Now comes the truly exciting stuff! We have invited our neighbors for a gathering to discuss how we can make our neighborhood ever more harmonious. How can we create a spirit of connection and support? How can we strengthen our relationships and find deeper ways to care for each other?
Since we don’t always know how many people will show up, we will need to be prepared for different scenarios. Rule number one: we want to include everyone in the conversation. Every opinion counts. As long as it is expressed in a way that is respectful to everyone and everything. But people may find speaking in public intimidating. Others will want to dominate the conversation. Therefore, we pay a lot of attention to people’s sense of security. We want them to feel safe.
1. It begins with the way we welcome people when they enter. Show gratitude for their courage to show up. It helps to offer a (preferably non-alcoholic!) drink before the formal start.
2. Introduction to the meeting: think of an inspiring way to kick-off the meeting. Your tone expresses gratefulness, passion, connection and maybe even some playfulness. “Tonight is very special. Together we will lay the foundations to become the best neighborhood in town.”
Explain that the goal is to find some common ground in the way we want to live together as neighbors. We will dream big and act small. With many small actions we can generate a massive impact.
Express that you find it extremely important that the conversation can take place in a serene atmosphere. That we want to make sure everyone feels heard and that we ask not to interrupt each other, start a debate or be disrespectful to anyone. And thank people for valuing this statement.
3. If you feel comfortable with this, you can start with an icebreaker (see the examples available for download). We like to use formats like “step into the circle”, “people bingo” or “a speed date”. The idea is to break the ice by demonstrating that we’re all connected in many ways that we are unaware of.
4. Form groups of 3. Peter Block calls a triad “the smallest group for transformation.” In a small group people feel more secure expressing their opinions. And the dynamics of a group of 3 are more interesting than in a duo where the conversation is more easily dominated by one of the two group members. Of course, depending on the attendance you can make a different choice: to split the group in two when only 8 people showed up for instance; form groups of four or five. There are many options, as long as – again – everyone gets an opportunity to speak.
5. Introduce the first question. The questions that you ask are focused on the goal of the meeting. For example: “Why did you find it important to attend this meeting tonight?” Set a time limit and reiterate the importance of giving everyone in the group an opportunity to speak.
6. Next step is to feed back to the large group. Ask: “what have you heard in your group that struck you?” or “what were some commonalities that were shared in your group” or … It’s good to take some notes of the things being said at this point. You can beam these notes live on a big screen. This will stimulate others to get their points of view in the minutes of the meeting.
7. Then you introduce your next question to be discussed in small groups. Use the same instructions as before. And each time feed back to the large group in a similar way as in step 6. Other interesting questions may be:
- How does your ideal neighborhood look like? Or which values do you find important in the way we live together as neighbors?
- What crossroads do we find ourselves at? What possibilities lie in this momentum for our neighborhood?
- How important do you find this movement? And how much are you willing to contribute?
- What are you thankful for?
8. Close the meeting with identifying the next steps. Ask who would like to contribute/take part in the steering group that will discuss possible actions we can undertake to contribute to a stronger, more harmonious neighborhood where everyone feels safe. Make sure you collect everyone’s contact details so you can send them the report of the meeting and keep them informed of future actions.
9. Leave time to meet each other informally. This will start to establish some new connections and relationships in the neighborhood.
