Frameworks for Change
Enhancing Effective Communication
Language is a moral choice. Cynicism undermines hope and shuts down possibilities. Positive communications frameworks, including great questions, foster hope and imagination—and help identify trusted foundations on which to build.
Individuals and communities move in the direction of what one asks about. Constructive questions help identify trusted experiences to build on.
Words create worlds.
Language that opens up possibilities rather than shutting down hope helps restore health in a system.
Conflict often causes communication shutdown. Moving past alienation requires discovering a shared strategic purpose and reactivating curiosity between participants in the conflict.
Your Turn!
Individual/Group Activity:
What question would you appreciate being asked that might unlock your creativity and commitment?
What questions might encourage others, expand understanding, clarify, invite and build community?
What question is very much “alive” in you right now, a growing edge in your learning about life?
What questions would you most like to see residents of your organization or community asking one another?
How can you create forums in which such exchanges of purposes and curiosities happen creatively and respectfully?