Identifying Basic Questions

Begin with a series of preliminary conversations with your planning group, in which you identify the basic questions that you would like your civic reflection program to address.

Some of the most troubling dilemmas we encounter in giving and serving are really enduring human questions–questions not unique to one organization or profession, time or place, but arising in a variety of times, places, and circumstances–questions like, What is a good gift? Who is my neighbor? What should we expect from those we serve? In our experience, one of the greatest gifts of these occasions is the gift of one's own deeper questions–and the discovery that these deeper questions have been asked by other persons in other times and places.

What kinds of questions would you most like to have an opportunity to explore with colleagues? What questions are rumbling underneath your group's common activity that often get overlooked in regular discussions? In planning sessions, listen for these questions. Feed them back to the group and watch for signs of recognition. Are these questions your group recognizes and cares about?

In this latent period, listen for what you do not expect. Do not rush to impose your own questions. (One discussion leader can remember going to a planning meeting for women in philanthropy with guiding questions about "good gifts" in hand–only to be told by the group that what they really wanted to know was how to say, "No!") Listen for areas of discomfort and uncertainty.

Initially, out of habit, people often think of a problem they want to fix. How can we diversify our boards? How can we get people to give more? These are good questions, but civic reflection is not intended to answer them. It will not tell people "how to" do anything. What civic reflection can do is help participants explore the "what" and "why" –the assumptions, struggles and hopes underneath their questions–deepening their own imaginations and mutual understanding in the process. When people pose "how to" questions (How can we lead the community through change?), listen for the "what" and "why" questions underneath (What leads us to change? Why do we fear change?).

Finally, browse through the Resource Library of this website to get an idea of questions that might inform your own program or contact us if you want to talk through your ideas with someone.