Wednesday, July 18, 2012

CMM Solutions Goes To Berlin, Germany

Have you ever wanted to visit Berlin in the fall? Do you want to deepen your knowledge of and experience with CMM Solutions and intercultural communication? If you answered yes to one of these questions, please join me at the SIETAR Forum 2012 + 38, which takes place in Berlin, Germany from September 27-29, 2012. Register for the conference here. I will be presenting a workshop titled: CMM Solutions: Dialogue Tools for Systemic Change. Here is a summary of the presentation: There are two fundamental elements of communication patterns across cultures: Communication is substantial and the tangible patterns of communication we engage in represent something meaningful to look at, not just through; and Communication is consequential and the patterns of communication we engage in create and sustain things. These two elements are aspects of the “communication perspective” and one effective way of developing intercultural competencies that cultivate “cosmopolitan communication” and the “communication perspective” is the introduction of tools or heuristics of practice based upon the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM). CMM is an integrated theory, research and practice tradition that has been found useful by communication scholars, practitioners, and professionals in counseling, education, conflict resolution, and organization development among others. CMM is powerful because it exposes deep patterns of communication that can be used to transform relationships and institutions. The two primary goals of the workshop are to: Facilitate participants’ knowledge and awareness about how CMM heuristics fit within the realm of intercultural communication practice; and to develop a rich toolkit for understanding communication dynamics between individuals and groups and for acting effectively in difficult situations. The workshop will present an original framework for designing and facilitating communication interventions that address a range of individual, organizational, or community challenges. The culmination of years of research and practice, the new SEAVA Model and its related case example will guide participants through a step-by-step sequence that build competencies in the communication perspective that have broad applications for both research and practice.

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What People Are Saying About CMM Solutions…

“The workshop was fantastic! The materials were a great blend of theory and practice and the application of CMM was introduced in a way that can be understood and valued by both newcomers and experienced professionals.” CMM Solutions Workshop Participant

“I have been trying to learn more about CMM for years. When I hear Barnett Pearce talk about it - it seems so straight forward. His wisdom and years of developing this theory shine right through. As Barnett and Kimberly Pearce partnered with Jesse Sostrin to develop this field guide, we (the world) have benefitted from a wonderful blending of wisdom, scholarship, and practical application.” – Amazon Review of CMM Solutions Field Guide

“What a useful workbook -- the eight templates were laid out with clear steps, good examples, and simple visuals that make it easy to see how to apply the ideas. I just used it to help me prepare for a presentation to a group of city commissioners about some communication issues!” – Amazon Review of CMM Solutions Workbook

What is CMM-Consulting?

The CMM Solutions Field Guide and companion Workbook are essential tools for learning the art and practice of CMM-Consulting.

CMM-Consulting is a distinct combination of attitudes and techniques. We call attention to three of these distinct features: 1) commitment to working collaboratively with clients to address fundamental issues; 2) a focus on communication – what the clients actually say and do – as generating both the problems that they are facing and the ways of moving beyond those problems; and 3) attention to critical moments in communication.

We have developed this signature style of CMM-Consulting because there is a problem with "solving problems" in the traditional sense:

The Problem with Solving Problems - There is nothing wrong with solving problems! When the supply room catches on fire, you want to put it out quickly and effectively. Forget the organization chart, whoever is closest to the extinguisher, grab it! Problem solved, and then life moves on.

But when the supply room keeps on catching fire day after day, your best response might be to change something more fundamental than replenishing the extinguisher and reducing the response time needed to activate it. A better world would be one in which fires don’t happen so frequently, if at all.

If the goal is to solve a problem, then the “problem” has been given tremendous power. The “problem” (however we construe it) organizes our efforts to “solve” it. And so the problems we face become the generative force in organizing our relationships and organizations, not our highest hopes or deepest values. In addition, the problem creates the criteria by which we will recognize “solutions.” We become de-sensitized to all of the other things in our environment that are “not-solutions” but which may well be of great value. We might say that every “solution” to every problem has “collateral damage” – as everyone knows who has had to clean up a sodden store room after the fire has been extinguished. In one way of putting it, problems are holes in the ground and their solutions fill those holes, but when they are solved, we’re just back at level ground. Nothing has been gained, just put back where it was. Until next time…

CMM-Consultants take a communication perspective, respectfully discussing communication with their clients as the substantive and generative force that shapes the quality of working relationships and outcomes of organizational activities. This means that CMM-Consultants recognize that the situations described by their clients as problematic events in their working world are made by a particular form of communication. Retracing the arc of that experience, the CMM-Consultant then works with the client to move backward through the communication event in order to name critical moments and articulate desired shifts to something different (better).


The Groundbreaking SEAVA Model for CMM-Consultants