Respond to two peers’ initial posts by highlighting a diverse population that may not be addressed by these strategies and offer strategies that could be employed to reach this population.
Remember, as the author of a discussion thread, you are the facilitator of that portion of the discussion.
Student post down below:
Communication with stakeholders is key in a community collaboration. Heat (2017) describes dialogue as the foundation from which all collaborative skills are generated. Dialogue is where collaborating participants share an understanding of the issues and each other’s perspectives. My agency is collaborating with the casino industry on designing a program for their employees on compulsive gambling. A tool we use to make sure dialogue remains collaborative is giving each member equal speaking time when ideas are brainstormed. That allows the stakeholders to navigate through conflict and build consensus.
Another effective tool used in our community collaboration has been storytelling. To be honest, I did not know that was an actual “tool” in a collaborative relationship until I read the text. However, it is quite effective when one of our clients who currently works in a casino explains how they engaged in embezzlement to feed their gambling addiction. The casino executives take notice to these stories of employees stealing from them to feed their gambling addiction. Storytelling provides us an opportunity to engage dialogically and brings personal experiences to the conversation. (Heat, 2017). Through life stories, our clients can outline how environmental factors of working at a casino has caused them to become compulsive gamblers. This powerful form of dialogue can help the collaboration arrive at solutions.
Transparency is also an important element of communication. Transparency can build trust in a collaboration. Heat (2017) says it is an important part of leveling power in shared decision-making situations. In the collaboration my agency is working on, when the casino industry displays transparency, it builds a better rapport and sense of willingness to come together.