Creating Connections for Cohesive Societies
Creating Connections
It’s not all that surprising that a 2018 Global Survey for the BBC, found three-quarters of the respondents around the world agreed that their country’s society was more divided and a clear majority that their country more polarised than 10 years ago.
Yet despite these divisions, the majority of people in most countries agreed that people across the world had more things in common than made them different.
Rearranging Boxes
There is an exercise we do in Week 5 of a WOL Circle called “50 Facts about me”.
I like to get people to do it in workshops or presentations to quickly highlight how easy it is to find a common connection with almost anyone. Many organisations and networks find themselves segregated into tightly knighted units and I find this exercise helps to expose the echo-chambers, build bridges and break down organisational boxes.
Essentially each person lists 50 quick facts about themselves and then shares them with people around them until they find something in common.
If we have a time limit, it typically works with 10 facts too.
I love this exercise because it highlights that no matter how easy it is to divide us and put us into neat boxes, it is just as easy to find things in common and rearrange the boxes up again.
Link to the Guides: WOL Circle Guides
Further exploration: The Eagles vs Rattlers in The Robbers Cave experiment
The Foundations for Social Cohesion
Many Communities, One Shared Future
That was the theme of the International Conference on Cohesive Societies in Singapore (20–21st June 2019). Gathering around 700 scholars, community leaders and policymakers from close to 40 countries, the intention was to promote understanding amongst different communities, forge stronger interfaith understanding and develop new ideas to foster greater harmony in societies.
In the opening address, Her Excellency Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore, outlined the foundations of social harmony:
- Accommodation: space for communities to embrace distinctive cultures.
- Dialogue: conversations and interactions to enable friendship and familiarity.
- Social cohesion: “cemented by a shared conception of the common good, and a felt reality of collective belonging”
“Upholding the common good means holding our differences not in opposition to one another, but bringing our differences together to build a future that we all share.” — President Halimah Yacob (Singapore)
Delivering the keynote speech at the same conference, His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, highlighted 3 areas for special attention to defend social cohesion in the world:
- Gathering the forces of everyone to resist hate and exclusion and hold positive exchanges
- Harnessing the tools of the modern world, reclaiming the online space and fighting misinformation.
- Committing to the long-term, creating a foundation to share in opportunities and combat divisive ideology.
“Moderate, positive voices need to reclaim this space and redirect the dialogue away from misinformation, insults and fear, and toward understanding and respect. Young men and women have a vital role in speaking up on social media and social networking sites, and using their talent for innovation to promote mutual understanding and hope.” — His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
The Key Elements of Connected Work
The core of the connected work movement is connecting people, organisations and economies. We believe we must enable conversations, bridge connections and host safe spaces for communities, in order to create the trusted environment needed to connect.
As we heard in the speeches of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Her Excellency Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore, we must all work together to build united cohesive societies.
In our mission to cocreate Connected Work, we have identified three key elements needed to create community and social cohesion:
- Conversations —
to enable dialogue and connect diverse perspectives.
e.g.
Publicly: Regular Connectle Con’s bringing together diverse perspectives on relevant topics.
Inside Organisations: Facilitated Connected Work Productions - Connections —
to unite networks and communities to a collective belonging.
e.g.
Publicly: Curated Series within the Network
Inside Organisations: Programs such as WOL Circles and the practice of Working Out Loud - Communities —
to host the safe space needed to embrace conversations and connections.
e.g.
Publicly: Communities that connect to the Connectle Platform such as Crowd.Kiwi and the Regenerative Community
Inside Organisations: Communities of Practice and Affiliate groups found in many connected organisations.
By creating trusted communities where conversations and connections can thrive, we can work together to create the cohesive societies we need to connect and move forward.
What do you think is needed to create Cohesive Societies? How are you personally contributing to the movement?
