My good friend Chris Thompson spends his time transforming funding in communities. We chatted yesterday on the observation that civic transformation requires civil behavior.
I approach this space focusing on the building of agreements.
I think of agreements as explicit bi-lateral consensus on how we will interact together. This contrasts with expectations that are unilateral assumptions of how we will interact. The continuum between agreements and expectations intersect a continuum between explicit and implicit, expressed and unexpressed.
Communities and organizations are most stuck when interactions are based on implicit expectations. Conflict is most likely when interactions are based on explicit expectations that haven't yet become explicit agreements. People do and feel their best when their interactions are based on explicit agreements. By definition, an implicit agreement is an oxymoronic impossibility.
I spend rewarding time helping people learn how to make implicit expectations explicit and how to make explicit expectations explicit agreements. It's the only way people have the culture of trust required for authentic collaborations and wise innovations.