Writing from inside fifty-plus work groups, task forces, and collaborative processes. What the rooms looked like. What the methodology produced. What we learned about governance, systems, and the conditions that make honest engagement possible.
Lessons from specific engagements, what the rooms revealed
Methodology and best practice, how the process works
Issue-area learning, what a sector revealed about a system
“The data was not wrong because nobody was counting. It was wrong because the system had created conditions where educators had largely stopped reporting.”
June 4, 2026
The gap between what your system officially knows and what the people inside it actually experience is almost always larger than the official record suggests. Not because people are hiding things. Because they have learned, over time, that saying the true thing carries a cost and produces no benefit.
Closing that gap is not a data problem. It is a conditions problem. And it requires a process designed specifically to make
honesty feel safe.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico within two weeks of each other. By the time I arrived on the island, the damage was not just physical. Students were returning to schools that
June 17, 2026
Most groups that are brought together to solve a hard problem want to start negotiating immediately. That instinct is understandable. The people in the room are experienced. They have positions. They have organizational mandates and
May 11, 2026
A 14-member committee convened to answer one of the harder questions in regional governance: what would it actually take to make a large, complex, and struggling regional transit agency work the way it needs to?
May 7, 2026
We are living in a moment defined by complexity, mistrust, and political gridlock. The stakes of public decisions are high, but so are the risks of inaction. Communities are polarized. Public confidence in institutions is
March 9, 2026
If you want to be known for running processes that matter, end strong. Set the stage for action. Honor the people who participated. And make sure your CDMP leaves a legacy—not just a paper trail.
February 18, 2026
Without a clear plan to sustain engagement, even the most promising CDMPs risk losing credibility or collapsing into dysfunction. Here’s how to keep your process moving forward after the excitement of launch wears off.
February 12, 2026
If you skip the foundational steps to launching a work group or task force, your first session may feel more like a stumble than a start. A strong launch sets the tone, pace, and expectations
February 9, 2026
The success of a collaborative decision making process (CDMP) is shaped not just by what’s discussed but by who’s in the room. And while it’s tempting to start with a stakeholder checklist or a list
February 2, 2026
Facilitation has become a catch-all term. Today, nearly anyone who hosts a meeting or runs a retreat might call themselves a facilitator. But CDMPs aren’t about hosting meetings. They’re about solving difficult problems in high-stakes
January 28, 2026
Collaborative Decision Making Processes (CDMPs) require more than just participants. They require a support structure that is designed with the same intention and clarity as the process itself. In this post, we explore what it
On some of the most complex, contentious and critical issues facing government, communities and businesses, we’ve seen stakeholders with very different views come together to make meaningful progress where other efforts have stalled out or
The answer the system had been operating on, based on available data at the time, was that incidents were limited and largely isolated. A problem, yes, but a contained one.
The answer 1,100 educators
May 2026
On some of the most complex, contentious and critical issues facing government, communities and businesses, we’ve seen stakeholders with very different views come together to make meaningful progress where other efforts have stalled out or
As professional facilitators and conveners for all forms of consensus building efforts, we are big believers in their potential. With experience managing efforts across the U.S. on nearly every policy topic, and with efforts at
If you work in government at any level, advocate on policy issues or work with government agencies regularly, you’ve likely heard about or even been part of a specially formed group addressing one or more
