Effective Communication and a Fraught Election Season
It’s no secret the 2024 election brought high emotions and polarization into communities across our country. For leaders of faith organizations, schools and workplaces, there was deep concern about how political differences would divide, alienate, and cause rifts that could take years to repair. This fall, Olive Branch Conversations (OBC) led San Diego universities and religious congregations as they courageously stepped into the fray and trained their community members to have difficult conversations across perspectives about the beloved country that is their home.
Working with Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), the University of San Diego (USD), Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC), and Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church (PLCPC), Olive Branch Conversations implemented a three-step process–Let’s Talk, Let’s Listen– to teach the skills necessary for community members to have respectful conversations across perspectives and to design and manage dialogue events related to the election and its aftermath. Karla Shaw, the pastor at PLCPC, said, “Scott and Kim led us in a process which opened up dialogue in a new way. The information gleaned through the workshops has helped our church grow closer together, but has also transcended our community.”
Let’s Talk, Let’s Listen included an experiential skills workshop where participants learned advanced skills for listening, inquiry, and responding respectfully; a facilitator training where participants learned to hold space for others and intervene when necessary; and a day of dialogue event in each community. In the USD community, graduate students at the Kroc School of Peace went a step further and learned a framework for dialogue design in their own context. Speaking about the skills workshop, one participant at PLCPC said, “While these communication skills seem basic, effective communication is a lost art. Olive Branch gave me new ways of thinking about asking questions to open conversation, listening to understand, and speaking in a way that can be heard by others who don’t share my viewpoint. I appreciated the insights and the opportunity to practice.”
The day of dialogue was the culminating event, and many participants were quite nervous when they arrived. Would we be talking about political candidates? Would they be able to speak their truth? Would others listen? Would there be loud arguing and people leaving the room? Using Reflective Structured Dialogue, a simple yet powerful framework developed by Essential Partners, OBS carefully designed the dialogues by working with a planning team from inside each community.
Beth, a participant at CPC, said, “I never knew a healthy conversation about divisive topics like this was possible. Now that I know, I want more, more, more.”
PLNU’s student president said, “I connected with people in ways I had never done before. I heard perspectives of people with whom I disagreed with on a fundamental level and was able to approach them with a position of understanding due to the structure and framework provided by Olive Branch.”
Let’s talk, Let’s Listen was just the start for these organizations, and there is more work to be done, but community leaders are already plotting. USD hopes to offer structured dialogues in affinity spaces where students may be feeling vulnerable. PLNU’s student president is envisioning a culture of dialogue where this structure is used to discuss controversial topics and build community a few times each trimester. CPC and PLCPC are hoping to infuse regular dialogues into their community offerings. A seed has been planted.