In our experience, the same goes for acknowledgements. Passive thank you's to those who have volunteered are "nice." But thank you cards, posters with names and articles that highlight people cement positive interactions.

Getting it in writing goes both ways!

RTV #29 Are you up for a 30 Day Challenge?

A Year of Raising the Village - week #29:  Try a 30 day challenge.

They say that if you do something (or stop something) everyday for 30 days you can start to form (or break) a habit. Matt Cutts, seen in this short TED talk, did a series of 30 day challenges - always something new, sometimes little and sometimes significant. He offers 3 important lessons from the experience.

1.  Time was memorable. With a focus on the challenge, those 30 days don't just blend into all the other months of the year - they become purposeful and defined by the experiences that were created during the challenge.

2.  Challenges increase self-confidence and spirit of adventure. Cutts found that after a few 30 day challenges under his belt, he became bolder and keen to try challenges that pushed him out of his comfort zone.

3.  The small challenges are sustainable - the big, hard, crazy ones aren't.  What a good community development lesson here! We've seen community builders try to pull off BIG massive changes when the little things are the actions that might actually stick around long enough to truly make a difference!

Consider doing a 30 day challenge of your own, or buddy up with a friend or colleague, or go a bit bigger and engage an entire community collaborative in a challenge. Need some ideas? Take a photograph everyday for 30 days, bike to work everyday, write a book (1,666 words per day for 30 days and you've got yourself a 50,000 word novel) or cruise through past Raising the Village blogs to find some community building ideas: could you pick up litter, connect with a friend, say hi to a stranger, talk to a business about being family friendly, eat local, carpool, share stories, dance, eat with your family.... for 30 days?

We are in for the challenge.  We at Raising the Village plan to take a photo about "collaboration" everyday for 30 days starting today (July 18 - August 16th)!  Follow our pics on Facebook (click here to go to FB and like our page).

What 30 day challenge will you do?

RTV #28 The trust building tango.

A year of Raising the Village - week #28: The trust building tango!

In the late 1800's the tango was the dance craze of the working class. A combination of latin, european and african influences, it is a dance that is filled with dynamic balance, turning, moving at a variety of speeds and, of course, a little romance.  The colloquialism, "it takes two to tango" is as appropriate on the dance floor as it is in community.

Village raising is a dance of action, process, balance and, like tango partners, trust. The trust between two dancers has always been intriguing. When there is an obvious level of trust between partners, a feeling of ease exudes. In our context, the work of building community partnerships and collaboration happens with that same sense of ease only when trust is present among those involved. Whether you are the one taking the "lead" or "following"  (oh my, the fun of a metaphor), there are things you can do to support the trust building process.

In the lead?

• share what you know...be transparent
• deliver on your promises 
• empower others to make decisions and represent the group
• be open and listen to everyone's opinions
• ask for feedback
• assume that others will do what they commit to doing without checking up on them 
• provide appropriate credit and recognition
• admit your own mistakes, errors in judgement and inability to meet commitments, every dancer steps on toes sometimes!

In the role of following?

• accept action items and timelines only when you know you can deliver
• be a staunch supporter of professionalism and confidentiality 
• disagreements happen, always treat other's opinions with respect
• be honest (enough said)
• don't take all the credit in a collaborative group
• lead from wherever you are (reality is that we all have leadership roles - particularly in a collaborative process!)

To build trust - you have to trust and be trusted. Take these ideas for a spin around the dance floor.  The ideas have been inspired by Glenn Parker and Robert Hoffman's book Meeting Excellence as well as tips gleaned from recent dance partners.

RTV #22 - Top 10 little actions

A Year of Raising the Village. Week #22 Our top 10 "little" picks to build social capital.


Better Together is a book and website (bettertogether.org) by Robert Putnam and Lewis Feldstein. Putnam is an author that influenced us a great deal when researching for our book Raising the Village.

Better Together is about building social capital - which we have blogged about before. It is defined as the collective value of all the social connections that people have and the desire from these groups to do things for each other. The authors write that, "social capital is built through hundreds of little and big actions we take everyday." From their list of 150 things that people can do to build social capital, we wanted to share our top ten picks of the little actions. Those little things that if done regularly and/or if done by more people, DO add up to make a difference.

Top 10 Little Actions

1. donate blood


2. avoid gossip


3. ask to see a friend's family photos


4. see if your neighbour needs anything when you run to the store


5. hang out at the town dump...and chat with neighbours as you sort your trash for recycling


6. say hi to people in the elevator


7. buy a BIG hot tub (ok the price tag isn't so little, but it sounds fun!)


8. sit on your front step


9. pick it up -- even if you didn't drop it


10. log off and go to the park

Village Raising Question
What little thing have you done lately that contributes to social capital?

RTV #14 Embrace Change. Spark Change

A Year of Raising the Village - Week #14. Be the change you wish to see!

Einstein said that we can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. That means that if we want to see change we have to change ourselves. Change isn't easy for many people. (that is probably an understatement!) As a village raiser, we have the opportunity to set an example by being agents of change. Carla Rieger, a Vancouver based "creativity catalyst" (http://www.artistryofchange.com/) recently shared her top 3 practices in what she describes as the artistry of change.


Choose your attitude.
Fish! (by Stephen Lundin) also does a great job outlining how attitude is all about choice. Feelings are things we can't control, but when it comes to how we approach and respond to situations - we are in the driver's seat. Ask yourself: what attitude are you choosing right now? What attitude do you want in your life more often? What attitude do you want to model in your home, workplace, neighbourhood and community? What attitude will it take to raise the village?


Let go and lean into problems.
Rieger suggests that if the roller coaster of life starts to go downhill, act as if you are confident about dealing with the situation until you also feel confident. It's a "fake it until you make it" or "think it and you'll be it" scenario. Actions and feelings are intertwined. Psychology suggests that the brain tells the body how to feel and then the body acts accordingly. As the roller coaster starts going downhill, pry your white knuckles off the bar, lean into the rapid change in altitude and FEEL (don't resist) the thrill. Recently, a group of innovative village raisers came together getting ready for ACTION! They had talked and explored and researched and were narrowing in on a project that had some exciting potential. The closer the group got to making a decision, people resisted, hesitated and pulled back with increasing force, Rieger calls these folks change-challenged. Take her quiz to find out if you are change-challenged or a change artist - and LEAN in.

Think in possibilities.
Creative thinking can be learned and practiced. Books (and apps) are filled with brain games to generate ideas, create new opportunities and improve old products or processes. Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko is just one resource that we use to break out of traditional patterns of thinking and play around in the innovation sandbox. Gamestorming by Gray, Brown and Mucanufo is another one that has tools for groups. Ask "what if" more often.

Ghandi said be the change you want to see. Can't argue with that! Einstein and Ghandi were pretty smart and both changed the world!

Related blogs:
Take the Change-agent Challenge
Be a Mischief-maker


Village Raising Question: What's the change you are going to be?

RTV #11 - Gather and share stories about what community means to you.

Tracy Smyth, Paul Born & Tammy Dewar

A Year of Raising the Village - Week #11.

What does community mean to you?

Community Conversations: Mobilizing the ideas, skills, and passion of community organizations, governments, businesses, and people…not only a great idea but also an excellent book. Author, Paul Born – with us in the photo – was keynote and fellow presenter at the Putting it into Practice Conference in Langley, BC. Paul, himself a master storyteller, had the audience enraptured with his tales of community conversation and community change. Community conversations uncover the ideas, skills and passions that exist in community by drawing out the stories people have to tell! Since the release of his book, Paul and his colleagues at Tamarack asked 500 members of their learning community this question: What does "experiencing community" mean to you? The survey responses, entitled 500 Voices: Experiencing Community are a rich look into being in relationship with others.

During our Village workshops, as well as when we interview for our newsletter, we enthusiastically ask people what community means to them. Take a look at the Artisan Piazza Page on this blog. In it we continue to highlight artists and their interpretations of community through art. Each piece comes from a story held by that artist, powerful enough to turn into something physical! To see who our next artist will be, sign up for our spring newsletter. (sign up here)

Healthy Eating - Active Communities offers a site full of great examples of how a community can use stories to advocate for positive change. We love the Greenfield Walking Group story of how mothers and children transformed a park to become a clean, safe place. The site also shares some great story telling tips and the best questions to ask to elicit the juicy ones! Also check out our storytelling blogs

• The Story Behind Powerful Presentations
• Sparkling Dream Catchers
• Sharpen Your View! Distribute Cameras to Children and Families
• Navigate the River of Data & Dialogue

Village Raising Question: What story do you have to tell that describes what community means for you?

RTV Week #10 - Talk: Then Put it into Practice!

A Year of Raising the Village - Week #10.

Think about what you are putting into practice!

We have spent the last two days in the Fraser Region (just outside of Vancouver) at an Early Childhood conference "Put it into Practice". We were stoked to share our Village Experience with others as well as to learn from an interesting troupe of keynote speakers in the areas of evidence, quality and leadership. Taking time to think about the application of evidence brought to mind a passage from our book Raising the Village. See if this scene is familiar to you at all...

Sleeves rolled up, furrowed brows, slumped shoulders, a heaviness in the air...Weighed down with an all-consuming responsibility, no one in the room dared pause for so much as a coffee break. The participants were focused, intense, and determined to wade through the fog and confusion. In front of each chari was a stack of papers bursting with negative statistics and cold statements about the well-being of children in the community. On the one hand, the documents held great validity and interest for those around the table. On the other hand, the information they bore failed to reflect the spirit of the community or the hard work that this group and others had dedicated to children and families. The overwhelming task before them was to make sense of the data, define the key issues, and make a plan to better meet the needs of the community. (Raising the Village, 2009)

This is a situation many of us working with communities can relate with. It can feel heavy when faced with cold hard facts and yet it is these cold hard facts that can be the fuel to keep us seeking new ways of working together. When faced with data - take time to talk about it, ask questions, vent emotions, look at it from different perspectives and then talk some more. Through conversations that matter, a process will be revealed.

It's worth the heaviness.

At the conference we heard some great ideas about HOW to "put it into practice" that resonated with how we try to show up. Here are our top 3.

1. Working together is what it is all about. Truly! We could choose to work harder (hmmm) or get smarter (huh?) or partner better (yeah!!!)

2. It is never just ONE thing that derails development...so it's not going to be just ONE thing that fixes things either. This is so true whether it is applied to child development, business development, collaborative development - you name it.

3. Take time for deep conversations so that WE change and then we'll actually be able to MAKE change. (oooh gives goosebumps!) As Einstein said, you can't solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.

Village Raising Question:

How do you deal with cold hard facts?

What are you putting into practice?

RTV #8 - Build a Community Play Space

A Year of Raising the Village - Week #8

Find an under utilized play space – it holds amazing potential with some creativity and a lot of elbow grease!

In Qualicum Beach, tucked behind a centralized elementary school is a true community play space. Storybook Village is a place that inspires imaginative play and fosters community connections.  Partners from the early childhood community, schools, business and seniors have co-created a play space for young children and adults young at heart. The village is made up of a paved roadway (trike sized with real traffic signs) that is warmly circled by miniature replicas of community buildings – the theatre, the library, the gas station, the bank, the medical centre … 

These 10’ by 10’ wooden buildings, each sponsored by a local group or business, beg for the creative spirits of children to make them come alive during play. What a “village-like” opportunity for children to role-play, interact with their neighbours and care for their little town!

Just behind Storybook Village, you can also find Alphabet Garden. There are 26 raised beds, each in the shape of a letter and each tended to with care and attention by community groups and businesses. A thoughtful way to blend generations. 

The end products - garden and play space - are delightful – but the incredible benefit to the community also comes in the long process of taking this project from idea to plan to build! The stories of new relationships, generosity and community spirit fuel all those involved to keep working together.

For more information, check out their website: http://www.sd69.bc.ca/programs/BLT/Pages/default.aspx 


Village Raising Question
What creative play spaces have been created (and are used) in your community?

A Year of Raising the Village

Photo copyright - T.Dewar

Happy New Year! We have something exciting to launch in 2011 - 52 community building ideas coming your way! There are many different ways to Raise a Village so we are taking some of the innovative and timeless ideas we have researched and will be sharing them with you. Yes, a year of ideas that in and of themselves might not sound like a sustainable village effort, but pieced together they sure are impressive! Our post ideas will speak to the simple things, or the deep impressions, or a collective experience, or an event, or system changes, as we believe it takes all of this (and more)! We ask you to consider the year of ideas as a united tapestry – by taking these seemingly separate patchwork activity ideas and weaving them together into an integrated and coordinated strategy that aims at reducing child vulnerability and increasing community engagement and awareness. We encourage you to take your own grass roots approach and adapt and create what works for you and your community.

As the year of village raising ideas unfold...

• Be open to new ideas that spark a fresh initiative




• Watch for ideas that add to or strengthen an existing initiative




• Consider the “who” – who might be inspired by this idea. Is there something children, families or grandparents may want to take on?




• Might there be an idea that is the very bridge to services you have been looking for?




• What about ideas that will create new partnerships or new shared leadership opportunities?

Challenge yourself and take the ideas that get you bubbling and talk about them with people to see what develops. We ask you to enjoy the flavour of each individual idea and remember that they are part of a bigger, village raising picture!

We’d love to hear your ideas...please comment on any posts or email us through our website (http://www.raisingthevillage.ca/ )

Tracy & Tammy

Village Raising Questions (for the year)

· What activities add value to your existing community plans? (i.e. ECD strategic plan, governance structures, visions).
· What ideas are most “alive” and capable of continued growth?
· What activities will leave a legacy?
· Which ones speak most to “working together”? Engagement? Partnerships?
· Which activities give a voice to children, youth and families?

Theory of Change

Change can feel like looking up at a looming “brick-wall” - an insurmountable challenge! We often end up banging our head, pushing a bit harder, screaming a bit louder – all without any results.

“If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.” Those of us working in community can learn much from the way artists think and approach their own creative processes. This quote by artist Mary Engelbreit, speaks directly to the need to take a step back and have a better look at the brick wall itself. Engelbreit is suggesting that if we reflect on how we think about the brick wall – maybe we can approach it in a completely different way, getting completely different results.

This could be applied to a piece of art, writers block, the troubling behaviour of a child, a social issue, personal development….the list is endless. Opportunities for change are endless.

In 1995, Carol Weiss identified that when people avoid looking at the assumptions around an issue, people get fuzzy and vague in their thinking about how the change will actually happen – they just think of the “now” and the “end result," but not the mini-steps in between. This lack of clarity increasing the likelihood of not reaching the long-term outcome and getting detoured in that big ‘ol area of grey in the middle. Weiss popularized the term “Theory of Change” as an approach to surface the assumptions and then detail the mini-steps of change.

Here is a very simplified example. Let’s say that someone is overweight and out of shape - lifestyle changes can be very hard! This person wants to improve their health, so decides to construct a theory of change to make sure that the strategies they choose align with their assumptions and to help identify the mini-steps to success.

As assumptions are brought to the surface –a strongly held belief is discovered that it takes time to eat healthy.  And in reality, what has been happening is that this person is very busy and rushed and usually ends up eating out. 

Imagine if the strategy to lose weight was to buy a puppy in order to encourage this person to get out and walk more.  While that might be a great strategy for someone else – they would be distracted from the area that has the most potential for change - the issue is really focused on time. Adding an additional task of puppy care would have everyone banging their heads against the wall! On the other hand, practicing the skills of grocery list making, learning how to stock shelves with healthy ingredients, finding resources for quick and easy cooking will help to avoid restaurant eating.  After these mini-steps are successful, the puppy might be another strategy (or not!).

While a HUGE simplification, knowing your end result is just not good enough. Unearthing the assumptions that exist behind the issue will help everyone in a change process design the strategies that will make up the mini-steps towards the greater change.

Sometimes it is how we think about an issue that is the key to great change!

Here are some helpful resources to continue exploring the use of Theory of Change with complex community issues.

Theory of Change.org is a collaborative project of the Aspen Institute and ActKnowledge, offering a wide array of resources, tools, tips, and examples of Theory of Change.

Theory of Change: A Practical Tool for Action, Results and Learning from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The Aspen Institute’s Roundtable on Community Change created “The Community Builder’s Approach to Theory of Change,” which is a practical guide for facilitators, including what to do before and during meetings with stakeholders, suggested participants, and recommended materials.

 “Theories of Change and Logic Models: Telling Them Apart” is a helpful PowerPoint presentation.

Village Raising Question:

We plan to have a future follow-up blog about the practicalities of using Theory of Change - giving examples of issues and topics that Early Years Community Developers face... and how a theory of change can help.

What are your lingering questions about Theory of Change?  Have you used the process successfully?

How Attached is Your Community?

People working with children know the vital role attachment plays in child development. In the first few months of life, infants form some kind of attachment relationship with the person who is primarily responsible for their care (often a parent). We know from the science of early childhood development that early relationships and attachments to a primary caregiver are the most consistent and enduring influence on social and emotional development for young children. * Further, Infants with secure attachment relationships with their caregivers are more likely to play, explore, and interact with adults in their child care setting. **

This got us thinking...could attachment play a role in our ability as adults to attach to our communities? If children with strong attachments are more likely to play, explore and interact with others, could the same be said for adults and our relationship with communities and the groups we work with?

Well, lo and behold, there is a study to give us insight into the role attachment plays in community! Enter, Gallup and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation who conducted a study with a focus on what attaches people to their communities. They asked questions such as; what makes a community a desirable place to live? What draws people to stake their future in it? Are communities with more attached residents better off? The study found three main qualities that attach people to place:

1. social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet
2. openness (how welcoming a place is)
3. the area’s aesthetics (its physical beauty and green spaces).

As community facilitators we recognize the connection between how “attached” people feel to a group (or a collaborative, organization, or community) and how engaged they are in the work. We call this constructing relevance: finding the purpose and meaning that most resonates with individuals, and with the group as a whole, so that people stay energized in their village raising work! When facilitating groups we pay special attention to the space in which formal and informal meetings occur. We do this by:

1. creating a welcoming space rich in dialogue
   
2. asking stirring questions and providing social networking opportunities that are “out of the box”.


3. adding dashes of creativity to liven the space

Perhaps this approach taps into a feeling of connection that encourages play, exploration and interaction with others! Attachment and relevance – two drivers in community building!

Village Raising Questions

How engaged are you to play, explore and interact in your community? How engaged are you in your collaborative or organization?

On a scale to 1-10, how attached are you to your community?

What might bring you a stronger sense of community attachment?

References:
*From the Zero to Three website http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/imhtestimony.pdf?docID=1286
Shonkoff, J., & Phillips, D. (Eds.). (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

** http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/ChildCareResearchBrief.pdf?docID=3542

For more on the above study see the Soul of Community website: http://www.soulofthecommunity.org/

Village Raising – Strength style!

“What makes you feel strong?”

Imagine being asked this question at the start to every team, organizational or community meeting you attended. Then, what if you are given the space and time to speak what strengthens you! Nice, right? Take this one step further and imagine your strength declaration being directly applied to a plan that moves forward the work at hand. Tis’ this not the energized life and work we seek?

Although it may not be practical to partake in a full strengths discovery in every meeting – strengths can be incorporated in some way into every kind of meeting. Each person is full of strengths and carries them everywhere they go. Strengths are part of our DNA if you will. We do not hang our strengths up on a coat rack when we enter a meeting room or work zone and leave them behind (although we may not be using them to their fullest). For us at Raising the Village, we often hear that people struggle with how to take their personal strength knowledge and use it beyond a level of general or self awareness. People are looking for ways to bring their strengths to the bigger picture – to their teams, organizations and communities!

We offer 7 concrete examples that focus on how you can take your group’s strengths (both individual and collective strengths) and actually integrate them into action.

1. Use strengths directly in your action plan to put some momentum behind your projects. “This is going to get done by making full use of [insert strength here]”.

2. Examine strengths alongside local research data. See what your community is really good at and USE those things to address any challenges or to compliment what the research says.

3. Bring a community strength list out during times of conflict or territorial issues between partners. Ask the group how the strengths can be used to help solve tricky ‘working together” problems or to determine which “roles” to play in decision making processes.

4. Look at challenges/projects with different perspectives. For example, ask: What is the benefit of looking at this through a strength lens of [insert strength here]? What would an [insert strength word here] view say?

5. To encourage creative thinking – put the group’s strength words into a hat. With a clearly defined challenge or issue on the table, pull out a couple of strengths and force some associations between them. This will help to think about the challenge in a new way.

6. Use strengths in evaluating what works. Have a space on meeting evaluation forms that asks people; “How did you use your strengths in today’s meeting?” Be brave enough to also ask; “If you did not use your strengths today…why not?”

7. Build confidence in your community by focusing on what jazzes people up. Strengths can be recognized and celebrated in an ongoing way. Consider a visual display of strengths (individual and community) in your meeting room, place of work or gathering spot.

Good ole Law of Attraction states that we tend to create what we focus on the most. Besides, honouring people for who they are and what they bring, incorporating strengths into our organizational or community cultures make it easier and safer for people to offer up their best. Using our strengths creates a vibrant personal life which in turn feeds into vibrant villages (and vice versa). It’s this work that strengthens individuals and communities and keeps strengths off the coat rack.

Village Raising Questions:
What’s important about sharing our strengths?
What strengths are you ready to offer up more intentionally?
How might you do this in a collective way?

Navigating the River (of data and dialogue)

Photo Copyright TSmyth

The word dialogue comes from the root words dia (meaning through) and logos (the word). It gives the image “of a river of meaning flowing around and through each participant” (Bohm, 1991).

Depending on the facilitator’s comfort zone, the topic and who’s in the room, that river could be a meandering trickle or a white water rush. A guide or method to approach holding a dialogue can sometimes be a welcome relief to a group facilitator as well as to participants (sort of like bringing a life jacket on your wet adventure).

In Raising the Village (2009), we dedicate a chapter to dialogue – how to create space for it, how to ask those phenomenological questions that rock everyone’s world, and how that leads to constructing a collective relevance. In community, dialogue can provide the opportunity to create shared meaning, to learn from each member of a group, and to jointly explore an issue. It is very different from discussion or debate, which includes both problem solving and seeking closure.  The issues that early years community developers tackle in community are complex and multi-factoral.

The Institute of Cultural Affairs created a method for guiding groups from discussion into dialogue.  It is called ORID and while a funny acronym that rhymes with horrid, it, on the contrary, may just help avoid a horrid meeting!

Each step in the method takes a group into a deeper level of conversation. It allows people to process and contribute their thoughts systematically. One excellent example of its use is for early years community developers who are faced with facilitating conversations around local data such as the Early Development Indicator. Without a guide to help “navigate the river of logos,” groups can be overwhelmed with complex information.

After some information is presented to the group, a facilitator can apply the ORID process. The first stage is OBJECTIVE. This level resists getting wrapped up in opinions and interpretations and focuses solely on the information. Questions for this stage might include:

What phrases or ideas from the presentation stood out for you?

What factual statements can you make based on the data?

The next step is to allow participants to be REFLECTIVE and contribute their initial reactions, both positive and negative.

Questions for this stage might include:

What gives you concern?  What gives you hope?

What encouraged you? What discouraged you?

How does this make you feel?

The third level towards dialogue is INTERPRETIVE. This now requires some critical thinking skills. Participants will be paddling into meaning making, finding value and significance. Questions at this stage may include:

What does this mean for the work we do together?

What new insights do you have?

What areas of need seem to arise?

Finally, the group reaches a DECISIONAL level in which collective opinion on next steps is the goal. A good question for this stage is:

How will we apply what we have talked about here today?

What are our proposed next steps?

Participants aren’t necessarily aware of the ORID process. When it has a free-flowing feeling, participants stay more activity engaged in the content instead of getting sidetracked with a structure. A strong facilitator will allow the questions of each stage to propel the conversation forward allowing participants to co-construct meaning in their logos.  

May your river of meaning be safely navigated!

Village Raising Question

In what situations do you see your community using the ORID process?