Engaging others
In thinking about how best to engage our lifewide education community I happened upon this thought provoking piece from Matthew Taylor's blog. Sort yourselves into two groups February 14, 2012 Matthew Taylor. This is an edited version to read the original please visit Matthew's blog : http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/
Apart from ‘it can’t go on, what’s the point of it all?, one of my little catchphrases is this: ‘the reason people engage is to have fun, to make a difference or to grow; preferably all three'... The latter insight came to me from years of activism for the Labour Party which overwhelmingly comprised activities which were not enjoyable, largely pointless and as boring as hell (co-incidentally, the source of another catch-phrase ‘I’ve suffered for my politics, now it’s your turn’). I have since tried to apply the three criteria for successful engagement to the ways we encourage RSA Fellows to come together in whatever way suits them best, to have great conversations and aim over time, to develop projects.
One of our most supportive and inspirational Fellows is Tessy Britton, a powerfully creative thinker and practitioner in the field of community engagement. A while ago I blogged on a debate started by Tessy critiquing the campaigning assumptions of some exponents of community organising. In essence, Tessy argued that groups which start out with an oppositional or other-directed campaigning stance find it hard to move to a self-help, solutions-oriented way of thinking.
I have repeatedly argued that three attributes are required of citizens if we are to close ‘the social aspiration gap’. One of these is ‘engagement’. So these findings give substantial food for thought. I suggest three tentative conclusions:
We must avoid simplistic ideas that all forms of engagement are a good thing and that each form somehow makes the other forms more possible. Tessy is right; engagement in united protest movements may actually make it less easy subsequently to engage in the more complex, messy and inherently contested process of developing and applying solutions.
The design of forms of engagement is difficult and crucial. Complex issues probably require forms of engagement based on relatively small groups of people who do not start from fixed views and who are committed to in-depth inquiry. Logistics mean that such processes – for example proper Citizens Juries – can only ever involve small numbers. Indeed they represent a kind of representative/deliberative model. Engagement should involve a reflexive component in which participants examine and explicitly seek to avoid the pitfalls which each form contains.
I have recently become an RSA Fellow so I watch and learn from my experiences of being drawn into and active in the RSA Fellowship community. I would add one more important factor and that is being made to feel welcome and your contributions valued. What draws you into become actively engaged in a group's activities?
Comments
Matthew Taylor’s 3 reasons
Matthew Taylor’s 3 reasons for engaging in a group (to have fun; to make a difference; to grow) ring true with me, though perhaps I would put an emphasis on the second and third. However, all 3 are underpinned by an egotism which must be guarded against.
Let me illustrate what I mean: One day in January, being an habitual multi-tasker and needing some inducement to do the ironing, I switched on Radio 4. I was very soon caught up in the programme I had chanced upon: it was a fascinating account of how a group of like-minded individuals had come together in the 1960s then been torn apart by their evolving self-confidence (egos). Sadly, the programme is no longer available on the web, but here is a synopsis.
How Folksongs Should be Sung Last broadcast on Sat, 7 Jan 2012, 15:30 on BBC Radio 4
Immediately after the success of the BBC Radio Ballads, Ewan MacColl set about the Herculean task of trying to drag British folk music into mainstream culture. Frustrated by the dreary amateurishness of folk song performance, he decided to establish his own centre of excellence to professionalise the art. He called it "The Critics Group". MacColl tutored select artists "to sing folk songs the way they should be sung" and to think about the origins of what they were singing. He introduced Stanislavski technique and Laban theory into folk performance and explored style, content and delivery.
BBC producer Charles Parker recorded these sessions to aid group analysis. 40 years on, the tapes have come to light. For the first time, a clear sound picture can be constructed of this influential group in action. Former group members Peggy Seeger, Sandra Kerr, Frankie Armstrong, Richard Snell, Brian Pearson and Phil Colclough recount six frantic years of rehearsing, performing and criticising each other. They recall the powerful hold that Ewan MacColl exerted which was eventually to lead to the collapse of the group in acrimony and blame.
Presenter Martin Carthy MBE, now an elder statesman of the British folk music scene, shared many of McColl's ambitions but didn't join the group himself. He listens to the recordings and assesses the legacy of MacColl's controversial experiment. Producers: Genevieve Tudor and Chris Eldon Lee A Culture Wise Production for BBC Radio 4.
What struck me about this story was that we have witnessed the process time and again in political and other contexts. Were it not for divisions, for example, the Median Group would not have split from the Group Analytic Society. For me, then, Matthew Taylor’s caution that
“Engagement should involve a reflexive component in which participants examine and explicitly seek to avoid the pitfalls which each form contains”
is crucial if we are to avoid repeating the battle of competing egos which can only destroy what has brought us together.
Why we want to engage with a group
I'd certainly agree with the aim of having fun, and I'd characterize it as finding it very exciting to discover that others share your beliefs and intentions, so that it offers a means of 'self-actualization' - a notion that Norman has mentioned as something that LWE can foster, interestingly.
Being welcomed, having a contribution, being a social human - all very relevant, and not unlike my casual membership of the local Sunday cricket team (albeit at a very modest level)!
There's also something in this about feeling there's a kind of battle to be taken up, to do things better than those in control would have us do them...