Creative Dialogue and Design (CDD)
Background
When confronted with conflict many individuals and groups experience difficulty dealing with the complexity of the situation. This is particularly true in situations in which people need and want to communicate across cultural difference or for diverse groups and organizations who need to make strategic decisions.The Creative Dialogue and Design Project addresses the need for meaningful discussion about sensitive and complex topics, which assists in strategic decision-making. Drawing on theories of complex social systems and effective behavioural management, we implement Creative Dialogue and Design (CDD) to assist groups, organizations and communities in facilitating dialogue and in designing ways to deal with complex situations.
CDD is based on the principle that dealing with complex and stressful situations requires exploration of participants' knowledge. The facilitation team guides participants through a dialogue and planning-process which is flexible and based on three distinctive stages. Stage 1 concentrates on developing greater understanding of the problems as perceived by the group. Stage 2 assists in formulating a group vision by articulating goals the group wants to reach. Stage 3 allows for prioritisation of projects to ensure that resources are expended where they can have the greatest effect.
The design process uses behaviourally sensitive technologies, including computer assistance, to support the recording, prioritising, structuring, displaying and reporting of the group's work. The group is able to follow the process through the continuous visual display of ideas and idea structures generated by the group. These structures can be incorporated into planning documents, representing the conclusions formulated by the group. Visualisation is combined with skilled facilitation of group dialogue, creating a safe space in which individuals may feel empowered to speak about sensitive issues and in which a respectful exchange of different ideas and views can take place.
Practice
Creative Dialogue and Design can be useful for communities, corporate workgroups, public sector planning, NGOs, education providers, interest groups and others. Meaningful group size ranges from 6 to 20 people, although large groups and organizations can be accommodated by breaking down into separate design groups. Results from the different groups can be compared and synthesized into strategic plans that effect the larger organization. The Creative Dialogue and Design team welcomes enquiries for design sessions.Research
Creative Dialogue and Design is based on the process of Interactive Management (IM), which combines Nominal Group Technique (NGT) with Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM). Interactive Management was developed by Prof. John N. Warfield and is based on findings from systems theory and behavioural theories of group facilitation. Research so far has focused on the outputs of IM, such as interpreting and analysing the structures created by participants.The dialogue process itself has received comparatively little attention. However, most participants in IM design emphasise the dialogical process, in that it empowers participants, encourages commitment to the group and to the decisions made by the group, helps individuals to gain more clarity on their own and the group's situation, assists in forming sustainable relationships and appreciation across difference, and helps to generate shared meaning and understanding of complex issues.
These outcomes reflect many of the underlying principles of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Therefore IM not only assists people in clarifying and articulating their views, it also provides a process for group members to develop communication skills, improve relationships, and create shared visions of the future. This makes IM a particularly useful process for peacebuilding, conflict resolution and conflict transformation projects.
Our research aims to further the understanding of the link between complex systems and respectful dialogue and learning processes. Continuing research in these areas will help to improve IM design processes and harness the resources of IM design for peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Where appropriate and ethical we therefore invite participants in our Creative Dialogue and Design sessions to provide us with feedback on their experience and to participate in process research on the value and effects of the IM Design process.
Partners
The Creative Dialogue and Design project currently works with the 'Walk With Me' (WWM) Building Peace In West Cairns project. The project draws from the cultural and local knowledge of residents committed to bringing about positive social change while reducing conflict and violence in the community and encouraging well being. The focus is on strengthening community and family relations by improving on current community engagement practices, building community and individual capacity empowering the community and encouraging and enabling strong community and youth leadership. The future vision of the WWM project is to empower the community by creating opportunities for meaningful intercultural, intergender and intergenerational dialogues that follows a cooperative and collective approach to resolving conflict, creating solutions and promoting a safer West Cairns community that embraces diversity and is respectful and tolerant of difference.The WWM project is funded by the Queensland Government's Community Renewal Program coordinated by the Department of Housing and delivered in partnership with Cairns City Council. The WWM project is an initiative of the Cairns City Council Local Area Multicultural Partnership supported through the Community and Cultural Development Branch.
We have trained the project team in IM Design and have facilitated an IM problem mapping session with knowledgeable members of the community. In 2008 the WWM team plans to hold another IM Design session to design a vision-structure and implement action plans and projects to enhance community participation in ways which address the problems identified. The WWM Project uses a participatory action research methodology to examine the progress and outcome of the project. In this project, ACPACS team members act as advisers, trainers, facilitators and mentors.
