Book review Prepared by: Walter J. Smith
Community: The Structure of Belonging, by Peter Block, describes the kinds of conversations that must grow for a community to make itself what its inhabitants say they want their community to be. I mention this book here, because for Peter Block, a community is any two or more people working on a common project. Every friendship, marriage, or group working seeking a common objective is such a community. I will here very briefly introduce what Mr. Block is spelling out in impressive detail.
First, current conversations that focus on problems and problem solving need to shift their focus to possibilities and creating possibilities. For this shift to emerge effectively, the group attempting to lead the community into self-restoration needs to host a sustained conversation that clarifies for all members of this group several things: 1) the operating guidelines for the group's work, 2) how to create the context for the self-restorative community, 3) how to invert cause & effect into a reclaimed citizenship charactersied primarily by accountability and responsibility; 4) how we create our own transformative leadership; 5) how we capture and exercise the power of small groups; and 6) how we use questions to open the doors of the future we are initiating.
Second, those conversations within the leading group, once brought to the point where the group finds itself enthusiastically cooperating in the common endeavor, prepare the whole group for their various conversations throughout their wider community. These conversations with the wider community begin with effective invitations. These invitations are presented to specific other people who will bring their group into the new community conversations about possibilities rather than the old problem-solving fixations. There are six of these new conversations that, effectively conducted, transform the community into a self-transforming community. Remember, Peter Block is talking about any community, from a community of two people all the way up to a community of millions. This is social science at its very best; I speak as a student of the social sciences since the early 'seventies.
The former conversations sustained within the respective leadership group brings into clear focus what must be included in presenting effective invitations to those others who need to be in the discussions. Once these invitations gain traction, then discussions focus upon clarifying the five conversations for structuring belonging throughout the larger community. Mr. Block also describes these conversations and how they succeed. These conversations host and sustain one or more of the following topics: 1) the possibilities the community can now achieve; 2) ownership, its role and capacity-building; 3) dissent's vital role in commitment creation; 4) commitment, including its power and limits; and 5) gifts. We may not readily see how each of these elements plays a vital role in our work, but we are remiss to not study these details until we master them. For every one of us volunteers brings the valuable gift of our time to this work, and we need to remember that about everyone else who comes to the work.
Yes, I know, this seems like a whole bunch of big talk about another pile of big talks. Well, of course this is what it is. Community has been devalued and debunked so long we seem to no longer see any value in it. Reclaiming our communities, small and large, from household communities to nations, is a huge task. The task includes lots of talk, big and small. Without these dialogues, our families, public economies, political bodies and governments can only suffer more decline.
Leading a community to become self-transformative is no small task.
Some of us have been working on the Economic Action project for more than three years, and often experience difficulty seeing the payoff. We never expected a string of miracles. But it can be a frustrating discovering oneself unable to comprehend why so much of this work is not hungrily embraced and engaged by many others. There are many benefits to be gained here. Yet the most obvious beneficiaries of this work often seem uninterested. Why are the benefits not obvious to those hundreds of others inside and outside the county who should also see at least as much to be gained by this work as we suppose can be gained? Why have we failed to effectively include them in these conversations we have weekly and monthly?
These and related questions are answered in spades by Peter Block's excellent book. To borrow a copy, contact Walter.