Dynamic Agreement™
© Copyrighted material.
Dynamic Agreement™ puts the power of creating agreement and addressing change in the hands of the people affected by it.
Most relationships involve agreements. Some of those agreements are important enough to formalize. The importance we place on the relationship often determines what the participants want to know about each other. For example, if participants are considering entering into an agreement which may result in them being substantially affected by the actions of the other person, they’d probably want to know if the values and principles,and motivations of the other participant are acceptable for the purpose of the agreement (e.g. marriage,employment, business partnership, exclusive supplier, organization governance, landlord/tenant,etc.).
It’s beautiful when participants enter into an agreement and things work out exactly as planned with no conflict. Issues may arise, however, when:
- incidents occur beyond our control (e.g. job loss, illness, product unavailability, 9/11, etc.);
- needs or desires change (e.g. security rather than flexibility, opportunity rather than safety, immediate results rather than long term growth, etc.); or
- mistakes are made (e.g. low performing investments, misunderstandings, uninformed decisions, miscalculations, unrealistic expectations, etc.).
Dynamic Agreement Dialogue™
© Copyrighted material.
Dynamic Agreement Dialogue™ (DAD) is the collaborative, co-creative communicationprocess utilized to create and maintain Dynamic Agreement™. DAD uses time proven processes and techniques to facilitate communication, decision-making, and address change, challenges, and conflict.
Process
Active, empathetic listening, first person perspective storytelling, and non-rhetorical, open-ended questions are central to DAD. DAD methodology is used to construct an environment conducive to honest, respectful communication. Since DAD facilitates conversation (communication used to understand) rather than discussion (communication used to persuade), participants are relieved of the need to respond to the speaker and can give themselves fully to the art of listening. Intentional listening can result in better understanding, new perspectives, and well-informed decisions.
Community and Conflict
© Copyrighted material.
At last count the population of Earth is over 7,000,000,000 human beings and growing. All those people, in one way or another, live in community. Community can be a wonderfully exuberant and satisfying experience. It can take the form of family, friendship, or other relationships such as business, school, and church association. Living in community can result in partnerships, life-long friendships, shared benefit, support, comfort, and security. Experts now tell us the physiology of human beings indicates we are made for community. Perhaps that’s why community can be a joyful state of being.
Along with the joys of humanity come the challenges. Often those challenges are the product of our diversity of perspective or our imperfection. Diversity can lead to unforeseen insight and innovation. Imperfection can result in mistakes, being wrong, and causing harm. It’s not unusual for divergent perspectives and harm resulting from mistake to lead to conflict. So, if we live in community, it’s not a matter of IF we will experience conflict, it’s only a matter of WHEN.
