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Welcome to the monthly Fearless Conversations newsletter -- information and ideas to support and inspire us to create a world in which fearless conversations are common in our workplaces and communities, in our families and among friends. I was inspired to write the article below because of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Under "Just for Interest or Fun" in the left column, I have included a link to a beautifully produced PBS show about the March. If you haven't seen it, you may enjoy watching it when you have 50 minutes or so; it's really well-done.
Thank you for reading and for sharing this newsletter
with others.
Shyrl
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Yes! That's It!
You may know that the most famous words from Martin Luther
King Jr.'s "dream speech" were not part of his original text. Apparently they are the words that rose up from his heart and flowed from his lips when Mahalia Jackson cried out to him near the end of his prepared speech: "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin; tell 'em about the dream!" He had used dream wording in other speeches; he considered using it for the March, but had decided in favor of language that was more to the point of the message he was intent on delivering.
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 Watching King launch into " . . . I still have a dream . . .", you can see his energy ignited and his connection with his audience electrified. He raised his eyes from his carefully crafted text and fixed them on the 250,000 marchers. He gave words to a dream that was his and theirs. You could say he really "went for it". I imagine Mahalia Jackson silently cheering him on: "Yes! That's it!"
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I love the "yes-that's-it" moment when it happens for me; I love to see it in others; I love to see it in groups I'm facilitating. As an Appreciative Inquiry facilitator, I often use the "4-D Process" in which dreaming together is so important. In strategic planning, for example, the dream step invites people to "go for it" -- to put words to what they really want to see happen.  When we share our dreams, we engage one another with our hearts and imaginations. A deceptively simple way to initiate the dream step is to ask: "What if we could . . . ?" It's as if a switch is turned on to release a vital energy -- the kind of energy we know when we can say: "Yes! That's it!" Ideas and hopes that might otherwise not be talked about become compelling possibilities.
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A critical part of the dream step is to be specific and descriptive. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives us a beautiful example. You can picture his dream: former slaves and sons of former slave-owners sitting down at table together; his four little children growing up in a nation where their character matters, not the color of their skin; little black boys and girls joining hands with little white boys and girls as sisters and brothers; all of us singing together "Free at last!" King gave us clear, concrete, compelling images of his dream; they are hallmarks by which we affirm what has been realized. They also continue to stir up our intention and commitment to keep moving toward that "yes-that's-it" time when his dream wholly matches our reality.
When I facilitate the dream step for a group, I ask them to articulate their dream as if it is actually happening in the present. For example, here are a few pieces of my dream for Fearless Conversations: It is 2016. Fearless Conversations is the go-to facilitation resource for fifty clients. The ability to engage in fearless conversations is an intentional hallmark of one client's culture. I have 2- 3 partners with whom I collaborate. A communications specialist keeps Fearless Conversations' website and social network fresh and current.
What is your dream - big or small? Where are you on the road
to "Yes! That's It!"?
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Fearless Conversations Retreats
 Explore basic practices and processes that will help your organization
develop its capacity to engage in "fearless conversations". These
retreats are great opportunities for faculties, staffs, management or leadership teams, boards, faith communities, membership organizations and informal groups of friends or colleagues.
Click here for more information.
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| Thank You!
I appreciate your connecting me with non-profit service organizations, schools, faith communities, small-to-mid-size businesses. Typically, I contract for design and facilitation of visioning or team-building retreats, strategic planning, meeting facilitation, transition planning, design and facilitation of decision-making processes.
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