This is a series of 22 process cards. Of these nine are ‘think’ cards for planning and preparing for difficult discussions, and 13 are ‘activity’ cards which present methods that can be done in a group. The cards explain what the process is, it’s purpose, how to engage in this process and what we thought did and did not work when engaging in this process. This is not a ‘how to’ guide, but a tool to help you explore new approaches and develop your own.
What can this tool be used for?
Diverse groups can breed innovation, energy, consensus and understanding of a broader context, but can also lead to inaction and frustration. These cards have been developed to give you practical help when facilitating diverse groups.
How do you use it?
The approach you take and the environment you work in when engaging in these processes will affect the outcomes.
We’d suggest physical and mental space needs to be created, enabled and hosted for dialogue between people from a variety of organisations and backgrounds. This requires time, resources and commitment. Establishing this is sometimes not an easy task. Yet we’ve found it to be integral to support people be open to experiencing alternative ways of relating to each other.
We’d also encourage facilitators to design sessions using the 7 C’s of appreciative conversations (Dewar 2011), so we’ve included a description of this approach in the pack of cards.
Outcomes of using this tool
The content of the D-Cards has been developed through trial and error from a range of different projects facilitated by Iriss and Providers and Personalisation (CCPS). We’ve also drawn heavily on the work of Ingrid Bens, as well as our experiences with every facilitator that we’ve worked with, who we’d like to thank for their valuable influence, suggestions and observations.
We anticipate that the outcomes of using these cards are groups are better able to work together effectively.
Downloads
Expand and develop the pack
In order to help you customise and adapt the pack to better fit your needs, we've also made a pair of blank cards – one for THINK and one for ACTIVITY.
Populate these cards with your own planning and preparing or practical activities: whatever best fits the needs of your group.
