Coalition Building

 

The Pressure to Turn Group Coal into Group Diamonds

I tend to think of systems as groups of groups, so here I am picturing the dynamics between groups rather than within groups. For example, when doing coalition building for a larger shared purpose, we may find our group next to another with different values but a shared purpose. As the nonprofit sector has increased focus on values-alignment rather than goal-alignment this seems to have increased the friction of coalition building. This reminds me of an important, perhaps even crucial, insight that I got from Sand Talk about violence.

“Violence exists, and it must be carefully structured within rituals governed by the paths of creation and the laws of sustainable cultures derived from those patterns. Violence employed in these highly interdependent and controlled frameworks serves to bring spirit into balance and hold in check the shadow of the I-am-greater-than deception. Every organism in existence does violence and benefits from it in reciprocal relationships.” Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta.

What I recognized in that was the foolishness of trying to snuff out violence. It moves around: we turn it in on ourselves, we push it off onto strangers, and so it also comes out in the friction of our groups. The strategy is not to try to annihilate it. The strategy needs to be to set up rituals for acting it out close to home, so it doesn’t get bigger and end up gnashing at our coalitions. It is also not useful to turn it on ourselves in hopes of not harming others. Put it in the center and create carefully structured and cleansing rituals for it. 

Both Melissa and Jean love rituals of fire: capturing things that need to be released by writing them down and then burning the heck out of them. (Inside-outing a tree - it pulled in light and built carbon, and we write on paper and releases light and carbon.)

Where have you experienced fantastic group dynamics between groups? Where has it been an issue? How is violence and difference held in these spaces? What rituals have you seen help groups within a shared system have healthier dynamics?