Deep Dialogue. Why do we need it?

Here are five good reasons:

1) The need to engage more diverse individuals as co-creators in social entrepreneurial efforts. There exists the need in every social change process for diversity. Wide scale structural change requires change processes that are open, inclusive and representative of all voices and experiences who will be affected by change. This means, for example, that people who bring firsthand experience of the problems a group is addressing must partner with caring individuals who bring different resources, experiences, perspectives, and skill sets. Here's how SEED meets this need.

2) The need to work with difference. The aim for community entrepreneurs is not to ignore or overcome differences in their groups. Rather, they need training and support that will enable differences to be held, honored and utilized, so that relevant, meaningful, lasting solutions can emerge from them (sometimes against a tide of institutionalized inertia). Here's how SEED meets this need.

3) The need to think as a "we." In every social change process there is a need for participants to honor every voice and function together in a way that brings out each person's best for the good of the whole. Here's how SEED meets this need.

4) The need to lead with vision and think large. There exists the need in every social change process to focus more attention on envisioning new realities that can be co-created in ever-widening spheres of action. There is a need to dream big and to surface those concepts and action strategies that allow big dreams to be realized. Groups need encouragement to shift focus from what is wrong with the current reality and instead channel collective energy in planning processes to realize visions of what can be. Here's how SEED meets this need.

5) The need to begin small, but keep evolving and transforming. Community entrepreneurs need guidance to develop more robust products that are capable of transcending current realities. Their designs must include systematic plans for early successes, for recruiting, mentoring and guiding the work of early adaptors, and for eliciting co-ownership in strategic partnerships to insure wide-scale adoption. Here's how SEED meets this need.