Discover the “Inside Point of View”
The key to implementing successful change is to understand the social and cultural
structure within a community of place. The “inside point of view” becomes clear by
entering everyday routines, making observations, and engaging in conversation with
community members. This is called “The Discovery Process”. Since 1967 our company has
worked with communities, corporations, and governments to implement “The Discovery Process”.
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Evo's Coffeehouse, Ashland, OR |
Gathering Places
At the heart of every community are gathering places where people naturally congregate to talk about current events.
These places provide a structure for local network systems to thrive.
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Informal Networking
The objective of the Discovery Process is to get a real-time understanding
of what is happening.
• What are the current activities?
• What are the social and economic trends?
• What are the social networks by which people organize themselves?
• Who are the well regarded caretakers, communicators, and storytellers?
Creating Citizen Ownership
By entering a community through this network process we come to understand the
core issues that are of concern to the people. Issues affect proposed projects,
management decisions, and policy formation. By identifying these issues we can take
appropriate actions early in the process that optimizes resource efficiency.
This creates an environment amenable to preventing and resolving conflicts in a
culturally sensitive manner.
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Fostering Mutual Benefit
Issues that have been identified in their emerging stage
can be integrated with management
concerns to create “cultural alignment” in which mutual benefit for all
parties is possible. Without this grounding in the informal system of
community, projects can get bogged down or ambushed, often at the last
minute, or held hostage by extreme interests. Even if the project is
approved, the results are often disastrous to the local culture of
the community. We take these factors into account early in the process
and create an environment amenable to preventing and resolving conflicts
in a culturally sensitive way.
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Residents often point out trends years before they show up in statistics.
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