The Possibility Conversation

This conversation asks us to enter a possibility for the future as opposed to problem solving the past. It is an act of imagination of what we can create together. This conversation frees people to create new futures that make a difference ... and it inspires us to innovate, challenge the status quo, and break new ground.

Problem solving and negotiation of interests makes tomorrow only a little different from yesterday. At traditional meetings, we problem solve and talk about goals, targets, resources and about persuading others. But this problem solving needs to be postponed and replaced with possibility. In doing so we make a break from the past and open the space for a future we had only dreamed of.

Possibility is a future that is currently beyond our reach. Living systems are really propelled by what we reach for, and are propelled towards the force of this future.

The leadership task here is to postpone problem solving and stay focused on possibility until it is spoken with resonance and with passion. In this way, the possibility works on us, we do not work on the possibility.

The future is created through a declaration of the possibility that we stand for. The possibilities gain power and impact on our community when they are made public. It may be that declaring a possibility wholeheartedly is the essence of the transformation. Out of this declaration, each time we enter a room ... the possibility enters with us.

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Questions

The personal questions for possibility are:

What is the crossroads that you find yourself at this stage of your life or work or the project around which we are assembled?

What declarations are you prepared to make about the possibilities for the future?

What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?

The community questions for possibility are:

What do we want to create together that would make the difference?

What can we create together that we cannot create alone?

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(edited and adapted from) Peter Block “Community – The Structure of Belonging” 2008 and Peter Block “Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community” 2007

Peter Block “Community – The Structure of Belonging”
now in a second edition, revised and updated
Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2nd ed. edition (July 17, 2018)

available on Amazon.com at
https://www.amazon.com/Community-Structure-Belonging-Peter-Block/dp/1523095563

Or buy from Bookshop.org / Support Independent Bookstores
https://bookshop.org/p/books/community-the-structure-of-belonging-peter-block/10781700?ean=9781523095568