Illuminate Reality
Dissimilar priorities, competing values, ambiguouspublic will, changing political landscapes, shifting
resources – these are realities facing groups that
aspire to improve our collective civic life.
Acknowledging these realities (and others) enables
groups to undertake reasonable and appropriate
actions to create the change they desire.
One of the best examples of such acknowledgment
comes from our work with a group of organizations
trying to eliminate disparities in health in the United
States. The realities facing these organizations are
their small size (3-15 people on staff), the fact that
many of their states and communities have other
funding priorities (education, transportation, etc.), and the complex nature of the health disparities they seek to eliminate.
To move forward, these groups needed opportunities to sort through these realities and work through their feelings of being overwhelmed. Only then were they able to develop action plans that accounted for the realities they faced and enabled them to successfully pursue their aspirations.
We believe the role of public leaders is to create spaces for people to process reality without presenting them with conclusions about what to do next. This allows individuals to think through possibilities and come up with a variety of ways the group can move forward.
Conocer helps public leaders and groups create spaces in which to illuminate reality through services that will encourage them to:
- Understand the realities they face through issue research and information gathering
- Come together to process the facts
- Create plans for action that account for reality
- Anticipate future scenarios and prepare to act in this new context
- Stay true to their community, purpose and principles as realities change over time