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Common Ground Live!

Participate in Common Ground Live!

Common Ground Institute is preparing the first Common Ground Live!—a small live event demonstrating how people with genuine differences can work together on a difficult public problem.

We are looking for thoughtful people with strongly held but open-minded perspectives on immigration who might be willing to participate in a facilitated collaborative problem-solving conversation. Participants will receive preparation and training beforehand. This is not a debate and participants will not be asked to abandon their views.

What Is All About

CGI’s mission is to help people bridge divides on contentious social and political issues. People think it can’t be done — but it can.  We have proven it time and time again. 

The trick is to change the goal of political discourse from debating political positions to solving social problems.  When we debate, we take sides. We attack each other. We try to win. The result? Nobody changes their minds. Problems don’t get solved.

Things change when we focus on solving problems rather than debating positions. What problem is each “side” on an issue trying to solve?  If you approach it that way, things change.  People stop opposing each other. They start listening. They even start to care about what their “opponents” need. 

And they realize the the key to solving their own problems is to help the other person solve theirs. 

What You'll Do

We want to demonstrate that this process works.  That’s where you come in.  After preparation, you would have a public conversation — supported and facilitated by CGI — with someone with whom you disagree on an issue related to immigration.  The goal of the conversation is to see if you and your “opponent” can agree on a way to solve the problem in question. 

You would be asked to:

  1. Work with us to learn the process collaborative problems solving — a tried and true way of resolving conflict in a variety of different situations. 
  2. Practice these skills with your partner under the guidance of a facilitator..
  3. When the two of you are ready, we would have an actual facilitated problem-solving conversation. 
  4. The videotape would be used to show the extent to which it is possible to bridge political divides between people on contentious social issues. 
 
All preparation and discussions are performed online.  You can be from anywhere.
 
You don’t have to be an expert on immigration.  You just have to be thoughtful, open, willing to learn, willing to be videotaped as your engage in your conversation, and willing to allow your videotape to be shown to the public.  (And if you don’t like the outcome, of course, we won’t use the video.)

What You'll Get

Well, you’ll get to be the star of our show.  And you’ll help us bring these skills to the attention of the public. 

But most of all, you’ll get free training in a powerful form of conflict management — a tool that you can use immediately in your everyday life.  The ability to engage in collaborative problem solving can literally be life changing.  It can transform how you relate to your partner, your colleagues at work, and  to anyone with whom you are experiencing tension or difficulty.  

 

Interested?

Just complete the form that appears below.  In the message section, tell us why you want to participate in Common Ground Live!  And tell us about your thoughts on immigration.  Don’t worry — everything is confidential.  Alternatively, simply write to Mike at michaelmascolo@commongroundinstitute.net and express your interest.