We teach "Dynamic Facilitation" skills by which one can facilitate others to solve impossible-seeming problems. We also teach social innovations by which this can be done for organizations, communities and society itself. So these social innovations provide a breakthrough strategy for solving society's most pressing issues -- e.g. climate change, partisan gridlock, denial, etc. 
  

We teach seminars in Dynamic Facilitation, a way to facilitate small groups to face and solve impossible issues. Plus, we teach how to facilitate large systems of people to solve impossible problems through the "Wisdom Council Process", which relies on Dynamic Facilitation. So, here's a BREAKTHROUGH approach to solving society's monster problems (e.g. climate change, wars, poverty, homelessness, etc.). It's merely facilitating a new conversation into being, where all of us face the problems together and reach near unity in what to do. ... This is not pie-in-the-sky or just theory. This approach has already been shown to work at very large scale.

Over the years we have discovered that society's most pressing issues do not arise primarily from "greed" or prejudice or some other failing in human nature. More primarily they arise from the System of Thinking we have unknowingly established for ourselves, including our systems of governance and economics. Our System is based on competition and judgment more than collaboration and creativity. At the national level, for instance, this assures that special interests will dominate the public interest. And at the global level, it assures that we will trash our planet.

However! ...Just by recognizing this underlying systemic difficulty we are provided with amazing leverage for change. That is, through a simple, accessible, seemingly innocuous adjustment to our system ... just adding a new conversation ... we can shift our overall System to 1) start solving these problems; and 2) stop creating them! ... These seemingly "outrageous claims" are to be expected for a breakthrough. Breakthroughs often involve a seemingly simple answer that almost seems irrelevant, yet which promises outrageous benefits with little risk and cost.

​This change strategy is outside of the usual "top-down" or "bottom-up" approaches. Instead, we (a few of us) facilitate the whole-system at once. It's similar to how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly ... by building a cocoon where a transformational process can be supported. Only in this case we facilitate a transformational process where ordinary people face the impossible seeming issues, attain a high level of wisdom and coherent action, and provide responsible leadership to governments, corporations and the culture.

At the Center for Wise Democracy we have developed social innovations, by which we can do this at ALL levels of society including:

• Global society...What's needed to solve issues like climate change and to effectively manage the global commons (e.g. soils, water, oceans, the gene pool, overfishing, and species extinction) is a collective thinking process, where a "We the People" take ultimate responsibility for our planet and intelligently steward the commons. We (a few of us) can facilitate this new "We the People" conversation into being.  See Transforming Global Society.
• National society  (e.g American democracy)  ... Today we are discovering that a competition-based form of government cannot last forever. It's simple. OK we need to keep individual initiative ... yes ... but also we need to work together! ... With the help of media sponsors a few of us can use the Wisdom Council Process to facilitate a rebirth of "We the People". This isn't just creating a new social contract and disbanding. It's where "We the People" (all of us) continues on providing responsible leadership to government and society. Using the Wisdom Council Process nationally we can heal the partisan divide, assure election quality, overcome the outsized influence of money on politics, eliminate corruption, etc.   
• The state ... Each state struggles with issues like taxing, education, and welfare. A power struggle among special interests is not an adequate way to decide these issues. But that's our System. ... Here's a way to introduce a new element into that power struggle: A legitimate and powerful voice of the public interest. The Wisdom Council Process has already been adopted into the state constitution of Vorarlberg, the Westernmost state of Austria. It's being used there to help resolve issues like the influx of Syrian refugees and land use planning. (See examples). So we know the Wisdom Council Process works at this scale.
• Local towns, cities & communities ...  See the flyer for how a group of citizens (or government, or a community foundation) can facilitate the citizens of a community to get involved, face and resolve hot issues, and do it in a way that builds the spirit of community. (See examples.)
• organizations ... e.g. The Wisdom Council Process can also be used in organizations, conferences and human networks as well. (examples:  a food co-op, a conference, corporations)

EXAMPLE #1: Nationally in the United States bitter political battling obliterates the possibility of collective intelligence. Most people feel excluded from democratic participation. And elected representatives often  represent moneyed interests more than their constituents.  How might we (just us) facilitate the creative, thoughtful and wise public conversation necessary for true democracy?  ... where we all reach shared conclusions? Below is a short video describing how this might happen using Dynamic Facilitation and the Wisdom Council Process, implemented as a reality TV show (3.5 min video):

EXAMPLE #2: State-wide ... Here's a short video showing how governments in Austria are using the Wisdom Council Process to help citizens address and solve hot issues, like the influx of refugees.

Check out "Our Story" of how these social innovations and this whole-system strategy came about.

360.385.7118
info@wisedemocracy.org
​www.wisedemocracy.org

Be a supporter. Donate to the Center for Wise Democracy! ... All donations are tax-deductible. We are a 501-c3 organization.