What Can We Learn From Other Processes?

Seasoned practitioners of public engagement and facilitators understand that careful planning and preparation are integral to their work. Without dedicated time spent on process design, our work cannot succeed. This due diligence is a mandatory requirement of a professional. 

A multitude of wonderful aspects drove me to this field, but one of the most fundamental draws of this work was designing tailored processes for unique, complex issues affecting our community. It creates in me a sense of awe when I am able to design a session for an issue that really has no exact, algorithmic way to address it. If it did, it would not need our expertise in unique process design. 

Because of the varied nature of our work, I love to learn as much as I can in regards to process design. It’s riveting to apply different fields of study to our work. That being said, I don’t understand why our field doesn’t spend more time trying to look for unique ways to improve our processes. I always ask professionals how they design their processes, and I have been getting the same answers for five years. Don’t get me wrong, they are doing amazing work, but with how much new information is available, I sincerely believe that we need to analyze and apply new methods to our work. Really, not only should we be absorbing new information, but we should also be absorbing other disciplines that we as a group have not yet looked at. 

As professionals, we need to explore and ask the questions: What can we learn from different fields of expertise to improve our public processes? What can systems engineering, political engineering, and economics teach us about how our participants react to the processes that we create? What about literary theory or education pedagogy? These are all fields that consistently study how to interact and present information to their participants, or how they function in relation to their participants. By applying a systems mindset to other fields of study, what new conversations can we bring forth in ours?

For example, I am finding that studying fields such as game theory and game design in relation to my work has opened so many new doors that I can apply when designing my processes. If we start to think of a participant as a rational player in a process, we can anticipate how they might respond. A participant will behave differently in a linear process versus a process where multiple outcomes can occur.

Creek Consulting LLC takes pride in studying different fields to better our process design, and we encourage other facilitators to do the same. The issues in our organizations, communities, and groups are getting more complex by the day. We owe it to the public to continuously expand our knowledge base from both our field and from valuable aspects of other fields. 

Lets Talk Over Beers At Deli-BEER-ation

Throughout history, people have gathered at coffee shops and breweries to meet, gossip, plan, connect, and get to know one another and their neighbors better.  The next best thing has been created, the magnum opus finalized, the first step in a monumental revolution, the new earth shattering theory penned out, the budding new relationship of a long pursued love interest, and an old friendship rekindled are all things that happen at coffee shops and breweries.  There is one social taboo, however, that many people like to avoid to discuss at these locations. It’s the big one. 

Politics. 

Civil conversations never really happen in regards to politics anymore, especially within our own social networks. With political conversations all too often people only care about winning and aren't building relationships anymore. We rarely hold conversations about wicked issues that affect our friends, family, and our community. Even rarer is discussing these issues in an open public space. 

Why is that though? In the past a coffee shop and brewery has always been a place where people can come together and unite as a community. People have gathered at these spots and convened with their fellow neighbors since the dawn of time. They desire to actually communicate in a environment when they can relate to one another. The only reason they don’t act upon that desire,however, is because they are afraid to No one should be afraid to address their opinions on an issue that affects them.  We find that people want to have these conversations, but they just don’t have the opportunity to do so.

That is why we love to provide the opportunity for people to actually engage each other over the issues that matter. Coffee shops and breweries are staples in our community, and we love to hold conversations there. Our Deli-BEER-ation series specializes in facilitated conversations in coffee shops and breweries where we break down the social taboo of discussing politics. Deli-BEER-ation provides people the satisfaction of  connecting with your neighbors in a civil environment. Oh, and beer. The beer is great as well. 

We encourage you to come to one of our Deli-BEER-ation events. Coffee shops and breweries provide an integral service to our communities, and that is connecting neighbors together. Creek Consulting wants to expand on the good work that they do. By providing opportunities to hold discussions on difficult topics that affect us, we can connect our communities even more. 

If you have any topics that you believe need to be discussed, please let us know! If you would like to have this in your community, send us a message and we would love to facilitate our Deli-BEER-ation sessions in your neighborhood as well.