Managing a Diversified Community Meeting

 

What we see in others is a reflection of our part, present, and future values.

 

The Community

“Community” as a noun is defined in the dictionary as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” Thus it can be defined by location or interest or a common identity that defines the people in the group.

 It is also defined alternately as a “feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” In this definition, we learn that one who initially is not part or defined in the community can learn to become part of it as a result of experiences and engagement.

 

The first definition is where similar people gather together while the other is different people coming together eventually building something in common to define themselves as a community.

 The word “community” is derived from the word “commune” which have two interpretations of origin. In Latin, the origin is the word “communis” which mean common. In French origin, commune means “to share”

 What is common in the people? Is it their past memories? Their present situation? Or their future aspiration? What do they value in their past? What is important to them in the present and the future? The basic value is an interest in the common vision and mission of the organization, then it can diversify with extended or additional values dividing into subgroups of the main organization.

 How can we manage a community that values diversity and organization? One example is the diversity or difference in how organized the community is. If value can be a number, we can place a number on the level of how structured the community is or the opposite which is the level of spontaneity. For this discussion purpose, let us say, spontaneous and structured are two polar opposites possessed by the people in the community. 

Spontaneous

“Spontaneous” as an adjective is defined in the dictionary as “performed or occurring as a result of a sudden inner impulse” or “having an open and natural manner.” This is usually good for creativity to explore unlimited possibilities. People who have strong inclination to the value of spontaneity are usually motivated, driven by, or expect activities with friends intending to explore interests. They are usually hesitant to thing about long-term sustainability of the activities they engage in. The consistency of them relies on their personal interest or friendship and relations which is reflected on occasional meetings and gatherings. The values that form these community or peer groups are not necessarily defined by age but rather the manner of which they agree to participate in a meeting or gathering.

 

The strength of this is building relations and friendship as well as getting to know each others interest. This is not favorable however for those who have tight schedule or those who represent an institution. The opportunity for this is exploring new things by getting to know unexplored interest of individuals.

 

Structured

A structured setup is usually guided by a format or template to fill out and follow. This promotes the sense of organization in a community or sharing of people’s values. Whether young or old, there are those who value structure and a sense of order and would like to keep their time according to what was agreed upon in order. People who value structure usually participate in community organization to exercise their skills in projects that extend to people they like to connect with. They are usually hesitant to attend a meeting without a topic of focus or a meeting agenda. People who value this can contribute in maintaining consistency in regular meetings with shorter intervals and fixed schedule such as weekly, or monthly meetings. This value can form peers groups who can develop skills in organizing and project execution. The challenge if the value or skill of others is not aligned to this setup and may find it difficult or tiring to cope compared to the spontaneous setup.

 

Meetings

In order to foster growth in sharing, the people commune or engage in a common platform which can be as basic as a community meeting. While it can expose both strength and weaknesses of each other, it is a way to get to know how diverse the community is and find a way to resolve common grounds of interests. The first step is to meet each other, and get to know more about each other along the way. Without meeting each other, we will not know what the other person is and not able to know how to engage with them.

 

How can we mix the values into an inclusive community meeting? List down the values and arranged them in an activity by turns, for instance in a meeting, allot time for spontaneous small talk, followed by a structured topic, then opening discussions learned from the structured topic, and gaining opinions from the audience. After which, we are able to get an awareness of how our opinions differ on the topic. Using those information, the meeting participants can then vote and decide together what topic to focus on the next meeting and when to meet again. It can be like:

 

1) 30 mins for Icebreaker small talk with guide questions about getting to know each other and check how their situations are or where they are in life now. This can foster relationship.

2) 30 mins for structured topic from one resource speaker to help manage growth and expectation. This helps everyone have a another common knowledge they know together

3) 30 mins for discussion with questions about the structured topic. This can be the time to share the good points, and things to improve and how to do so. This can also be the time to share opportunities that open from the discussion.

4) voting and deicing on a topic to focus on the next meeting

5) voting and agreeing on the meeting schedule

 

There are many ways to organize the diversity of the community and this is only one way. In any method, be mindful on the direction to learn about the people’s interest, expectation, commitment or participation, and relationship they aspire with the community. Being spontaneous or structured can be good or bad depending on the situation, thinking whether it is suitable to our values, goals and aspirations or not which determines our satisfaction and appreciation.

 

Ask questions like where are we now? Where do we want to go? How and what are things to do to reach from where we are now and where we want to go? Where do you identify yourself with?

Whatever your answer, it will help that we learn to lead the change we want to see from where we currently stand and where we want to go by engaging in the community. What we see in others is a reflection of ourselves and our values. Do we see action, hope, and inspiration? Do we see a diversified community and the beauty of it?

"If you’d like to share anything, invite people and start a community meeting. Be the lead and ask for support. Find that community that shares the same values with you."

Written : Abigail Ko