Sustained Dialogue 5-Stage Model
Stage 1 - The “Who”
People living with systemic civic challenges decide to engage in dialogue as a way of improving community relationships. They select Sustained Dialogue (SD) because they feel they need to act and SD makes a difference.
Stage 2 - The “What”
Participants come together to share personal experiences and map and name challenging community relationships. In early meetings—before trust is built—this talk can be diffused, and participants vent their grievances and anger with each other. This stage ends when the group agrees, “What we really need to focus on is ….”
Stage 3 - The “Why”
In more disciplined talk, participants probe specific systems and uncover dynamics of relationships at the root of community challenges to: (1) define the most pressing problems; (2) identify possible ways to change them; (3) come to a sense of direction; and (4) weigh the consequences of moving in that direction against the consequences of doing nothing.
Stage 4 - The “How”
Together, participants design a scenario of interrelated steps to change troublesome relationships and engage others. They ask five questions:
- What resources do we have?
- What are the obstacles?
- What steps could overcome those obstacles?
- Who could take those steps?
- How can we sequence those steps so that they build on another to generate momentum behind the plan?
Stage 5 - The “Now”
Participants devise ways to put that scenario into wide effect. Action can take a variety of forms: it can be collective or individual, involve outsiders to the dialogue group, center on creating awareness, engage administrators or faculty, etc.
