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Convergent Facilitation Complex Policy Decision Facilitation Header

Got a big, gnarly policy decision on your hands?
We’d love to help.

Complex Policy Decisions

Sometimes you have a big gnarly situation on your hands that requires significant work before a meeting is even possible.

 

Convergent Facilitation has been used successfully in situations just like this. Some of our case studies describe these projects. We welcome these opportunities! We believe bringing Convergent Facilitation to them is a key way we can contribute to having a livable future because these difficult situations tend to impact so many people.

 

Our Convergent Facilitators can assist you with every step of the process to increase the chances that the actual meeting will yield a decision that works well for the largest possible number of people who have a stake in the outcome.

Framing

Find language that is as practical and moves as far away from ideological or polarizing ways of speaking about the issues as possible. The more the language used is recognized by all as representing a clear and shared purpose, the more likely it is that people will lean into collaboration rather than lean away to protect their own interests.

Convening

Identify the people to invite who can, together, transform the situation. Especially in complex and controversial issues, you want as wide a range of perspectives as possible to help find a solution that works for all. Ultimately, having people who

 

  • are impacted

  • have a stake in the solution

  • are as close as possible to having the authority to implement what they decide

increases the likelihood that they will recognize the need to collaborate rather than to argue for positions. Achieving this wide range of perspectives can be done either by random sampling or by inviting multi-stakeholder groups. The latter is more advisable when there’s less trust in the environment.

Designing

Decide how to proceed with the people you’ve invited. 

 
  • Would it be most effective to bring people together and begin the work of identifying what’s important when everyone can hear everyone else?

  • Would it work better to engage in individual and small group conversations and come to the larger group with a pre-digested list of ideas? 
 
We can help you decide, always focusing on finding the most convergence with the least use of resources.

Facilitating

The heart of Convergent Facilitation.

 

  • The question has been framed to maximize trust

  • People have been invited based on careful selection of criteria for participation to maximize information.

  • The design has focused on maximizing the potential for collaboration.

Now is the time for the Convergent Facilitator to maximize willingness, support convergence, and reach a decision that can work for the most number of impacted people

Got a big, gnarly policy decision on your hands?
We’d love to help.  Contact us.

Want to read more?

Miki Kashtan expands on these considerations in Increasing Prospects for Collaboration Even Before Starting.

 

In Apart and Together: Finding Collective Wisdom to Move into a Future for All, she also shares the ambitious and visionary model for global governance she put together with a group of facilitators, activists and thinkers from around the world to respond to global crises. It is comprehensive enough to replace the current UN model that is clearly inadequate to the task of responding to global crises. It is also practical enough that pieces of it could be implemented on smaller scales just about anywhere. 

 

Until such a future arrives, we are here to support you in taking steps, now, that point in the direction of a world that works for all by using Convergent Facilitation to address complex policy questions.

Convergent Facilitation