Why participation matters to communications and strategic planning

Many years ago, I sat in a weekly staff meeting, dying inside. Even now, when I think back to the feeling of the staff meeting, I feel a pit in my stomach.

I walked into the meeting each and every week with a sense of dread.

I knew what was going to happen because it was the exact thing that happened every week at these staff meetings: There was some part of me that wanted to scream with frustration.

Okay, so, there was more to it than that, but I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating by much. See, I am an empath. It is a gift. When I feel those around me being metaphorically stepped on, whether it is myself or others, I see it. I feel it in my body.

Except there wasn’t any space to express the frustration or the feelings in this meeting. That wasn’t how this staff meeting ran. Ever!

So here was how it went: We sat around a rectangular conference table. The Boss ran the meeting. We were all invited to contribute agenda items, which meant less than it sounds. Though a perfunctory nicety, the meetings always focused on The Boss and what was on his mind.

The meetings seemed to always focus on the gossip he had learned over the past week. Some of this gossip related to our work – much of it did not. When he wasn’t sharing gossip, he called on his favorites, mostly other men, to report and share their ideas. I felt bored a lot of the time.

I was interested in doing good work, not digesting gossip! But I couldn’t see a way to meaningfully participate. I was in a difficult situation of disconnecting from my feelings and my life energy in order to survive these meetings.

Over time, the only thing I could do to disengage was to get smaller and smaller. It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I probably cared too much, actually. I just did not feel seen, appreciated, or valued in this work environment. Eventually I left. That turned out to be a gift! The moment that I left this environment, I started to get my life energy back.

I know I’m not the only one with a boss like this or who has to sit through these ineffective kinds of meetings. I have heard from many people about it, every time taking me right back to that rectangular table, trying to make myself smaller and smaller just to endure it.

Image description: a light blue rectangular conference table, seven dark blue seats around the table, an “X” over the image.

Those experiences left me with a life question: How do we build inclusive spaces in which each person is seen, appreciated, and valued? In which each person has a sense of belonging and contribution?

 So the story has a happy ending. Well, let’s call it ‘a happy middle.’

What I learned in the years after having this ongoing, painful, and tedious experience, is that there are many ways to design and build participatory environments.

One light bulb moment happened for me when I started working with the Technology of Participation facilitation methods:

There are ways of structuring conversations and processes so that many voices within the group are heard. These structures come alive when there is interest in insuring that people are involved in making decisions that affect their lives. And not surprisingly, they should not be used when there is no intention to actually incorporate people’s voices and perspectives.

Beyond the technical part of the conversation structures, a critical component is the attitude and competencies that the facilitator or group leader brings: to work with the group to design effective processes, listen carefully to each group member, and honor the wisdom of the group.

I need to say here, as I keep saying now, that talking about race and equity is a key component of building an environment of belonging. Participatory structures falter without explicitly seeing, naming and opening up space to talk about systemic barriers and the need for those closest to challenges to weigh in on the solutions.

There are so many applications for participatory group processes! This Thursday, I’m joining my colleagues at Rootid to share tools that build brand ambassadors at their virtual monthly community roundtable. Rootid partners with local and global organizations to implement community-centered, technology-driven brand, communications, and marketing strategies. The challenge their community members, mainly communications professionals, are having is that they want help getting their brand messages out into the world.

How do we each get our messages out into the world? Going back to my opening story, simply telling people to broadcast our key messages is not nearly as effective as we think (or, at least as The Boss thought!).

Instead, we use participatory methods to find the connections between our messages and the interests and life experience of each group member. We’ll be exploring one participatory method called Focused Conversation in our meeting on Thursday.

It’s the same thing with strategic planning. A great strategic plan does not come from the leader dictating the plan to others! Instead, thoughtful plans emerge through structured processes that draw on the wisdom of the group to develop vision and plans together. The benefits of these processes include clarity, alignment, and focus.

These days, I have the privilege of leading participatory processes. I love it so much and see the positive results on organizations, so that I teach others to use these methods too. It never gets boring! Probably the most exciting, and healing, part of this is to experience the life energy of others in the room as they experience building an environment together in which each person feels a sense of belonging and contribution.

If your organization is recovering from a leader like The Boss and you think your organization can benefit from a much more collaborative and engaging approach to doing business, then definitely reach out!