Social Science

In Dealing with Stumbling Blocks you'll learn ten stumbling blocks common to many groups, key ways to overcome each of these stumbling blocks, and why stumbling happens.

Topics covered in Effective Communication are active listening and direct expression, techniques for dealing with anger, the importance of dialogue, and the value and use of internal communication protocols.

In Effective Meetings Management you'll learn the fair-open-honest triangle, eleven easy ways to improve your meetings, the roles and responsibilities for your group's meetings, and the importance of documenting your agreements.

In Successful Partnerships you'll learn the value of working together; the characteristics of successful, and less successful, partnerships; key elements to consider when forming and sustaining your partnership; and the importance of a shared vision and measurable goals.

We each make decisions all the time about private matters and think we're pretty good at it--at least sometimes, or until we get feedback. But group decision making about public issues, such as those involving the environment and the economy, is a bit more complicated. Leaders and participants in such public decision making often lack a sense of the structure of the process. This 12-page publication applies insights from the decision sciences and behavioral decision research to address problems with stakeholder participation.