Development Practice

DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE

PROGRAM Module Two

Micro Method

Core Concepts of this Module:

1. Seeing Through the Eyes of Another

2. Dialogue

3. Heurisms

4. Grammatical Variance

Module 2 Introduction

Introduction to Micro Method

This module will introduce you to the first dimension of dialogical development practice – that of micro-method. In micro-method we purposefully build relationships with particular qualities that are necessary for successful development work.

This module will explore three important dimensions of dialogical development practice:

to join with people so that we can work with rather than for them ‘to see what the people see’

to build the relationship through dialogue – so the connection is developed in a way that emphasises mutuality, responsiveness to the actual situation, and full engagement

to respond to the people in such a way that helps identify an action pathway

to join with other people, to hear their stories, to work alongside them and work with their goals and their agendas. (This is a crucial part of development practice, for if we are not able to join with people we will not hear their stories, and if we don’t hear their stories, then any action which emerges risks being unsustainable, irrelevant, or at worst, further disadvantageous.)

To understand what each of these dimensions actually mean, we need to engage with some of stories of people who helped shape our understanding of how we can engage with people in ways which encourage mutuality, reflective action and generate change. Three of these people are of particular importance:

Rabindranath Tagore, who articulated the central principle of intentional developmental work, the necessity to ‘see what the people see’.
Martin Buber, who articulated the actual process of building relationship and forming bonds with others – the basis of developmental methodology.
Paulo Freire, who gave us the conceptual and practice keys that unlock the action pathways.

These stories, each from such a different time and place, give some indication of how international and multicultural the story of development practice is.

We will also discuss the important contributions of women who have been principal architects of the development story.

Exercise

Module 2 Concept 1: Seeing Through the Eyes of Another

Concept 1

1.1 “Seeing Through the Eyes of Another” The Foundational Principle of Rabindrinath Tagore

"When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose touch of the one in the play of the many."[6]

Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, musician, writer, educator, and he received the Nobel Prize for literature. Through his works he helped us see the purposes of building developmental relationships, and some of the inherent difficulties of doing so.

In the late 1800s Tagore managed his father’s rural estates and the time he spent amongst the rural poor meant that he became very sensitive to their hardships. He spent much time with the poor people around the estates, and he asked them how he could help them. They responded that to ask how he could help was to ask the wrong question – these conversations became the basis for the principles that inform developmental work. He identified the need for deep and true dialogue – that exchange of perspective which helps us to ‘see what the other sees’.

The origins of the very famous catch-cry for development work… "grass roots" was also coined in these dialogues.

Seeing through the eyes of others is difficult and made even more difficult by:

Professional training – we are defined and define ourselves as ‘experts’, with a great deal of knowledge about things like poverty; we also bring professional biases into the work – lenses through which we see the world, and which can (and do) have blind spots;

Personal agendas, motivations and limitations – the way we carry our own agendas, our differing family backgrounds, the desire to really ‘make a difference’, to ‘fix’ things, and the limitations of our personal capacities all make a difference as to how we join with people;

Imperatives of the work – the agendas of the organisations we work with, funding guidelines, timeframes and tight objectives when we listen and respond to the ‘voice’ of the organisation rather the ‘voice’ of the people;

Who, when, where – who we speak to in a community, when we visit a community and where we meet with people can have a big impact on how we join with people.

Understanding our own strengths and limitations in our dialogue is of central importance. What we see and what we miss, what we react to and what we can ignore are some of the many factors that are important. These very personal actions and reactions fill us full of what we see rather than what the people see. This means there is always the likelihood that we will move the agenda of the work, even without consciously intending to do so, towards completing what we think to be important. In development work we need to have thorough knowledge of how we act and react to different situations.

From different parts of the world, there are other phrases that also attempt to capture the same spirit as Tagore's "Seeing through the eyes of another" and "grassroots"

"…walk in my moccasins"

"…eat from my bowl"

"…come in, sit and be with me a while"

One can imagine the secret thoughts of the people in the face of an enthusiastic development worker so wanting to help and change things for the better.

“You will never understand, never join with us,

unless you see the world through our eyes and see what we see.”

“You will see small where we see large,

You will see success where we see failure,

You will see hope where we see bitterness.

You will want to change what is logical and most important

We will want to begin with what we can.

We will walk and you will want to run.”

“You will talk up good words

But we know the depth and the strength of the grip of what is”[7]

Exercise

When I try to make you small

And encompass you

With my arms and thoughts.

I only make myself small, and bind myself

With my own foolish notions,

bonds and limits.[8]

Module 2 Concept 2: Dialogue

Concept 2

2.1: The Nature of Dialogue

Dialogue is of fundamental importance in development work as it is central in building relationship, sharing information, enabling action and determining the direction of where the process will go. Dialogue is at the very heart of the development process.

Dialogue is not simply about talking, dialogue implies a connection between people that is respectful both of self and of the other.

Dialogue

Talk.

Talk, talk, talk.

Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

The endless flow of words.

The loss of meaning as they wash over me.

The sense I have of drowning in infoglut.

I need the silences which come from reflection.

The surprise as somebody sees something new.

The belief in the wisdom of the group.

But I war with myself.

Too often, I add to the words and not the

Silences.

I control rather than involve myself.

Learning to listen,

Learning to trust,

It goes against the grain.

But when it flows,

What an incredible sensation!

Robert Theobald[9]

Talk is uni-directional, whereas the very essence of dialogue is its connecting flow, moving back and forward, between and around the people involved. We know the difference between talk and dialogue, we see it in our body language and we feel it in our connection with one another. The connection and involvement are right at the heart of micro-method.

Exercise

2.2: Listening and Hearing in the Dialogue Process

"Listening looks easy, but it's not simple. Every head is a world."

Cuban Proverb

"They have too much noise in their head"

Noongar Saying

“To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the 'music,' but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning."

Peter Senge[10]

Listening is a learning process…but it is an action learning process.

Some issues people have identified as barriers to listening are as follows:

Not paying attention – your mind wanders, you are very busy and you’re thinking of what to do next;
Jumping ahead – thinking that we know what is going to be said, finishing people’s sentences;
Clayton’s listening – we think we know ‘the answers’; we are just wanting to hear you say them. Listening only to what ‘fits’ with our answers;
Manipulative listening – trying to lead the person somewhere, listening in exchange for compliance or only listening to topics you want to hear about;
Personalising context – coming back to your own context constantly, linking what is being said to your own experience – ‘yes, that reminds me of the time I…”
Constrictive time – listening on a tight schedule.

Exercise

2.3: Staying with People’s Material

In building developmental relationships, there is a need to ensure that we carry our own agenda(s) lightly. When we engage in dialogue we don’t put on another personality, or deceive or hinder matters that are relevant to that dialogue. To deceive in this way would simply construct a “lie” into the very heart of the relationship we are trying to build. What we don’t want to do is to impose our own material or make it the central point of the dialogue if the matter is not of mutual concern. Although we have an agenda, “we carry our agenda lightly’.

Exercise

Module 2 Concept 2: Dialogue

2.4: Insight into Micro Methodology

"When I meet a man (sic), I am not concerned about his opinions. I am concerned about the man (sic)."

Martin Buber[11]

The processes by which people build relationships with each other, those elemental processes of bonding and connection, fascinated Martin Buber. Although his primary focus was on human bonding he was also interested in how we ‘connected’ with animals and nature in general. In fact, his initial insight began forming with an experience he had with a horse. He describes that incident in this famous passage…

“When I stroked the mighty mane, sometimes marvellously smooth-combed, at other times just as astonishingly wild, and felt the life beneath my hand, it was as if the element of vitality itself bordered on my skin, something that was not I, was certainly not akin to me, palpably the other, not just another, really the Other itself; and yet it let me approach, confided itself to me, place itself elementally in the relationship of Thou and Thou with me. The horse even when I had not begun by pouring oats for him into the manger, very gently raised its massive head, ears flicking, then snorted quietly, as a conspirator gives a signal meant to be recognisable only by his fellow conspirator: and I was approved.”

- Martin Buber[12]

His insights into processes of human communication and interaction have profoundly influenced and shaped our understandings of interpersonal communication. He identified three connected and enfolding movements in our dialogue with one another that make the strands with which we weave the bonds of connections with each other. These movements form the very basis of building a developmental relationship.

First movement – we make ourselves present to another, or others. Here we say hello, say who we are and why we are there. The data we use, and the perspective is ours…”I” dialogue

Second movement – when the person responds to our presence. They are responding to us, they may welcome or ignore or warn that all is not well… etc. The data is theirs, but a strand of connection is ours, because their very response is linked to our presence.

Third movement– our response to the response…this is a movement full of artistry, sensitivity, challenge and craft. It plays a major part in shaping the nature and success of the work. In third movement we enter the world of the people. That world may be one of welcome or scepticism but whatever its quality, we honour it, we attempt to understand what is happening, and with their permission move alongside them. We do not sustain (nor should we) this third movement forever, but it is an important movement in terms of building a developmental relationship.

Exercise

2.5: Questioning and Developmental Dialogue

“Human existence, because it came into being through asking questions, is at the root of change in the world. There is a radical element to existence, which is the radical act of asking questions. And precisely when someone loses the capacity to be surprised, they sink into bureaucratisation. I think it is important to note that there is an undeniable relationship between being surprised and asking questions, taking risks and existence. At root human existence involves surprise, questioning and risk. And because of all this, it involves action and change. Bureaucratisation, however, means adaptation with a minimum of risk, with no surprises, without asking questions. And so we have a pedagogy of answers, which is a pedagogy of adaptation, not a pedagogy of creativity. It does not encourage people to take the risk of inventing, or reinventing.”[13]

Questions are a very important part of dialogue however asking them is not a skill that can be isolated from other skills and factors. There are different types of questions: open, closed, clarifying, probing, checking…. We use questions for many different purposes. Questions can bring moments of insight and clarity and just as surely, can obscure and sidetrack. Questions aid the flow and confirm the direction of dialogue or change its course. Questions can be asked for the common good or be asked to satisfy quite idle curiosity. There are cultural and customary considerations to be aware of, for example when it is or is not appropriate to ask questions. There are gender, power and privacy issues that provide key contexts for questions and questioners. And always the values of community, implicit in dialogue, should underpin each question…to respect, to join, to help, to progress….

In developmental dialogue, questions are often in first movement, or they arise out of and respond to the data of the other. Tensions arise when the questions remain in first movement and place the other in a position of response. This happens mostly when questions are predetermined or built around satisfying the worker’s information needs. Questions need to be linked to both the context and the content of the other, and need to link into a dialogical frame. That is, if the process is to be dialogical, there must always be a two-way flow of questions.

Paulo Freire began his dialogue with people thus:

“I have not come here to make a speech, but to talk with you. I shall ask questions, and so must you. And our answers will make our time spent together here worthwhile”[14]

Timing of questions is also very important in developmental dialogue… questions should be grounded in the context of the relationship. Technical errors are less likely to occur in dialogue if the timing and linking of questions to data is acted upon carefully.

Exercise

2.6: Developmental Relationships

Developmental relationships grow from genuine dialogue and are based upon principles of trust, empowerment, mutuality and participation. Developmental relationships are dynamic and therefore the movements are not linear, but cyclical and dynamic. They are not entered into lightly and they require commitment and responsibility.

Development work is based on the premise that we carry our agendas lightly. It is not that we don’t have agendas, but we are aware of them and they can become a mutual part of the text of the dialogue not buried and hidden in sub-text. Developmental relationships require us to engage from a position of genuineness and truth. If we are to avoid repeating processes of colonisation, we need to think very carefully about such matter as:

exploiting power differentials, for example, between the worker and people, or between those more or those less able, between ….
manipulating, for example, by exercising financial accountablity over a process when it is not really about that ….
exercising process and information control, for example by informing some and not others, by informing in a medium that others have greater access to…
ensuring our way is the way, openly or more commonly in very subtle ways …..
conducting unhelpful consultations, for example, when the people’s data is taken away and interpreted without their input
working with unchecked and unsupervised ‘expertise’that silences other more quiet and less confident voices

Resources, techniques, information and expertise are certainly not antithetical to the process of developmental relationships, but they are subordinate to it and are useful only in the context of that relationship, not as ends in themselves.

Exercise