This tool can be used by callers - those who see that there is work to be done in the world - in order to get their thinking straight and create good containers for planning and action. It can also be used by core teams that come together around a strategic need and purpose, to continually refine their design for their work. The tool is designed to be used collectively, structured around a series of questions that can be answered by a group. Participatory processes require participatory leadership and these question will help you guide your planning to get the most out of a group. The tool can be used sequentially to plan out a project and it can be used as a reflective tool to review and refine the work. Designing Meetings and Processes In designing a meeting or a process, each of these stepping stones is activated by asking key questions. In beginning to design work together we can select from these questions (or create others) to help us explore each stone as we lay it in place. In this document we have given you a basic definition of the stepping stone, some sample questions to help guide your design and some ideas about how and what to harvest. These steps will lead you through three phases of strategic work and are applicable whether you are planning a single meeting or engaging in a multi-year strategic process. The three phases are: • Inviting • Implementing • Structuring INVITING Participatory processes, whether single meetings or long term strategic interventions, require a solid invitation in order for people to show up and contribute. Because participatory processes are still a relatively unorthodox way of meeting and tackling strategic issues, invitations need to be participatory too, and they must unfold over time, inviting people specifically and in a way that engages them long before the meeting begins. The saying “The conversation begins long before the meeting starts” should guide the way you plan an invitation. It is both content and process. The first four stepping stones are most useful in beginning the invitation process. Need “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” - Martin Luther King. The need is the compelling and present reason for doing anything. Identifying the need helps to anchor an invitation. Sensing the need is the first step to designing a meeting, organizational structure or change initiative that is relevant. Needs can be 2 22
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