Recommended by: Bob B. – “Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, provides services and training for those wishing to transform conflict into collaboration.”
In a country marred by deep conflict, city, county, and state officials face mounting pressure to engage diverse stakeholders in resolving contentious and complex public policy issues. The Convergence Learning Lab’s training and consultation services empower leaders with the necessary skills to bridge these divides resulting in more productive public meetings, more constructive community engagement, and, ultimately, better outcomes for constituents.
Lab services are built on our unique, evidence-based collaborative problem-solving methodology which has been used to successfully address seemingly intractable political, social, organizational, and community-based issues.
Our process has proven consistently successful at producing the kinds of results that drive impact.
Convergence’s success offers a beacon of hope for the majorities of Americans frustrated by divisiveness that change is not only possible, but that we have the tools and the knowledge to bridge even the starkest divides with consistency. In addition, our success highlights the rich set of tools, practices, and resources that others can use to achieve similar successes.
- We select issues that are ripe and amenable for Convergence and stakeholder-participants to collaboratively “unstick,” and frame a discussion-onramp to the issue that is both crucial and disarming.
- We convene diverse tables of participant leaders and doers, many of whom oppose each other so stridently they never thought they could talk to one another.
- We facilitate participants to build trust, find common ground. Participants abide by a set of ground rules including honoring all points of view, respecting the confidentiality of the conversation, and listening carefully when others speak.
- We generate consensus solutions collaboratively among dialogue participants through establishing guiding principles that create a framework for the policy discussions to come. Once stakeholders are aligned on a bigger vision, they are ready to work together to produce new ideas and solutions.
- We deliver societal impact and on-the-ground implementation of the solutions. By design, a Convergence project strives to engage stakeholders to take action on their ideas after the dialogue stage is completed, or in some instances, even while the dialogue is going on. Convergence itself does not formally endorse stakeholders’ proposals – it remains policy neutral – but often plays a stewarding role to maximize the impact stakeholders can achieve.