Cross River Connexions Learning to work with differences

1. Cross River ConnexionsLearning to work with differences Daniel Martin, Ph.D The Art of Dialogue: Collaboration in Public Health Preparedness

2. ‘We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.’ — Lee Iacoca

3. Preparedness vs. Preparation Preparation Things done The past The known Preparedness Readiness The future The unknown

4. Preparedness A people process that needs trust and safety

5. Dialogue and Preparedness Dialogue is the glue that holds the process together.

6. The Challenges of Preparedness • Understanding each other • Hierarchies and power-brokering • Flexibility/adaptability • Trust • Fear of being wrong

7. Understanding ‘…For instance, at inter-agency meetings involving fire, law enforcement and public health we have finally learned that each discipline uses words in a different way, which can lead to different understandings of subject matter….’ —State Health Dept. Official

8. Hierarchies and Power-brokering ‘…the state put together a team to streamline the requests coming to the state and facilitate a communication mechanism for the locals through one phone number…. …the team worked well together but when they reported to the Security Taskforce there was no Dialogue but instead power-brokering occurred. …The final outcome was that instead of minimizing the number of phone numbers for local first responders to call, the state actually increased the number….’ —PH Official

9. Flexibility and Adaptability ‘…in Oklahoma City when the event happened, …the thing that impressed me most was their flexibility and adaptability within the first three hours of an unanticipated event–and apparently it was due to lots of advance team planning in the city emergency office and fire department. …What they actually did had not been written down but it is a small example of the kind of flexibility and creativity that can mean everything in a real emergency….’ —County Health Director

10. Trust ‘…I was in conversation with a contractor who is working with the state to set up logistics, but he was clearly not briefed on my role or the status of the state’s technical expertise and came off as the ‘parent’. Well, simply put, he picked the wrong tone and words with me the first day we met….We were already at the eleventh hour and logistics weren’t in place….And, because we hadn’t ‘connected’ at all before the work of figuring things out started, there was no safe place for us to disagree. I was so irritated…and I suspect he was too….Had either of us employed even the most rudimentary of dialogue skills…the meeting would have been more productive….’ —Senior PH Official

11. Fear of Being Wrong ‘…In public health, we are hampered by our science and fear of being wrong. Consequently we can’t or don’t or won’t engage in honest dialogue, at least in real time, during an event. Or if we do it is at some risk professionally. This is in part the culture, but surely Dialogue could at least help promote more genuine communication….’ —State Health Director

12. ‘We’ Thinking • Understanding each other • Learning how to listen • Building shared agreements

13. Social Networks (Relationships) = the most effective way to knowledge sharing

14. People tend to learn from other people rather than from books.

15. In a Crisis We turn to people we know and trust even when the procedure is clear.

16. Relationships Are the Essence of Preparedness Preparedness is developing trust and understanding between people

17. Emergencies always come out of left field. Preparedness is being ready for The Unknown.

18. Dialogue Is about Participating in the flow Dia - of meaning • Logos Dialogue is working with the unknown.

19. Hammer Technology Costs $100 The hammer costs $1. Knowing when and how to use it costs $99.

20. Dialogue and Preparedness ‘…The most positive aspect of all the preparedness activities—tabletops, joint planning efforts, etc.—has been in establishing relationships with those who will be critical partners in a response. Dialogue is fundamental to how those relationships are created and nurtured….’ —PH Preparedness Bureau Chief

21. The Three Essential Components of Dialogue • Connect • Listen • Discover

22. Connect The power of story • Always begin by connecting through personal story. • Show up and invite others to show up by sharing a story/memory. • When we connect at this level, creativity already begins to happen. ‘If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the kind of person you are, a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.’ —Wm. Stafford

23. Three Kinds of Trust • the trust of competence • the trust of integrity • the trust of vulnerability

24. Why is PH preparedness important to me? Question Reflect on why public health preparedness is important to you, and write 1-2 words via text-chat. Text Chat

25. Question Which category does my answer fall under? My children, grandchildren, future generations Safety/security, community relations Health, well-being Values/ethics, principles

26. The Personal • The personal connects us. • Here we create trust. • This is where preparedness begins.

27. Personal Work • Honing intention • Cultivating attitudes • Practicing skills

28. Listen Listening is multi-faceted and multi-leveled:

29. Listening Means Creating a Container • Where different perspectives can be held together • Where they can be owned by everyone A container is made up of safety, skills, commitment, experience. In a good container, different ideas can cross-pollinate and create new ideas.

30. The Rules of the Container • Go in sequence • No cross-talk • No rehearsing In the container, every voice can be heard; every perspective is valid.

31. An Experiment in Listening Five volunteers • Think of a time when you experienced preparedness in action. • Follow the rules of the container and respond to: What is the essence of PH preparedness?

32. Engaging All the Differences My life is not this steeply sloping hour in which you see me hurrying. Much stands behind me I stand before it like a tree. And I am only one of many mouths, and that the one that would be still the soonest. —Rilke

33. Discover Allowing new life to happen • Hold the differences. • Listen for what is emerging out of the differences as shared understanding. • Harvest shared agreements/decisions for action from this shared understanding. I am the rest between two notes that are somehow always in discord, because death's note wants to climb over; And in the dark interval, reconciled, they stay there trembling, and the song goes on, beautiful. —R.M. Rilke

34. Creativity When differences are held together like musical notes until the song emerges

35. An Experiment in Discovery What is the essence of PH preparedness? Simple Steps for Discovering • Distill your point using the three container rules. • Pause and listen for what is emerging. • Give voice to it…however clumsily. • Continue to listen for what is emerging. • Build together. Dialogue is working with the unknown.

36. Creative Discovery ‘…Another example might be the issue of response across jurisdictions. Many people were obsessed with the difficulty in instituting a command and control structure across multiple legal jurisdictions. It was not until we began to discuss how some problems were solved through coordination and communication, that many began to realize that they did not need a multi-jurisdictional command structure….’ —State Health Official

37. Results Values Process Relationships Success = ? True success has many aspects: • Results are how we usually measure success. • Relationships: What if we get results by treating participants in the process badly? • Process: What helps us achieve good results and good relationships? Note: All three serve each other and make for a successful outcome that will be sustainable over time. Values are what drive and shape all three.

38. Applications to PH Preparedness • Increase community engagement. • Develop key relationships (e.g., media, governors, legislators). • Enhance performance on the target capabilities. • Build trust. • Create clearer shared understanding. • Realize more creative responses.

39. A New Era of Participation Living systems are self-organizing.

40. A healthy immune system consists of highly functioning relationships.

41. Preparedness Brings together all the stakeholders for constant, creative exchange.

42. Dialogue and Preparedness Dialogue is the glue that holds the process together.

43. Preparedness is a collective response to life Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, The world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense. —Rumi

44. Cross River ConnexionsLearning to work with differences Daniel Martin, Ph.D The Art of Dialogue: Collaboration in Public Health Preparedness