Six months ago, I would have never envisioned this project. Strange things happen when a vision hits you.
Twenty-five years ago, I put together a “consultation workshop.” This workshop was based on Chapter 4 of my book “Tiered Democratic Governance” (TDG). Basically, this workshop put the principles of that chapter into practice. The workshop combined small lectures and group activities, all leading to developing a more consultative approach to life.
The book promotes the workshop; the workshop promotes the book. Great marketing synergy, right?
I presented the workshop about 7–8 times, getting a little better each time. My goal was to become a consultation trainer in the corporate and community worlds.
Good ideas are great, but the book was not selling. So the workshop would need to pull its own weight. I was starting to see the challenges of marketing and organizing this training to pay me a reasonable wage for my efforts. The consultation workshop went on my shelf of unsuccessful endeavors. I wasn’t finding the incentive to bring it back.
Coming off the shelf
After Covid, I became a bit of a shut-in. Despite my internet activity (mostly Medium), I realized my real-life casual conversations were not as smooth as they were pre-Covid. So last year, I re-joined Toastmasters (TM) to get some “talking practice.”
The TM Club I joined is based in Edmonton. It became an online group in Covid times. It wants to get back to in-person meetings, which may or may not happen. I live 500 kilometers away, so I won’t likely be with this club anymore if it goes in this direction.
But I thought my online time would be a good opportunity for me to get some experience with Zoom and PowerPoint (PPT). Maybe practising with this technology will be useful for me later? So what topic should I put into my Zoom and PPT speech?
My consultation workshop would be ideal! So I blew the dust off — and away I went with my first consultation speech. It went well, but speeches in Toastmasters are not long. I left out so much information that I thought I should create a second speech — to get some more practice.
When preparing that second speech, I could see the new features of PPT could turn this idea into a great online lecture. And this workshop just might be the tipping point for the TDG to gain some acceptance.
And here we are today: this is the official launch of my online consultation workshop.
Let’s just say that the journey for this workshop was my hardest writing assignment in a life of many writing assignments. I shall provide those details of that struggle in another article.
TDG and Consultation
In my TDG writing, I am quite clear that the new electoral structures of the TDG are not enough to bring the TDG into fruition. The early TDG builders MUST create a “culture of consultation” in the TDG’s early days. If the TDG just becomes another version of western democracy, with all the conflict, contempt, and contention, there is no point in building the TDG.
This workshop explains the difference between power decision-making, democratic decision-making, and consultative decision-making. The workshop provides tools to help delineate the three styles. Presently, many of us cannot tell the difference.
When we understand what consultation is about, we can start finding ways to get more of it. We need to improve our own skills in this human accomplishment. In other words, we need to cast aside power and democratic thinking. We need to move to the yellow dot!
In other words, the TDG will filter out the power-hungry, non-consultative people from politics. With the TDG, you just might be called to serve your community in this way.
Consultation & Mental Health
Power-hungry people have mental health issues. Mental health is a barrier to reaching the consultative decisions we really need to be making. The workshop spends significant time trying to understand our collective mental health. With a better understanding of where we are, the better we can move ourselves forward.
The Workshop
The workshop has six MP4 videos. I am always in cameo for each of the 71 PPT slides. I have text flying around, typical of many PPT presentations.
I didn’t count, but I believe the workshop has about 200 consultation angles to help move people closer to a more consultative style of decision making. That’s a lot of angles! For sure, you will hear more than a few things that you never heard anywhere else.
And I try to make many points twice, in different ways and different places. This repetition helps internalize the teachings of this workshop.
The workshop is reasonably presented. It certainly is of a unique topic — and with a giant amoeba!
Total time for the workshop is about 110 minutes, which is actually shorter than any of my workshops of 25 years ago. And participants partake in the workshop at a time that is convenient to them.
And it is free of charge!
Here is the link to the workshop.
https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/education.php
Enjoy! Learn! Improve yourself! Improve the world!
Published on Medium 2024
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