Common Ground In the Midst of Extreme Uncertainty
FRI, 31 Jul, 11:15 - 13:15
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown: Level 4: 401, 1201 Market St, Philadelphia
Sandra Janoff and Michael Donnelly invite you come take place in a fast paced, experiential PDW session on this essential challenge of today with its fragmented agendas in organisations and across society.
In organizations and societies today, many differences feel unresolvable. Polarization, uncertainty, and competing realities make it increasingly difficult for people to work together even when they share responsibility for the same future. Yet systems cannot wait for perfect agreement before acting.
This Professional Development Workshop explores our simple but demanding proposition that people do not need to agree on everything in order to act together. We define Common Ground as explicit agreement among everyone present about purposes they are willing to work on together, alongside clear acknowledgment of what is not agreed.
Through a structured experiential process, participants work with the real diversity of perspectives, roles, and experiences present in the room and discover how Common Ground can emerge without suppressing differences or forcing consensus. The workshop introduces Whole-System Development (WSD), a practice-based approach to building a system's capacity to improve itself over time. Rather than focusing on tools or performative participation, the session explores how interaction design enables systems to learn, coordinate action, and build shared responsibility under conditions of uncertainty. Participants will leave with direct experience of how Common Ground emerges and practical implications for leadership, consulting, research, teaching, and work across complex systems.
Click to register: Common Ground In the Midst of Extreme Uncertainty
FRI, 31 Jul, 11:15 - 13:15
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown: Level 4: 401, 1201 Market St, Philadelphia
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Michael Donnelly
Mr
Future Search Network
Castlewellan, Co Down, N Ireland
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